My younger sister sent me this and I thought I would share it:

REFLECTIONS 

You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all…And I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams… But, here it is..the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise… How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my babies go? And where did my youth go?

I remember well… seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like. But, here it is…wife retired and she’s really getting gray…she moves slower and I see an older woman now. I see the great change… Not the one I married who was young and vibrant…but, like me, her age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we’d be.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore…it’s mandatory! Cause if I don’t on my own free will…I just fall asleep! ! where I sit!

And so, now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things.

But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, I’m not sure how long it will last.  Yes , I have regrets .There are things I wish I hadn’t done…..things I should have done. But indeed, there are many things I’m happy to have done. 

Its all in a lifetime.. .

So, if you’re not in your winter yet…let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, because you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not!

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life…so, live for good today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember…

“Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who came after. Make it a fantastic one.”

LIVE IT WELL!!

   ~author unknown~

To that I will add the wise words of Monsignor Anthony Dalla Villa: “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of it is your gift to God.”

Have a blessed day, everyone!

You are a child of God, His treasured possession. He created you in His own image. He chose the day for you to be born. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. Cherish your birthverse.

BIRTHVERSE consists of 366 verses chosen from the 66 books of the Bible. Each verse correlates the chapter and verse with its month and day.

Here’s the link if you want to try it:

www.mybirthverse.com

…after all, this isn’t school or anything! It has been a while
since I have updated, though, and if anyone has been wondering what in
the world I have been up to…..

The
week preceding Christmas was filled with the usual holiday preparations
(shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, etc.) but as those cheesy
commercials on late-night TV like to say, But, wait! There’s MORE:

Christmas
festivities were planned & executed at church for the folks
that come to our food pantry. In addition to the usual coffee
& donuts while they wait their turn to “shop,” we offered punch,
chips & queso, Christmas cookies & fudge (made by yours truly!)
to the record-breaking crowds we had. One of the homeless fellas that
comes to our pantry (more so he can play the piano in the Fellowship
Hall than for food it seems to me) played carols while we “partied” and
then when he left, some young men whose parents sing in the choir took
over and played some more. We also had a little bag of goodies like
soap, shampoo, packets of cocoa or coffee, candy, mittens or socks,
little stuffed animals, etc. to give to each family. I believe we
handed out over 120 of them in two weeks. We were sooo busy making them
& handing them out, we don’t really know the exact
number!  I also had to “stockpile” some food for the coming
weeks when the food bank would be closed for the holidays and our usual
crew of student volunteers was either cramming for the last of their
exams or on their way home to celebrate with their family &
friends. Thank goodness a couple of fellas from our church membership
stepped up to help or I might STILL be there unloading and putting away
that 1200 pounds of canned goods I ordered….

Meanwhile, my Mary
Kay business was taking off like a rocket! The week after Thanksgiving,
I introduced 21 Sorority girls to MK and I had a mondo pile of
follow-up work to do. Besides the gift shopping and holiday glamour
clinics, it seemed that everyone else had just run out of something and of course, they HAD to have it so they could look
good for their parties & gatherings. It became a bit of a challenge
to keep up with the paperwork! Not that I’m complaining–not
having time to get to the bank with all of those checks is a problem
that I most certainly can find a way to deal with……

On
Saturday, December 23rd, I was still doing a lot of Mary Kay business
(cannot believe how late some guys wait to take care of their sweeties!
I even delivered one YESTERDAY on the 28th!) and after I loaded up the
Crockpot with stew ingredients so that Donkey’s sister & her family
could have a nice meal when they arrived later that day after their
travels, I attended a reception of some friends of mine whose daughter
was married out of the state earlier this year. I hadn’t seen the
daughter in quite some time (known her since I taught her in the 4
year-old Sunday School class!) and since she is now a professor of
music at some conservatory in Ohio (Cleveland, I think) the chance to
see her again might not come again for quite a while! It was a fancy do
at one of the nicest restaurants in town (I think the prez may have
even eaten there while he was in town once and no doubt a bunch more
times when he was governor since it is so close to the Mansion) and I
had been hearing all kinds of neat, historical things about this place
but we had never been, so despite the pouring rain (I think we finally
got all of that rain we prayed for last summer–it rained a bunch!) and
all I had to do that day, I “shoehorned” it in! After the reception, I
finished with the MK biz, I stopped for some last-minute menu items
like bread & rolls, then headed home, soaked to the socks, to greet
our guests……

