PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE

Everyone is concerned and absolutely livid over hurricane Katrina and the damage the storm has caused, especially the many many deaths. Unless we are there, we cannot even imagine in our minds the devastation going on in New Orleans, Mississippi and surrounding areas hit by the storm. We have seen it on T.V. and heard many telecasts about Katrina. My heart goes out to each and everyone affected by this hurricane.

I remember as a young child when I would see a movie similar to what is happening these days in real life -- It would scare me yet I would also realize it was a movie. Maybe I would be seeing a horror movie about aliens, etc. If anyone would have told me then that something like Katrina would happen someday in real life I wouldn't have been able to imagine what it would be like, just like right now, it's hard. To live or be involved in something like that is really scarey, especially those who died or drowned and what they must have felt just before they lost their lives. Many people have lost their homes also and may not get them back, at least not anytime soon.

Those of us who are in different parts of the country, watching these things on television, reading about it in the paper, going about our own business, maybe feeling terrible or holding conversations about how awful this is -- knowing and thanking God it wasn't you or your town, must think of something that can be done. What about those of us who have loved ones there and don't know what is going on with them?

I am asking each and everyone of you to just take a minute (or more) to meditate on this, put yourself in the position of those less fortunate then we are; get into your little private closet (as God mentioned in the Bible) and talk to the LORD, really talk to him and ask him to have mercy on these people and to spare them the wrath of this getting worse. Ask him to help these people to get back on their feet and restore them their homes, and to help those who have lost loved ones, homes and just everything, and to let them feel his presence. In Jesus' Name Amen

"What did I do to Deserve?"...

My, my, my -- God is definitely good. I hope I can type this without tearing up. You know the past 24 hours has been kind of awkward for me. Something at work yesterday triggered off a mood I haven’t had for quite some time. I all of a sudden found myself in a bad mood, a very bad mood. After snipping at a co-worker, complaining somewhat and just downright feeling angry, I came to the conclusion that I was not to be recognized with. Went to pick my dad up from work and took him to the bank. Next thing you know it was something like this… “what is that person ahead of me doing going so slow?” “Why doesn’t he get out of the way?” Then my poor dad had to listen to my whining and complaining about everything under the sun not only last evening, but today also. I was in the sanctuary at my church and had just finished telling the children’s story and was trying to lead the kids in their weekly collection for Children’s Ministry when an older member of the church looked at me and started snapping at me about which way I should have the children go. This was not the day to do that and in the Sanctuary. Of course I was ticked off and turned my head and ignored her. (I may have rolled my eyes, I’m not sure). This has definitely been an off time for me. I must ask the LORD to forgive me for allowing myself to get peeved that way in his sanctuary. On the way home from church, my poor dad had to listen to my whining and complaining again. All in all after I finally got home and settled down a few minutes, I decided to get on the internet and check my messages. I had e-mailed my son earlier because I thought I left my high blood pressure medicine in Texas because it wasn’t to be found anywhere and asked him to look out for it. I sent up a prayer later that evening. Asking God to help me locate it. This morning when I was ready to go to church, I looked in the cupboard again, and there it was. I e-mailed my son the testimony telling him how good God is. He wrote me back thanking God for that and then asked if I had read a poem he put on one of his blogs. No I hadn’t had a moment but checked it out. What a heart warming poem and just the right medicine to wipe out the bad state I was in. Thank you Devas.

Another Grandson Post

Well, we still have the flying paper airplanes going. (I think I've started something). I drew a dart board and we try to hit the ball in the middle. "Watch this," he says and varoom, throws his airpane. "Your turn, Grandma," I aim and then throw. "You almost got it," he yells, then he goes "watch this" and we go again and again and again.

Mommy and daddy came home yesterday. He was soooo glad to see them. I thought I was going to be dissed by him when they got home, but, he continued to associate with me. *very wide grin* He's my little pal. I love to tease him about his mommy and daddy, saying -- "that's my daddy -- "no that's my daddy," is his rebutal. Then I'll say, "get away from my mommy." "no, that's my mommy, "no it isn't," says grandma. He then looks at his mommy with those big beautiful eyes and says "mommy - "you are my mommy and not grandma's - right mommy." She reassures him that she is his mommy. *wink* (He has the cutest "little by voice).


