Update and Other Stuff

Ok - Just a quick update. My husband was released from the hospital at about 2:15pm today. The Dr. did come in and talk a bit more with the Mr. and said that one of his arteries or veins was narrow - not sure from what - maybe a birth defect. Anyway so that is one reason why the blood flow was not like it should be. So he is going to have him take an 81mg aspirin every day. And he said that should help the blood flow better.

Before we left the hospital a nurse came in and told us that the Mr. can not drive for at least 5 days, no lifting over 10 pounds and he needed to take off work for the week to recoup. Apparently if you over do it after this procedure you are in danger of the plug that they put in coming out and bleeding to death in about 4 minutes. We could not even get an ambulance to our house in 4 minutes. That is scary stuff. So my husband will be watching TV and playing games on his computer for the next week till he is recovered from all the testing that was done.

Well that is about it. It is good to be home. Today the temps have gotten up to about 90 degrees. And we finally shut down the house this afternoon and turned the AC on. But tonight the temps are suppose to go down to 66 and then tomorrow I don't think it will get any warmer and then go down into the 50's at night. Wow! I am a-ok with that. The longer we have some cool weather around here the longer I can keep the house opened up and get fresh air and not only that but - then it will help us get through summer. Let me tell you - after a while the hot weather can really start to grate on your nerves. So I will enjoy the cooler temps as long as I possibly can.

Well before all of the excitement with the hospital come into our week - I had bought my kitties a new toy. Today my son put it together for me. And my cats have really been enjoying it. It is like a hammock for cats and then a little cave under the hammock. Well my little Dewie finally figured out that the top was for laying on. Tiggy is the one inside. My son is worried about Tiggy getting on top - he said he will squish any can inside. I don't think he is that FAT. lol Anyway they are enjoying it. And I am enjoying watching them enjoy it.

Here is a cute little chicken basket that my sister got for me. I thought it was adorable. See the chickens on either side of it? I love it. :o)

Really... In The Hands of God

I mentioned last night that the first song that I heard on the radio was "In The Hands of God" by the Newsboys. Well this morning - when we found out that my husbands procedure would not be until 2pm - my husband told me to try to get some stuff around the house done and get some badly needed groceries and then come up to the hospital. So I went to my room to change our sheets - something I like to do every Friday - and I turned on my radio. Guess what song was just coming on? Yep- you guessed it - In the Hands of God! Then when I was coming home this evening it was like the 2-3 song that I heard. I have not heard that song played so much until all of this has been happening. And so I took it as a reminder that I needed to leave my problems- In His hands.
Ok - so update - the procedure was postponed about 30-45 minutes - which is pretty good for being done in the afternoon on a Friday. Anyway so basically we found out after waiting about 45 minutes or so - that there did not seem to be any blockages or problems. The Dr. did say that my husband blood did not flow through the heart like it should and he wants him to take an aspirin every day to help with that. They said that on the Cat scan that his lungs looked good and so if he continued to have the pain - that we needed to take him to his Dr and see what other tests that they might need to run to figure out what the problem is. So good new and bad news. Bad news being that we really don't know what is causing the pain.
He has to spend another night - since the Cath. was so late in the day. And he can not drive for 3 - 4 days. So he will be out of work another couple of days. I will be so glad to get him home. It is really tiring to be at the hospital all day long. I am very tired. That is one reason I am already home - is that he told me to go home so I could get some rest. We are hoping he will be able to come home at a decent time tomorrow. Anyway - I hope you all have a great week-end!! :o)

I have a good reason for my absence

Well it may seem as if I feel off the face of the earth - but I did not. Wednesday morning I had an appointment to get my haircut. Then after that I hit about 8 different places running lots of errands while I was in town(with gas prices being as high as they are - heard they jumped to 3.88 today) I try to run my errands together. Well at my last stop - Walmart I got a phone call from my husband asking me where I was - how long I would be there. When I asked him why- he informed me that he had been having chest pains - for the last couple of days but today it had gotten worse - and along with the pain he had been sweaty and nauseous and the pain radiating to his shoulder. So he wanted me to meet him at the ER - So I did and at about 2:30pm he checked in. Well after all sorts of test and all they decided to keep him over night and run a stress test. Now this is actually his 4 stress test. His family history on his fathers side is pretty bad when it comes to hearts. My husbands dad had to have a heart transplant about 12 years ago or so. And there are many more stories I could tell but to save time - just believe me when I say it is a long history of problems. So today they did the stress test. And at about 7pm tonight we found out that the stress test came back abnormal and they are planning on doing a heart cath tomorrow. We don't know what time for sure yet but I would sure appreciate prayers for him. It is scary because even though the test is relatively safe - there are some scary things that could happen - heart attack, strokes being at the top of the list. I am putting all of this in God's hands. And just in case I did not realize that is what I was suppose to do with it all - when I was driving home - it was like the first song that I heard on the radio- In the Hands of God by the Newsboys.
So that is why it as been a few days since I have posted. I told you I had a good reason. :o)