Christmas eve, our daughter & her
sweetie gave me one of my gifts early (this really cool digital meat
thermometer–it even talks to you and reminds you to baste!) so I could
get our turkey dinner in the oven before we trooped to church to hear
our son play his trumpet during the service. We thought he was playing
in the Brass Ensemble, but for that service, he WAS the Brass Ensemble!
The whole service was lovely. For our Christmas Eve dinner, we had our
son & his girlfriend, daughter & her
sweetie, Donkey’s sister, her hubby, their
kiddos, Donkey’s Mom, & his brother. Sometimes we also
have this lady from church that I visit now & then, but she decided
to celebrate with other friends this year. Since we dined rather early
that day, there was plenty of time for games later, and good times were
had by all, I believe……

The next morning, we opened
gifts with all of the Turkey dinner crowd except Daughter’s sweetie,
who had to come in at the end because he always spends Christmas
morning with his Dad. We had a few less people for dinner that evening
since the kids went to visit their sweetie’s families then, too. (The
rib roast turned out just perfect with my new meat thermometer to tell
me when to take it out!) Later that evening, all of the kids were back
at our house to play some games that were given out that year (along
with some perennial faves) and later we rolled out & baked the
cookies I had mixed up & chilled, but never got around to baking
before the oven got busy with all of the turkey & roast cookings
going on. For years I have been decorating them with colored sugar
before I baked them (like Donkey’s Mom always did since they store so
much easier that way) but I was feeling nostalgic & wanted to ice
them like I did as a kid, so we baked more than half of them “naked”
and frosted them with Royal icing that Son’s girlfriend got from her
favorite Internet recipe site & then we decorated them. This icing
is more like a very colorful glaze that dried hard enough so we could
stack & store them in my cookie tins, so storage wasn’t really a
problem like it was for the ones I baked in my earlier days. How cool
is that? Not that they will be there for very long……

The
next day (I had been absolved of my duties at the food pantry–several
wonderful volunteers staffed a reduced-service session that day &
insisted I take the day off after all of the work we did the weeks
before Christmas) I had to put on my church deacon hat and house-sit
for a dear, sweet lady at our church while she attended the memorial
& burial service for her husband. My heart goes out to her–he died
just before Christmas and that will make things doubly difficult for
quite some time, I think. She lives in one of the older parts of town
that was built before developers started putting up “cookie cutter”
houses that all looked alike but have just been painted different
colors. She was thankful that I was willing to perform such a service
and I was grateful to have something useful to do since there is so
little that anyone can do at such a time. After I left, our daughter,
who was supposed to go back to work that day, wanted me to drive across
town to her house & fix her some rice since she was coming down
with some kind of crud, also had a very bad migraine & hadn’t yet
been able to eat that day. (Even in their 20′s, they still want Mom
when they get sick!) Since I was was so late in returning to start
heating our traditional turkey leftover meal on the day after
Christmas, Donkey’s sister decided that she would order pizza and his
brother made a big salad. That quick & easy meal gave us a bunch
more time to play some of the games given for Christmas before Donkey’s
sister had to go back home the next day…..

Wednesday I
fixed breakfast for everyone before they took off. (I used leftover
eggnog in the French Toast goop that you mix up to soak the bread in
and it was YUMMY!) Donkey only worked a half day that day and he
arrived as we were finishing off the French Toast, so he ate it for
lunch. It was soooo quiet around here after everyone left! I considered
going into clean & organize mode to create some order out of the
resulting chaos and try to find homes for some of our newly acquired
gifts & perhaps even find that elusive phone, but opted to goof off
a bit first. We finally did get to eat the turkey leftovers and then
Donkey’s Mom & brother stayed after dinner to play 500 Rummy since
they didn’t get to on Friday or Saturday like we usually do….