"Burrrrrp," (fake burp sound) -- then he says " EXCUSE ME, I BURPTED -- A LOUD ONE TOO!" or maybe he may make another little sound (a real one) and then he says "I FARTED!" "That's a bad word, says grandma -- "no it isn't" is his answer, and on and on.

"I don't like you anymore" says grandma after he gets smart mouth. He says, "we don't say that around here." "You're supposed to say you're sorry." Okay, grandma says, "I'm sorry."

Here we go again -- "watch this" (the grandson makes a funny face), "watch this" (grandma makes a funny face; crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue -- he laughs), "watch this (he tries to make a similar face) and the beat goes on -- ha, ha, ha.

"You didn't say your grace" he tells you when sitting down to eat. He goes around the table to everyone, "did you say your grace?" Anyone who hasn't said it, has to at the request of the grandson.

The "little man" as I call him thinks he can stand in front of the T.V. so as to block you from seeing it. (he only comes to the tip of the T.V. stand and he looks so cute as he stands there thinking he has blocked you from seeing the T.V.), a habit he got from his onery dad. I pretend he has blocked the set so I can't see it and tell him to "move" and he laughs. I could go on and on -- he is smart as he can be. He now writes his name and is very independent. "let me do it," he states.

Paper Airplanes, race cars, "Go Fish," and more

Boy, what a day! One of my friends and I made paper airplanes for the grandson. We flew them on and off throughout the day. When not flying airplanes we raced little race cars on a little race track.

"Time to play a game," I said, so out came the "Go Fish" cards, and he caught on quick, even though he indulged in a little cheating. Ha, ha, During the afternoon we played hide and seek. He kept hiding in the same place all the time so I had to pretend I didn't know where he was. When I found him he would giggle out loud. This was an extreme active day, but I enjoyed every minute of it and I will cherish it also. It will be hard to let go of precious time spent with the grandson, the laughs, teasing, running, going to the park, and everything. So this sums it up for today. Love you all

The "Little Man""

Hello gang: Texas is beautiful and so is the grandson. He is a little "squirt" with big beautiful prize winning eyes and is a spicsty little guy. Guess what? he bounces when he runs and is a happy little camper. All throughout the day he either has a car, truck or airplane in his hands.

I brought him a pair of Spiderman boxing gloves with a bag, and he keeps beating up Spiderman and getting excited about it. sometimes spiderman gets him too and we have to count to three for the knock out. Took the little guy to the park yesterday -- believe me, he is allllll boy. He was climbing, sliding, going up the slide the wrong way, running and was busy the whole time. There were some water sprinklers squirting as in watering the grass, but the grandson and I had a ball running in and out of the water, getting wet.

Before we left, he met a little friend who had some cars just like him and they finished out the day by racing the cars, climbing, jumping and having a great time. Do you think he wore grandma out? Actually no, he and the little boy wore his parents out. ha, ha, (not really), they had a good time.

My daughter-in-law made sure I would have plenty of good company to keep me and the grandson occupied plus I have a few friends from my home town here who are occupying our time. I love the spoiling part, that's one of my favorites .

A Fun-filled, Glorious Week With the Grandson!

Tomorrow I will be flying to Texas…. FLYING!!! Yes I said flying. Have you ever heard about “Nervous Lil?” That would be me. (Sigh) (LOUD SIGH) !! My oldest granddaughter once asked me “where is your faith?” Well, right now it is down in the pit of my stomach with all those butterflies. I guess I’ll consult the MASTER and ask him to get rid of the butterflies and leave the faith in there.

It’s been a while since I have flown but after I get there, it will be well worth it because I get to spend a glorious week with my little grandson. I have all of these visions of loveliness of a fun filled, stress free week. We will get up in the morning, get cleaned up and have breakfast. After washing the dishes, I will read him a story about Jesus and then we will play games, and next watch a movie, etc., then it will be nap time. I’m not sure whether we will have lunch before or after nap time, (Probably before). After nap time we will just chill a little, and just take it from there. I have it all mapped out just my grandson and I. Now what’s so hard about that?