I Think I May Have Finally Gotten IT

There has been a concept that a been very hard for me to get. This concept is very important for every Christian to understand and that is the Love of God! It is very important to believe that God loves Us.

I think that the reason that I have had a hard time understanding God's Love for me is because I have not really had unconditional love. Now I got a little closer to understanding this love after my granddaughter was born. The first time that I held her - I knew that I would love her forever and that there was nothing that could change my mind. Now I am sure that I had this same kind of love for my boys - but it did not register with me in this way - at that time. I had a pretty hard time having my babies.

Anyway today I was listening to Family Life Today. The title of the program was Embracing Adoption. And as the story was told of adopting two little boys was told - they interweaved some Biblical principles. As they were telling this story - I finally understood God's love for us. I would encourage any of you that have had questions of God's love for you - to go to the link above and listen. May you be blessed as I was. :o)

I was just vacuuming my house - getting ready to clean the carpets. As I vacuumed I thought that I probably should have shared a bit more - since there will be those that will not choose to click on the link and listen to the program. So here goes - God has chosen us - just as if He were to go into an orphanage and picked us out. He want to takes us home - to a much better home - but all we have ever known is this horrible orphanage(sinful world.) We don't understand that what God has to offer us is so far beyond what we could ever even imagine. I am so thankful to have been chosen and I look forward to going home with my Father. A love like that - that would chose me and want to take me out of the situation that I am in - that is a love I want. :o)

Chicken Pox and still Sweet

Well about a week and a half ago my sweet granddaughter got shots, included in these shots was the one for Chicken Pox. Well guess what happened Friday? She got the chicken pox. Poor little thing. We took care of her for a few hours on Sunday and then today she and her mother came over for a few hours since we were having some dangerous weather around here. And she was as sweet as ever. We really enjoyed our time with her. :o)

Praise the Lord - "He's Alive"

Sabbath Praise

A Link to an Excellent Easter Program - Not the Usual Sermon

I just heard an excellent program on the radio. I was really blessed. And I think you will be blessed as well. If you will click here it will take you to Dr. James Dobson's My Family Talk web page. Today they shared a great talk by Joe White called Good Friday: A Roman's Perspective. What a blessing. One of my favorite parts of this program was that Mr. White pointed out the Jesus had claimed to rise again after 3 days. And he said if Jesus had not have risen again - we would not have heard this story. But He did rise again - Praise the Lord!! We are loved so very much that Jesus was willing to leave his wonderful home - Heaven, and come down here to earth and live the life of a man so that He could die for OUR sins - so that we do not have to die a second death.

I hope you will take the time to listen to this program. It is only 30 minutes long. A real blessing. :o)

He Has Chosen Us

Yesterday Debra over at As I See It Now shared a link to this series - "The Cure for the Insecure" and since then I have watched the first 3 of them. They are great. They are only 15 minutes long and how so much wisdom and truth in them. God Loves us because he made us - not because of what we do. This is not new to any of you who have read my posts in the past. I am pretty passionate about the fact that status, education, degrees, size, looks, amounts of money, etc. - that these things do NOT determine our value. And I love the way that Joyce Meyers presents this message.

This morning I listened to part 3 and was so blessed by the message that I just had to share this series with you all. In Part 3 she tells about how God chose us - and used a little example like going to the grocery store and picking out an apple. Now I know that when I go to the store and pick out my produce - I am pretty particular about what I get. I loved that example. God chose us and we are of value to Him.