Yesterday,
I goofed off quite a bit more since I had started to feel a bit wonky
during the card game the night before and still wasn’t feeling
like my usual self. I had planned on getting back to the gym to try and
start undoing the damage inflicted during the last month and also get
the house back in some kind of order, but aside from a little bit of
laundry & dishes, it was mostly R & R. At the last minute, I
decided to go to a early evening reception at a nice downtown
restaurant to get my quarterly MK award and got to visit & exchange
gifts with all of my MK friends. It was right across the street from
where Donkey’s office used to be and I had forgotten how pretty the
downtown Christmas lights could be! After that, I zipped up the freeway
to a new church member’s house to welcome their visiting family members
at the open house that Donkey & I were invited to & I almost
forgot about. (I offered to pick him up on the way since I was coming
by our house on the way, but he opted to stay home and work on setting
up my new computer that I got as a Christmas present from him.) The
open house couple had recently returned from Thailand and had all kinds
of wonderful stories to share and the food was oh, so yummy. Now I
REALLY need to get to the gym…..

Hope yours was merry & bright as well! Warmest wishes for a wonder-full New Year, too!!!!

One of the last messages I received in my email from our brother
in Christ before he died a while back was this little cutie. Whe I
first read it, I kept thinking, “What he said!” Today, even more
so…….. 

A friend sent this to me and I thought some of you older folks out there might want to compare. 

A. A. A. D. D. – Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay the car keys down on the table; put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

My  extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t  accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need to be watered.

I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll  water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

* The car isn’t washed.

* The bills aren’t paid.

* There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter.

* The flowers don’t have enough water.

* The floor is soaked.

* There is still only one check in my check book.

* I can’t find the remote.

* I can’t find my glasses.

* I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

* The yard is flooded.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and  I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail.

Do me a favor, will you?

Forward this message to everyone you know, because  I don’t remember to whom it has been sent.

Don’t laugh — if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.

GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC!

I
woke up today (well, yesterday now) with just a few items I was hoping
to accomplish besides my usual things–wash my car, put up the rest of
the Christmas decorations, clean off or at least shrink the size of the
mountain of paperwork on my desk, and perhaps grab a gift or two while
the majority of other shoppers were toiling away at their jobsites
before I attended my meeting in the evening.

Well,
NONE of those things happened! Though I do recall investing quite a bit
of time hunting down items that I would set down somewhere & forget
about, I actually did get rid of a few “science
experiements” from the back of the fridge, a load of dirty dishes
started, the trash out, some old cell phones bagged up & ready to
mail to the recycle place, the bolts on the frame of the ellipital
machine tightened, some MK inventory unpacked, checked off,
lableled and ready to go. As an added bonus, I also had some nice
e-chats with my sister & sister-in-law about Christmas plans and a
very pleasant late dinner with some MK friends after our meeting.

When
I think of the “wonder-full” times I got to share with my family &
friends as well as the ones earlier this week with our Bible study
group, the food pantry people & the other church volunteers,
I have come to the conclusion that all of that other stuff is just
not worth the worry & will just have to get done whenever &
however it can somehow.……  

EyeHatePeas is right–it’s time for a new entry. Do you suppose he would mind coming over here, thinking up something really good (his post are always so insightful & thought provoking) and typing it out for me?

The tree and decorations are still in their storage boxes, the cookies & fudge have not been made yet, but I HAVE gotten all of the scarecrows, pumpkins, fall leaves & such gathered and ready to pack away. What was I thinking, anyway???? Running a household, retail business, moderating the the board of deacons, working at the church food pantry, hosting Thanksgiving AND Christmas? Somewhere along the way, I may have lost my grip on reality…..

So that everyone won’t get bored coming to my site and finding the same post YET AGAIN, I am posting this little gem from one of my email buddies:

This article was submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinner. This won first prize:

CHRISTMAS WITH LOUISE:

As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay’s kids’ stockings were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.

One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don’t sell those things at Wal-Mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. If you’ve never been in an X-rated store, don’t go. You’ll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, “What does this do?” “You’re kidding me!  Who would buy that?”

Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section. I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour. Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love dolls come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I’d only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for “Lovable Louise.” She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a “doll” took a huge leap of imagination.

On Christmas Eve, with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life. My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours, long after Santa had come and gone.  I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise’s pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a
nearby tray. I went home and giggled for a couple of hours.

The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more. We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.

My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. “What the hell is that?” she asked. My brother quickly explained, “It’s a doll.”