"The Land Of Lakes"

Hello everyone -- I'm blogging from "The Land of Lakes." I drove here yesterday. At first we thought it was going to rain, but God cleared the way for me. The weather was perfect -- only God can do that. I invited Him to come with me so that I knew everything would be safe. He's a good God. I'm visiting my youngest son, you know the one I mentioned on two other blogs as being "The Hustled Dad."

My granddaughters are so precious and cute. Believe me they really do hustle their dad. This morning Dad had to get after the little one(age 7). It only took her a second to turn on the tears and dad fell for it hook, line and sinker. I looked up and he had her cuddled up, kissed her on the cheek, "don't cry," daddy's sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice at you, and before you know it, we had a happy little camper again.

The older one (age 11), is a good manipulator also. She tries to convince us that she cannot eat the rest of her food because she's full. Yeah right, you just started eating.

The little one has been impatiently waitng for me to finish blogging so I can go to their room and "play." She just asked me "when are you going to be through with the "blob." I cracked up.

When Friendships Fade

We meet friends everywhere in all walks of life. At the place of employment, we bond with colleagues who work with us together as a team to form a united front and share duties to accomplish the goals and objectives of the company for whom we work. Through those interactions we become acquainted somehow through our daily duties, conversations, and we chose our friends as we relate to them. At some time during the daily frustrations, problems, challenges, we become friendly with one or maybe even a few of our co-workers. Before you know it, we are confiding in each other about our home lives, some problem at work or maybe someone who is causing us stress, as time goes on you begin to enjoy lunch together, conferring on a task chatting together, and we have made a friend.

You may have met someone in college and have become very close to them. As stated above, you bond, and spend time together. It could be a roommate, a group of people, maybe even a dating situation. At church you can choose to hang with people you enjoy to spend time with, i.e., phone conversations, church activities, working in the same department for the same cause and developing good solid friendships. In all of these cases you are always there for one another, and your relationship becomes long-term as you have already decided you have a lot in common. You may share excitement, joy, Spirituality, conversations, secrets, activities, tears, grief, sorrow, testimonies, prayers and many other things that help to keep your friendship growing.

Then one day, you or your friend has decided to change jobs, relocate to another state, attend another church or whatever the circumstances. You tell each other that you will keep in touch and exchange telephone numbers and addresses or even e-mail addresses. For a while you may even write, call or even visit the other person, but as time goes by, the friendship fades, and then it’s all done and over with. No more calls, letters, visits, e-mails or whatever. This is not always in every case, but it happens a lot in life.

I Remember Back in the Day

When there was only one car per family, and no matter how many family members there were, it sufficed very well. If both parents were working,they managed to schedule themselves so they could each go to work, and in those days, the kids walked to school. Some of those schools were kind of far away from home, and when there was snow and the weather was below zero,we walked anyway. I remember getting to school sometimes and my hands would be so cold I could hardly open my hall locker, or upon returning home, I would have to soak my feet/hands in cold water to stop them from hurting. When going to the store, movies, etc., family members often went together, or our parents would send us to the store, but of course there were a lot of neighborhood stores. I don’t don't remember hearing anyone complaining about needing more than one car. In those days, you were blessed to have one car, much less two. Writing his blog is bringing back some very fond memories about my childhood. I will have to elaborate on this some day when I’m ready for everyone to know how really ancient I am. LOL

Two Questions

1. Think about it -- During your lifetime, what is the most beautiful thing that you have seen in the world?

2. If you just happened to come into a great deal of money, with one word, what would you do with it. Remember, I said just one word.

"AVON CALLING"

During the time I have been working at PACE we have had an Avon lady and of course I have done my share of ordering. Last year she retired but continues to take orders from us. She lives in a small suburb just outside of Des Moines’ South side. Ms. M, (the Avon lady) sometimes delivers our order s in person, and sometimes she send them by mail and includes a self-addressed stamped envelope.