She also shared that if we have a hard time believing or understanding God's love for us - that we need to take a college course on God's love. We need to dive deep into the word of God and see what all we can find on the love of God. He loves us - every single one of us!! And it is important that we understand that love. When we understand that love we are more fully able to see and understand our true value. May God bless each and every one of you and may you see God's love shining through into your life today and every day!! :o)

Wednesday

I have been very busy again this week. Tonight I went to Prayer Meeting. They are having a special series on Revelations. Did you realize that there is a special blessing for those who - read Revelations, and those who "hear the Words of this prophecy," and "the ones keeping the things written in it."

"Blessed is the one who reads and hears the Words of this prophecy, and the ones keeping the things written in it, for the time is near." Revelations 1:3

That is awesome. It is kind of a scary book of the Bible but it is well worth the time spent studying it. And I even have homework to do.

I am a bit behind on my Reading through the Gospels but I am hoping that by this week end - I can be back on track.

The song above was one of the songs that we sang at Prayer Meeting. It is a great song and I LOVE it! Living in the Will of God is so very important. :O)

Brighten The Corner Where You Are

Today God reminded me of a song that we used to sing in Sabbath School all the time. "Brighten The Corner Where You Are" What a great message. This was the best video of the song that I could find.

Today on my way home from work - I stopped by our mailbox that is out front. As I was getting the mail, I saw a lady walking down the road. As she got to the next driveway - she stopped for a bit and I could tell that she was tired. Well I felt like I needed to get back out on the road and ask her if she needed a ride. When I pulled up and asked - you could tell by her voice and her face how tired she was. She had been walking for over 45 minutes and with our temps being in the 90's it was pretty warm. She accepted my invitation and said could you take me to the railroad(2 miles down the road) I said yes I can do that. As we visited I found out that things had been pretty rough on her lately. And I was so glad that the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I had not really wanted to actually tell this story but I could not think of another way to write all of this out and actually came up on a wall. But I felt that the message was very important to write about.

So as we got closer to the railroad tracks - I asked her if she lived nearby and that I would take her home. So we turned off of the main road and onto a road. She was so thankful and told me God bless you as she got out. On my way home, I watched the amount of miles that she would have had to walk - she would have had another 3 miles to walk - after walking 45 minutes.

As I was driving home - I was happier than I had been on my way home from work. And I was glad that I had been able to be of help. Then the thought came into my mind - Brighten the Corner where you are! And I thought - you know it seems too often that we get so wrapped up in our own troubles and all. And all that does for us is bring us down. And if we can move ourselves out of the center of our lives and allow God back into His rightly place. Then we can be used by God - to brighten other peoples lives around us. And what is so cool about this is that when we do that - we become happier people.

I decided that I needed to allow God to use me more to brighten other peoples lives. Well not too long after I was thinking about this idea, a friend called. This is a friend who is very busy and we don't get to talk much. But as we visited, she shared with me how very stressed she is because she has SO much on her plate right now. After we got off of the phone I looked at the paper that I had written the words on- Brighten The Corner Where You Are. And I prayed and asked God - How can I brighten her corner?

I think that I will be taping that piece of paper up by my computer as a reminder - to allow God to use me to Brighten other peoples lives and not to just focus on myself all the time. :o)

A Link to a Great Series of Meetings

This past week-end our church hosted the Empowered Living Seminar by Jim and Sally Hohnburger. Here is what the flier tells about the seminar:

Jim and Sally were young, educated, had a successful business, a beautiful home, expensive vehicles, and a great reputation in the church. But underneath the veneer of success, Jim’s life was busied, pushed, and stressed. His marriage was troubled, his Christian experience was superficial, and he didn’t really know his children. Convinced that the pursuit of the “American Dream” was robbing them of an authentic walk with God, the Hohnbergers sold everything and set off for the Montana wilderness in search of the “Enoch experience”. What this family found forever changed their lives. And yours could be next! If you are hungry for practical Christian living and desperate for God to do a new thing in your life, you’re ready for what they have to say. Must you sell everything and move to Montana in order to find what the Hohnbergers found? No. But as you take the experiences presented and make them your own, you will learn to walk in God’s presence and develop a willingness to obey His voice no matter where you live. Through Jim and Sally’s experience you will learn that less is more, how to make time for God and your family, and how to live every day, hour and moment to the glory of God.