“Who would play with something like that?” Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. “Where are her clothes?” Granny continued. “Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran,” Jay said, trying to steer her into the dining room. But Granny was relentless.

“Why doesn’t she have any teeth?” Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, “Hang on Granny, Hang on!”

My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, “Hey, who’s the naked gal by the fireplace?” I told him she was Jay’s friend. A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa’s last Christmas at home.

The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise that sounded a lot like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa. The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth to mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants and Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car. It was, indeed, a Christmas to treasure and remember.

Later in my brother’s garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise’s collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health.

Louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. I think Grandpa still calls her whenever he can get out of the house.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Gotta go now–I still haven’t ordered the food for the pantry for tomorrow…… 

 At one time in my life, I thought I had a handle on the meaning of the word “service:” “The act of doing things for other people.” Then I learned these terms:

Internal Revenue Service
Postal Service
Telephone Service
Civil Service
City/County Public Service
Customer Service
Service Stations

And I became confused about the word “service.” This is not what I thought “service” meant. Then I overheard two farmers talking and one said he had hired a bull to “service” a few of his cows. BAM! It all came into perspective.
Now I understand what all those “service” agencies are doing to us……

Have a wonderful day, and I hope you are now as enlightened as I am.

Almost 3 years ago to this date, I wrote the following in a blog on another site:

Step into any commercial establishment right now and the transition to “Christmas WonderLand” has already happened or is in the process of taking place. With the exception of grocery and craft/decorating stores, who stand to benefit from the effort to promote it, Thanksgiving is nothing but a blip on the radar screen of economic indicators. This is not a new phenomenon–I have a vague recollection of one of my elementary school teachers talking about this many, many years ago.

Anyway, I felt as though SOMEBODY should say SOMETHING about Thanksgiving–not the turkey-with-all-the-trimmings part but the part where we are given a chance to express our gratitude. The only flaw in this plan is that I find talking about expressing gratitude is a skill which I find myself lacking almost as much as expressing the gratitude itself. This means I will have to call on Fredrick Buechner for some assistance:

“Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily believes certain things. That Jesus was the son of God, say. Or that Mary was a virgin. Or that the Pope is infallible. Or that all other religions are wrong.
Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily does certain things. Such as going to church. Getting baptized. Giving up liquor and tobacco. Reading the Bible. Doing a good deed a day.
Some think of a Christian as just a Nice Guy.
Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.’(John 14:6) He didn’t say that any particular ethic, doctrine, or religion was the way, the truth, and the life. He said that he was. He didn’t say that by believing or doing anything in particular that you could ‘come to the Father.’ He said that is was only by him–by living, participating in, being caught up by, the way of life that he embodied, that was his way.
Thus it is possible to be on Christ’s way and with his mark upon you without ever having heard of Christ, and for that reason to be on your way to God though maybe you don’t even believe in God.
A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank.”

Thank, you Freddie! To me, this is as much or more of a message of hope than the Christmas story….

Three years later, I find myself having to struggle even harder to keep from getting sucked into the Massive Holiday Consumption Machine since I am now myself in the retail biz. This morning in worship, though, I glimpsed another bright beacon of hope! Several years ago, our church joined together with nine other (quite different but for the most part, but still pretty much all Christian) congregations to form the Micah 6 coalition, with the intention of serving “the least of these” in our university-area neighborhood while honoring the differences among us. A food pantry, operated from another Micah 6 coalition church across the street from ours was started up and continues to operate today. That church will soon be unable to operate the pantry from their facility and our church recently decided to close it’s day care center, opening up the entire lower level for other uses. Many members of our church interpreted this as some kind of divine plan and voted to move that pantry to our church. Before we actually get to do this though, there will have to be some major renovations to the space designated for the pantry since our building is so old and in need of upgrading to current building codes. This morning, one of the other churches in the Micah 6 coalition presented our church with a check for $10,000 to help with the renovations. We were all kinda speechless, but very, very thankful…..

Whew! What a weekend. Thanks to all who came by to comment anyway.

We were only going to the Houston area, since that is where our new National Area SD is based, so I drove it. They always a really pick high-dollar hotel to hold these kind of events, so my son’s girlfriend & I got wise this time & booked one down the street for almost half of what the Westin Oaks, which is attached to the Galleria, was charging. All of the hotels around there have shuttle busses to the Galleria if you don’t feel like walking anyway…. 