As soon as I received the box which included the items ordered from Ms. M, I should have stopped what I was doing and wrote out the check right away so I could have sent it out on that day; however, at the time, I had run out of checks (so I thought) and had to order some new ones. By the time I got the new checks, I had misplaced the self-addressed, stamped envelope; therefore, I needed get some stamps which were at home in a drawer in my computer desk. While at work I thought, “I really need to send this payment to Ms. M; however,” the stamps were at home of course.

Meanwhile there was a contractor doing some remodeling at my house and had everything strung all over everywhere; therefore, I couldn’t find a thing (this went on for at least four weeks or more). A couple of days ago, the check was finally made out but now I can’t remember why it didn’t get mailed that time. The next day, since there were some bills that needed to be sent, I thought, “the payment will be mailed, today,” so when the time came to set it out for the mailman, I discovered that I had left the stamps and the check at home. When I got home that evening I made sure the stamps would be put in my purse so that the check could definitely be sent off the next day. When I got ready to mail it; I realized the check was STILL at home. This was getting to be too frustrating, therefore, later that evening, while sorting through some papers that needed to be filed, I found the check and immediately put it in the envelope that was addressed to Ms. M, put a stamp on it and sent it out. Whoa – what a dilemma! Well, the payment has finally been mailed and everything was as it should be. Last evening I was again sorting through boxes trying to organize things and guess what I found (after I had addressed an envelope, put a stamp on it and mailed it out)? Yes you’re right! The self-addressed stamped envelop that was sent to me in the first place. Also yesterday while looking for a DVD in my intertainment center, there were the checks I thought I had run out of. Dat’s All Folks.

A Creepy, Crawly Story

This evening I took an elderly friend to the nursing home to visit my cousin. It's sad because this cousin is about my age. Anywho, somehow we got on the subject of snakes and I had to sit there and listen as they exchanged snake stories and ways they had encountered them in their homes and were afraid of them. All the while I'm sort of feeling creepy, I hate those creatures with a passion. My cousin told of how he had been asked to kill a snakes by his ex-wife when he went to pick up his son for visitation. He said he grabbed his son and ran. My elderly friend told a story about how she saw a snake in her basement, went upstairs and grabbed an ice pick. She went back down and he had slithered to another spot. She saw him moving and she said "I beat him to death with the ice pick." "I just beat him to death." Then she informed us that after killing him, she was afraid to pick it up and throw it away. A few days later the guy who cuts her grass came to her house and she asked him to throw away the dead snake, which he did. He exclaimed that the snake stank really bad! When the garbage men came she was too ashamed to look out the window. I hope and pray that I don't feel creepy tonight and don't dream about those creatures.

Next we got on the subject of back seat drivers, but I'll save that for another time. Please pray for me because I'm beginning to feel creepy already.

Tagged by Chris -- a looooooonnnnnggg post

FIVE PEOPLE I HOLD DEAR TO MY HEART AND WHY

First giving honor to God who is my number one love: Following are five people I hold dear to my heart:

My first born son – I believe him to be a strong person, whom I deeply admire. At the age 17, while still in college, he took responsibility for his first born daughter and never shirked his duty. Even though he feels guilty at times, and I don’t know why, except for maybe because he spoiled her too much, (you know as in spoiled brat), he did a fantastic job of raising her. They lived with me at the time and I was working for a temporary agency; therefore, there were times when I was at home to watch the baby. The only thing I was allowed to do was to make her formula and give her baths. My son insisted he could do the rest, including waking up in the middle of the night and feeding her. Due to the talent and creativity he has with his hands, he kept her hair looking nice as well as her clothes. When he was in college, he received a bunch of letters from his peers, all admiring him because of his talent, his fantastic drive and ability to attend school and raise a daughter. He maintained the title “student of the month” the whole time he was there. My first born is mindful of family, as he takes interest in his nieces and nephews as well and is a good son (he’s spoiled too). I could go on and on but I would have to write a book which I have done on this post.