"Family First” - Jim “From Religion to Walking With God” - Jim “Parenting by the Spirit” - Sally “How to Live With a Difficult Man” - Sally “Wounding Their Spirit” - Jim “Slow Down, Christian” - Jim

Visit their online store at www.EmpoweredLivingMinistries.org or call (406) 387-4333 for a free catalog. It’s About Walking With God!

And the good news is you too can hear these meetings!! If you will go to the link below - you will see the titles of the meetings and you can just click on the one that you want to listen to. Here

I was happy to see that these meetings were recorded because I do not like large crowds and we had a few things planned for this week-end so I did not make it to any of them. But last night I listened to "How to live with a difficult Man" It was very good and I would highly recommend it to any married woman out there. And I am sure that I will be listening to more of the meetings over the next couple of days! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! :o)

Mental Health Day

Good Morning everyone~ I have been so thankful for this week-end. For a Sabbath of rest and now, today- for a Mental Health Day with my sister. For those of you that may be new or just don't remember what that is - it means a day that my sister and I go thrift store shopping. We love to find things at great prices. It is like a hunting for treasures.

This outfit below is one of those treasures that I found.

The skirt - even though you can not see it very well - is a really cute black eyelet skirt- $6.99. The top - $1.99(half price day) and the hose - I got for 1.00 - brand new at thrift store and they were the great energizing hose! So this outfit basically only cost me $10.00!! I love to find deals like that!! Well I hope you all have a great day and a great rest of the week! It will be a busy one for me- I will have to work for my son all this week as well. See ya'll later....Hoping I have some treasures to share at that time. :o)

What "ruts" have you developed?

They say that when you continually think negative thoughts that it is like a dirt road - and when you continually travel over the exact same place on the road, there becomes ruts. When the ruts are formed it is hard to think anything other than those negative thoughts. And when you decide you want out of that rut you have to make a conscience effort to think positive thoughts.

Well I am finding out that it is the same way with judgemental thoughts. I have been paying more attention to my thought life ever since last week when I read, "Judge not, that you may not be judged." Matthew 7:1 I have noticed that I had fallen into a rut. And since the Holy Spirit had convicted me of how wrong it was of me to be that way, I have really prayed for help in this area of my life.

I grew up around a lot of critical, judgemental comments and attitudes. I mean seriously thinking about it - that is where the comments to my sister and I about our weight came from. You know comments like "no one will want to marry a fat girl" and things like that. Before we even realize what judgemental thoughts were, we were being judged and taught to judge.

This judgemental attitude not only affects our thoughts of other people but it also affects the thought about ourselves. None of those judgemental thoughts, whether they be about others or ourselves, do any good. The only way we can change these bad habits is to pray and ask for help. On our own, we can not conquer these tasks but with the help of Jesus Christ we can over come.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengtheth me." Philippians 4:13

God not only wants us to love Him, but He wants us to love our neighbors and ourselves. And love does not include a judgemental and critical attitude.

"...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." Luke 10:27

Having a Busy Week

This is how my son's ankle looked last night. It is still quite swollen. You can see the swelling better when you look straight on to the foot but it was bothering him so I just got the one photo. It is bruised up on both sides as well. And since my son is hurt and should not be on his foot very much - that has meant that I have had to work all week this week. That is one of the main reasons I have not posted very much. I have also had a few errands to run every single day. Oh and my church started a Bible study called Revelation Speaks -so I went to that last night. It will be 27 weeks - I think is what the Pastor said. It was very good last night and I can't wait to so my part of the lessons till next week. It is so good to be feed from the Word of God. When you are feeding on the Word of God - that is when spiritual growth comes about.

Well I am working on a few ideas for some posts but will have to wait until I have a bit more time before I can come to the computer and get them typed out. Until I "see" you guys again - May God bless each of you in a special way and may you spend some time feeding from the Word of God! :o)

"in whom I am well pleased"

"And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17

Up to this point in the story, we are told of Jesus being born of a virgin and eventually ending up in Nazareth(when it was safe). He was the son of a carpenter and worked with his father. Then Jesus goes out to Jordon unto John because He wanted to be baptized. John baptized him and the voice sounds from Heaven. "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." It was after this that Jesus began to preach and heal people. And yet his Father in Heaven as already well pleased with his Son. God loves us right NOW. Not just when we get better or more holy. These things will never come unless we accept God's love for us. Right where we are. He is the only one who can work in our hearts and lead us into the person He wants us to be. The people we were meant to be...long before sin entered into the world. God accepts us and values us and we need to accept and value those around us - not based on merit but based on God's love and grace. "But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18

AC is fixed but turned Off

Hello~ I hope everyone has had a nice day. Mine day has gone pretty good. Well I ended up doing my job and then covering for my who - as I shared yesterday- hurt his ankle and is wearing a boot and using crutches. So I covered for him at work and I figured I will be covering for him tomorrow as well.