We planned to depart about 10:30 am or so on Friday, so we could arrive at our hotel before the worst of the traffic and perhaps even get to visit with Donkey’s sister, who lives just a little ways outside of the Houston area before the scheduled events began that evening at 7pm. It was actually closer to noon before we were heading toward the coast, so I wasn’t sure how any of those plans would actually work out since we would have to be back at the Galleria hotel so early that evening and Donkey’s sister is way out in suburbia…..

When we stopped for a quick bite of lunch and the other stuff that you always have to do on a road trip (unless you are some kind of camel) around 2pm, I called Donkey’s sister and asked if we might make some plans for that evening. She told us that it probably wasn’t going to work unless she met us somewhere near the Galleria before we went to the evening event, and then she said, “I’m really sorry, but I would rather shoot myself than have to go anywhere near the Galleria on Friday afternoon during rush hour.” We decided that dinner together the next day after the workshop was over at 5pm would work better for everyone since both her kids also had plans that evening, too, but she still wasn’t up to coming ANYWHERE near the Galleria on such a serious shopping day, so I was going to have to come to her. Then she asked if we were already in town yet & if not, where were we? When I told her, she advised me to hang up immediately, get in the car & book it or we would be in the worst of the traffic, so we did just that……

While I was on the phone with Donkey’s sister, our “third hotel roommate” who was driving on her own since she would not be able to leave as early as we planned to (her accommodation plans plan kinda fizzled & hotels near the Galleria but not actually attached are still pretty pricey, so we added her on since we all had shared a room at Seminar in Dallas and each of us knew pretty much what to expect) called to inform us that she was just now leaving Austin. After she got off the phone, we expressed concern about the trouble she was going to have with the traffic, gratitude that we were not traveling all together (she freely admits that she has only 2 speeds–slow & stop) and then I bumped the cruise control up a notch once we hit the 90 miles of nothin’ on I-10…..

Traffic was indeed as awful as Donkey’s sister predicted it would be when we got to the Houston area, but I have never been in Houston before and not had to sit in traffic somewhere, if not everywhere! Austin is getting pretty much the same way these days, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal. We had none of those nasty surprises like wrecks & roadwork that make traveling in unfamiliar territory such a bore & a chore, so that was a blessing……

Since our dinner plans got postponed to the following night, we decided to join some of our other MK friends in town for the debut at this family style Italian restaurant near the Galleria and had a great time getting reacquainted with old friends and making some new ones, too. Our “third hotel roommate” arrived just in time to join us at the restaurant, so that worked out nicely for her. Dinner lasted so long that we hopped a shuttle to get to the Westin Oaks because we thought that it would be faster since we weren’t sure exactly the best way to go from the restaurant….

As we sat in our meeting room with the glass windows all around on the top floor, I could see that the restaurant where we had parked our cars was only a few blocks away, so we just walked back to our cars afterwards instead of waiting for the shuttle bus to return. Unfortunately, when we got back to our cars so that we could return to our hotel, our “third hotel roommate” discovered that in her hurry to catch up with us, she left her lights on! Thankfully, her car started anyway, because we had to be back at the Westin Oaks at 6am to set up our assigned display……

FYI: If you don’t want to have to deal with a lot of traffic & parking hassles around the Galleria, 6am is a really good time to arrive! We got a spot in the hotel parking garage about 4 spaces from the door, which was sweet because we had a ton of stuff to unload & set up. After we finished setting everything up, we had time for a nice breakfast in the little hotel bistro that faced into the Galleria & then we returned for the morning session of the debut. There were a number of inspirational speakers and as each one addressed the group, they would ask that our new area stand to be recognized. I felt a bit like a Jack-in-the-box, jumping up & down in my seat all morning. At least my patootie didn’t get a chance to fall asleep…..