My second born son – This is also a very strong young man whom I
also admire. He knows what he wants and goes after it. He wasn’t
the easiest person to raise and even though we had our issues, I
enjoyed having him as my son, and would do it over again if I had the chance
(I think). :-) :-) He struggled through his first years of college but
after about the second season, he settled down. In Little League
baseball, he continued to be an “all star” player and later went on to
play Little League football. In high school, he was the star of the
football team (The Hoover Huskies), and is now the Varsity Coach
for the same football team. He has grown so much in so many
ways. After he got married, I paid a visit to his new home and was
extremely shocked when I saw him cleaning house. When as a
youngster in school, there was a large closet off of their bedroom. He
called it “the pit” and I don’t have to tell you why. This young man
is a history teacher, football coach and is now attending
church. He has acquired his Master’s Degree I think in education and has
always had strong long-term goals which he is striving for and won’t
give up until he achieves them. He has become very helpful to me
also. In December of this year, he and his wife and family are taking
me on a cruise. I am a little scared but excited too.

My third born son: - This is a unique young man with a unique personality. He also has determination to go places with his career and so far is a real achiever. He is a music teacher, sings gospel music, writes music, performs in plays, etc. Number three son has always been quite independent and when he was a teenager, got a job at “rent-a-kid” shoveling snow for an elderly woman. He also worked for the weekly Shopper delivering their papers. While in high school he worked for McDonalds until he graduated. This kid is who I call my “warden,” because he looks out after me. I never have to worry about anything because he’s always there to help. If I need something he gets it for me and constantly checks on me. I gave him my credit card so as to prevent me from charging it up so fast, and now that I have paid it down and almost off, I can admit to having charged it up to $900.00 twice. It’s almost as if he’s saying “you took care of me, mom, now it’s my turn to care for you, and he does (no wise cracks from the peanut galory). He is a wonderful person and helps out his youngest brother who has two daughters suffering from Sickle Cell Anemia. He always makes me feel loved, as he has some gray hair in the back of his head and I tell him that each one has my name written on them. Ha ha

.My baby boy: This young man has been a real joy to me. He keeps
Me laughing all the time; in fact, when I am down, I may e-mail him or call him just for laughs. He confides in me and we are pretty close. My baby boy is a very talented young man, but is very shy; therefore,
Does not come out with it. He’s very intelligent and when he attended business college, was on the “Dean’s List,’ and is now an employee for the State of Minnesota. This young man is also very strong; he has two kids who suffer from Sickle Cell disease and he is well informed on their disease and knows exactly what to do when necessary. He has had to watch his girls in the hospital with tubes in them, blood transfusions, with the oldest, surgeries, a failed transplant, and also has to watch her through another transplant. He’s always there for his kids, takes them places and watches them at night whenever mommy has to go to work, even though he also has a part-time (gig) as he would put it. He is an affectionate type son and always makes me feel loved. Being that this is my youngest son, I think I spoiled him a little bit more. That tends to happen with the last child. Of course I love all my children equally and even though people don’t believe me when I say it, it’s true. I have written a blog about this young man and will publish it in a day to two.


Number Three Granddaughter: Even though I love and cherish all of my grand children, I picked number three because of all the things she has had to deal with in her life. She is eleven years old and was born with Sickle Cell Disease. She and her sister both have the disease but number three granddaughter’s is a more serious case. She is very receptive to my teachings of Jesus to her. I call her my little gift from God as she was born one year before God called my mother, therefore, by watching her for her parents when they needed me, we formed a special bond as grandmother and granddaughter and she filled the void well. I admire this little lady because she has had to deal with a lot with this disease and she remains strong and is a delightful little child. She has numerous medications to take each day and knows the ropes of what’s going on with her and why. In spite of having had chemo-therapy, radiation and loosing her hair, she has been a real trooper. A beautiful little girl, who sometimes gets bogged down with what’s going on with her and wonders why, she still loves Jesus. While going through serious pain in the hospital, I started reading the Bible to her and when I got ready to put it down, she said “no, grandma, please keep reading, it makes me feel better.”