Well last night was a very warm night here. And at about 1:15am - I woke up with a big storm - Our windows had been opened pretty wide - trying to allow as much air in as possible. But with the storm - I needed to get those windows pulled down. I left them open about 2 inches or so - hoping some of the cool air that I felt blowing in, come into our house. By the time we got up this am - the house was much more comfortable. And by that time the storm had passed. We are SO lucky that we did not get hardly any damage - just a mile or so up the road - there was some damage - a tree knocked down into someones living room, lots of trees split, etc. Today the weather has been beautiful! This afternoon our AC people showed up. They replaced the fan blade - they had not seen a blade break the way it had broken so they were going to take it to their boss and see what he thought. They also noticed that the contacts were giving some problems - so they replaced those too. And it loos like there was not any more damage to our system. Praise the Lord!!! It had been running for a while with the blade jammed and I had been worried about that. And what is so cool is that even though the AC is fixed - we have the house opened up and our house is sitting 10 degrees less than it was the last two days at this time of day - at 75* and it feels great.

I hope you all have a great evening! :o)

Our "exciting" Week-end

Well it is a bout 8:50pm on Sunday evening. Our AC has not been fixed. We are hoping that our AC guy can get the new fan tomorrow and fix the AC but after today - the highs will only be about 80 or a little higher. Right now it is 83 degrees in our house. And that is with windows wide open and fans running. Yesterday it got up to 85 degrees in our house. It is suppose to get to about 60 degrees tonight - so that will be very helpful. When it gets that cool at night - we can cool the temperature in the house down. Last night it only got to about 70 - so we were not able to really lower the temperature in the house much.

So the AC being out was not the only "excitement" that we had this week-end. This morning our youngest son called from playing Basketball saying that he might have broke his ankle. He had been playing and came down on the ankle and it snapped and he went down. So he was taken to the ER and they did Xrays. No breaks - Praise the Lord!!! But he has a boot and has to wear it for the next 7 - 10 days and use crutches for the first couple of days. We are so thankful that he is OK.

With all our excitement around here, we really did not get much done around here.

Oh - and we love to watch "Amazing Race" but we ended up missing the last 10 minutes or so - SO if any of you guys watch the show and know who got eliminated - I would love to know who it was???? Thanks :o)

OK - and one more question - For some reason every time I write a post now - when I go to post it- it all comes out in a big blob - not in an orderly way like I actually typed it up. Does anyone know why it is doing that? It is frustrating.

Judge Not

Mom's Toolbox is doing a Bible Reading of Blogging Through the Gospels. Click here if you would like to find out for about it.

I am not officially participating in it although I am reading along and have been thoroughly blessed by those participating. Today's reading was Matthew 7

"Judge not, that you may not be judged." Matthew 7:1

When I read this God conflicted me that I really needed to work on this area of my life. It seems to that too often we become so accustom to sin, that sometimes we do not even realize that what are are doing is sin. It becomes a habit that we do without even thinking.

2 "For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why do you look on the splinter that is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull the splinter out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to cast the splinter out of your brother's eye. " Matthew 7:2-5

So after reading my Bible reading in Matthew 7. I decided to go check out all the verses that were listed on the cross reference guide and just for verse 1 I came up with a lot of them. "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven." Luke 6:37

"Therefore you are without excuse, O man, everyone who judges; for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things." Romans 2:1

"But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a man's day; but I do not judge my own self, 4 for I know nothing by myself. Yet I have not been justified by this, but He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall each one have praise of God." 1 Corinthians 4:3-5

"Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against his brother, and who judges his brother, speaks against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you who judges another?" James 4:11-12

And I think that this next verse in important in our study of judging.