After lunch (which was quite tasty) we had some instructional speakers and more demos–fun, fun, fun! This went on until 5-ish. After they dismissed us, we had to tear down our assigned display & pack it back up in the car. We also had to find a way to pack all the balloons and table decorations that were offered to us for staying to help after it was over. (Son’s girlfriend LOVES stars and there were 2 HUGE star-shaped balloons in the podium centerpieces that she wasn’t going to leave behind!) By this time, it was late afternoon and the mall & parking garage were packed! I felt really bad about all of the false hopes that were raised as we repeatedly carried things to my car, loaded it up and then returned to the hotel for more instead of driving off so that someone else driving around looking for one could have our great parking space. Finally, we did actually leave our lovely space and then it took a good bit of time to exit the hotel parking garage…….

While we waiting to get out of the parking garage, I called Donkey’s sister to make dinner plans and she told me that they had dinner ready at the house and to come on down and join them. I was worried about finding the highway that would take me that direction, since I had come into town another way, but somehow we got “dumped” right onto the road we needed with no troubles or worries. (Don’t you just love it when stuff like that happens???) We found the exit we were instructed to use with no problem and I figured we would be chowing down before we knew it. NOT! Brother-in-law forgot that we would not know “the shortcut” so were past the road I needed to take by the time I got off the highway and it took a little more time than we planned…….

We finally DID get there, ate (also very tasty!) dinner, visited for a while and had a good giggle about how the house looked a lot different without a Christmas tree in it, since our last several visits there were during the holidays. It was pretty late by then, we both had stuff we had to be back for the next day and son’s girlfriend was worried she might be coming down with something, too, so we decided to politely decline the invitation to stay the night and drive back that night, AFTER getting better directions and a really good look at the map……….

I really enjoyed spending time with son’s girlfriend on the road since we have not been able to do as much together now that she has a different job that is further away with really strange hours. Sometimes I even hear some news of our son, who does not usually take the trouble to keep Donkey & I up to date on things these days, so that is always nice, too…..

Donkey & our kitty, Juliet were both glad to see me when I finally arrived back home in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Isn’t it always such a wonder-full feeling to be welcomed home? 

I’m not trying to be snooty and/or ignore anyone, but I have been busy getting ready to go out of town for our National Area debut & also for the retail holiday season. (Our “family season” starts after Thanksgiving & that is rapidly approaching, too!) I will return late Saturday, but Sunday is already packed with action (real excitement! a lunch after worship, a choir concert later that day & a conference call in the evening) so it may be while before I post anything new. Please be patient & don’t blame it on Donkey……………

I think I have been spending too much time around Donkey. To be sure that readers of this post and I initially have a common understanding of the term, I turned to–you guessed it–Wikipedia!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In religion, a prophet is a person who has directly encountered God, of whose intentions he can then speak. Those who are not prophets must then commit themselves to the divinely inspired word as an act of faith. This can be problematic, especially as there are false prophets. When the prophet is held to be genuine, new religions may be adopted, based on the prophet’s teachings, and on their interpretation. A prophet often operates through some means of divination or channeling. The process of receiving a message from God (or the gods) is known either as prophecy or as revelation. (In this sense, the terms are synonyms.)

In popular usage, especially among Christians, a prophet is believed to be someone foretelling the future. While the religious texts certainly do contain examples of this sort of prophecy, the majority of messages from prophets in religious texts, such as the Biblical prophets in the Hebrew Bible, were speakers for God and taught social or religious messages that contained no such predictions.

I believe that there have been many “prophets” in my life that have helped me to better understand a number of social and religious concepts. There is no reliable way of being able to discern if each has directly encountered God or not, but, based on my own knowledge and experience (or lack thereof) in that realm, I will give them all the benefit of the doubt. I’m guessing that if in my life, I have often wondered if I just had some sort of an encounter with Our Creator, it would be quite possible that others may also have had such experiences…..

In very random order, here are some prophets I have known and/or known of:

Jesus–No question about you having an encounter with God, being a speaker for God and teaching social or religious messages. You even made a few predictions about what was going to happen to you–though the disciples were a bit too dense to really understand at the time. At times I am not quite sure how to live with your ”perfection” but I have come to terms with it by using it as an ideal rather than an actual goal……

The other Biblical prophets–That’s an entire post on its own…….

Donkey–You have taught me a whole lot about a whole lot…….

Robert Fulghum–Anyone who can impart wisdom & insight while tickling my funny bone is aces in my estimation! If you haven’t read anything else of his besides that All I need to know I learned in kindergarten piece, treat yourself to one (or more!) of his other books…….