"And He said to them, Take heed what you hear. With that measure which you measure, it shall be measured to you. And to you who hear, more shall be given." Mark 4:24

And wouldn't you know it, once I had read his and started doing research for this post - then I found myself judging -and not just once. I really have a problem with this. This is just another area of my life that unless I have help from the Holy Spirit - I would fail. I pray that God will help me as I try to change this bad habit that I have, and that I will show mercy and grace instead. :o)

Update

So sorry - I totally forgot about updating you guys on my Mother in law. She came through the procedure just fine. And she did not have to have a pacemaker put in. Praise the Lord!! She should get to go home tomorrow.

Well I have another prayer request- it was 90 degrees here in Texas today and will get that high tomorrow afternoon as well. Today I finally turned our AC on and it was not cooling. So my son went into the attic and found where one of the tube had somehow come disconnected. So he fixed that. Then we changed out the filter with two crappy ones but the one in there was dirty and we have not gotten the 4 inch ones that we need for it that I have ordered. Anyway the AC still was not cooling. So after a couple of hours my son went and checked the outside unit. And one of the blades had some how bent and was jammed. And when my son went to unjam it - it broke and fell to the ground. So we turned the AC off. We will have to go without -till we can get it fixed. What I am praying is that there was not damage done to the AC unit during the time that it ran and was jammed up. We just did not think to look out there.

I am feeling kind of discourage this evening. It's like the hottest spell we have had so far and it would be nice to just cool the house off a bit. It has been about 82 degrees. Which I guess that is better than the 90 it was outside. We have the house opened up and it is still sitting at 81.4 degrees. I am praying that we are able to stay cool over the next couple of day.

I hope you all have a good week-end. :o)

Our Sweetpea/ And a Prayer Request

This morning my Mother-in-Law goes to the hospital for a heart procedure. If the procedure does not work they will have to put a pacemaker in. If you would, I would really appreciate prayers for her. I am even stressing a little this morning about this. I know that God is in control. Thanks so much! ***************** And now since photos of my Granddaughter are sure to lighten the heart a bit I will share some photos from when we went to the Zoo! This first one looks like she is trying to mimic the bear that was growling at us.

I think she really enjoyed it and I can not wait to take her again when she is a little older and will really understand the whole zoo thing. And hopefully she loves it as much as her Grammie does!! :o)

Contrary to some Recent Beliefs - Exercising DOES Contribute to Weight Loss

I have noticed something recently and I am not too happy about it. About a month ago or so I was told by someone that they had read an article about weight loss, and in the article it stated that walking/exercising did not contribute to weight loss. Then in a recent Readers Digest there was another weight loss article that said it again - that exercise/walking did not contribute to weight loss. I wish I could do better at giving exact info of where this information came from but I have to be honest - once I was told that bit of information about the articles - I had no desire to read the rest of what they had to say. Some would say that is being closed minded - and I am OK with that. But it is hard for me to respect what they have to say when I know differently.

Just this week on a local news station it told of an Grandpa that had weighed over 400 pounds. He decided that he had to do something about it and he started walking. He said at first it was all he could do to make it around the block - but he kept at it. He is now up to walking 8-9 miles a day and has lost - wait for it....200 pounds!!!! Now I understand that is a lot of walking but you can not tell me that his decision to start walking has not changed his life and contributed to his weight loss. Not only did it change his life but it has changed the life of his grandson and people in his neighborhood who have seen him walking. Now some of them are walking and improving their health. And let's not forget about "The Biggest Loser" I can guarantee that those people do not sit around and not exercise all the time and still come up with the amounts of weight that they lose per week..NO we see them working out - and to the extreme- more than the rest of us can do. I don't suggest anyone devote 6-8 hours to exercise, that would not be a balanced life at all. But I would suggest that you try to add some sort of exercising to your schedule. Walking is great but if you can not do that- start with movements with your arms and legs and just move your body. Those efforts will pay off in the long run by better health and the ability to do more. Anyway - I just don't understand what the desire for writing articles that include discouraging information that is totally not true. Exercise is a great thing. And weight loss is only ONE of the benefits to exercising. You can change your life and your health just by getting out and exercising. :o)

My Love for Tupperware

Before I even got married or even knew my husband, I had been introduced to Tupperware. A friend mine had a party and I just had to have a party to get some cool Tupperware. Oh and I think at the time I wanted some Pierre Cardin phone that was a prize if I would sell enough. Well I set out on the said mission and ordered myself some stuff to help make sure that I reached my goal. Thus starting my love for Tupperware. It a been many, many years since I have been to a Tupperware party but at the last one I did - one of the things that I did was bought 4 large and 4 small spice containers and the stand for them. Well last week while I was at one of my favorite Goodwill's - guess what I found?? I found 4 more large containers and 5 small containers - for only $1.00 a piece. I just could not pass them up.