Martin Luther King–Your entire life and especially that I have a Dream speech inspire me immensely. When I think of the hardships you endured, the risks you took, and the sacrifices you made for that very timely & worthwhile cause, I am in awe. It was a shame that you were not able to enjoy most of the good that came from it in your lifetime…… 

B’Lee–As my mother in law, you have taught me a number of useful social & religious truths over the years. Beginning with coaching me as I began looking for work (she used to work for a job placement agency and shared a wealth of knowledge with me) that better suited my preferences & abilities, through childbirth & motherhood (I have a vivid recollection of carrying our firstborn child across the threshold of our home for the first time in her life while wondering, “Now what?”–thankfully, she knew what.) and serving together as deacons in the church, I have gained a lot from your teaching……

Herb–My serious-minded, research engineer father-in-law (God rest your soul) with your passion for birdwatching & bridge, you were always a reminder for me not to get too serious about work. Now more than ever, I miss having your opinions & insights to help me make my choices and I sincerely regret that our children didn’t really get that chance at all……

Walter Wink–I will always be grateful to you for organizing some of my jumbled thoughts and then putting names on them in your book, The Powers That Be. I actually got to hear him speak at a forum along with some other really neat folks that are trying to influence this world in a positive way. WowieHolyCowie……

Harry & Evelyn Hamilton–These nice folks were always doing things to help out my mom when she was raising the four of us on her own. I’m not sure how they came into our lives since they were not kin and they had been around since before I could remember. Long before the film Pay it forward was made, they answered my mother’s questions about what she should to to repay their kindnesses (there were many over the years!) with the reply that she should “pass it on” to someone else in need whenever she was able to do so…….

JFK–I was very young when you were killed and didn’t really understand what you were trying to do until much later in my life…..

Jim Wallis–You were introduced to me at the beginning of this millennium when our daughter took a class where your book, Faith Works was being studied. She was very impressed with the book (and she doesn’t get impressed that easily) and the ideas that you shared. I have read some of his other books now, too, and I am also impressed…….

Michelangelo Divincenzo–You taught me that if you really work at something for a very long time, you can get REALLY good at it. He was in his 80′s when he I took his Life Drawing class at the art school I attended and I loved to watch him more than I did drawing in that class. When he chose, he could make his work look more like a photo than a drawing or painting, reproducing every detail exactly…..

Stephen & Sean Covey–Bless you both for writing books (Those 7 Habits books really do have a lot of great stuff in them!) that might actually help me master the time that I have been given in my life so that I have at least a snowball’s chance in you-know-where to really make a positive difference in this world…..

Aunt Iris–You were there to teach my mother so that she could pass some of that wisdom on to us. Thank you so much! You also showed me what people meant when they used the term “classy lady.” My apologies to you for not learning what you had to teach me any better than I did…..

Charles Schultz–Another master at imparting wit & wisdom while tickling the funny bone. Thank you so much for the legacy of levity in commonplace events that you left us…..

Louise Hay–After reading your book, Heal Your Body, I looked at everything a lot differently. You were the first person that helped me to see that what goes on in our minds has a profound effect upon what happens in our bodies……

Aunt Betty & Uncle Harold–Those summers I spent on your farm were oh, so educational in so many ways. Every city kid needs an Aunt Betty & Uncle Harold’s farm, because it just isn’t the same as reading it out of a book or seeing it on film. The kindnesses you showed to the less fortunate, drives to see the colors in autumn, taking me to church with you on Sundays & those wonderful meals you shared with me were an added bonus, too……..

Jimmy Carter–The work that you did after holding the most prestigious office in this country impresses me immensely. Your book, Our Endangered Values, has really opened my eyes…….

Mom–You imparted many of the social & religious values that I still hold today……

Dad–Even though you (God rest your soul) did not get anywhere near “equal time” I learned a lot from you as well……..

Marcus Borg–Your book, Reading the Bible again for the first time taught me that the Bible can be read in a number of different ways, truth is more than just facts, and that even myth has truth in it. Your other books have also given me a lot, too…….

Scott Adams–If Dilbert doesn’t impart some wisdom about the workaday world while tickling that funny bone, then call 911 because you must be DEAD……

Anyone else want to add to my list of prophets?