This is my cabinet. I have a few of the containers that I had to wash and dry before I can use them. I had washed all of the new ones and so I moved a few things from small containers to large ones sine we used more of those things - so I am washing some of my containers. I love how much more organized it makes my cabinet. It is very narrow cabinet and so it is hard to see what all you have in there when all the spices are in round containers.

Here is a spinning stand that I have for the spices. I have not decided how I want to store the containers. I wish my spice cabinet was wide enough to use the spinning thing in it. So anyway I will have to decide what to do.

So since I have discovered some cool Tupperware things at Goodwill - it is just too hard to spend the big bucks for the stuff brand new plus the shipping and handling costs - it adds up to way too much. So every time I go to Goodwill, I look and see if I can find any Tupperware pieces. :o)

Cheerleader or Opposing Team part 2

Yesterday after dealing with the fact that some that I thought should be cheerleaders for me - were actually acting the part of the opposing team, I began to think about the whole situation. Which one was I for other people around me? Was I encouraging them as they traveled across the field to the goal? Or was I one of the opposing team - saying discouraging things and blocking the advancement of others on their attempts to journey across the field.

We have to be very careful because we can be used to discourage other people along this journey of our lives. We can also be used to encourage and lift other people up. It is my prayer that I am used to life others up and to be an encouragement to others along their journey of life. And It believe that a good way that we can be used as the encourager's instead of discouraging others is to have a close relationship with Jesus Christ. And I also think that this verse is am important one to remember along or journey: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8

So as we travel along life's highways let us strive towards being encourager's of one another and lift those up who need the help. We can be the Cheerleaders encouraging each other along the way to victory - when Jesus comes again!! :o)

Cheerleaders or Opposing Team?

There are people in my life, that from my view point it would see that they would be in my fan club, maybe even my cheer leaders in my attempt to lose weight. And what a surprise it is to me to look across the playing field and discover some of these people - even some in my own family are on the other team. What a disappointment it is to me. But I realize that this is just another form of sabotage. And as I work through the disappointment - I realize that God is Great! I am small and so are those that try to make me feel small - in the bad way, of course. I will try to keep my eyes on God and turn my life and my will over Him. I will also remember that: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" 1 Peter 5:8

And just in case some of you out there need some encouragement,the following song is a great one. God created us and there can never be a more beautiful YOU! :O)

Reading Corner and More

This past week I finished reading "Little Town on the Prairie" and then read and finished "These Happy Golden Years." I LOVED this book, as you can probably tell just with the fact that it only took me some time on 3 days to ready the entire book. I have been so pleased with this set of books. I had watched the entire series of "Little House on the Prairie." And I have to say that the book series was so much better. I understand that they had to add stories in order to have so many different stories in the TV series. But there were several areas that I felt like they did not do the books justice. The one difference that I really did not like was the fact that in the TV series they made it seem as if Laura was really wanting to get married but her parents made her wait for about 3 years- and in real life they courted slowly for those years - not in a hurry to get married. Almanzo was such a gentleman and they seem so much more soul mates when you read the books.

Anyway I really have enjoyed them and I have just the thin book - "The First Four Years" left to read. Oh and I had found at Goodwill~ "The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilders - book one - Missouri Homestead." So I will read it and hope that I find find the read of the books -Well I think I will start reading this book first and see if I like it enough to be wanting the rest of them. I have another series or two that I would like to eventually read.

Well I just looked up these books on the internet and read some reviews on Amazon.com, and I really don't know if I want to read these books or not. What I have really liked is that I know what I am reading is true stuff about this family. So I will have to think about it. And look in my bookcase and see what other books I have that I might rather read. I know I have a series or two that I would like to read, don't know if they will be anything as good as these books have been.

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Well the weather this week end has been very nice. In fact, yesterday it got quite warm. We were able to take our Granddaughter to the Zoo!! I had not been in a long time so we really enjoyed our time there. We did not go through the entire thing because SweetPea started getting tired and we wanted to get her out of the heat. On the way home at about 5pm our temperature gauge was saying 87 degrees - yep- already getting warm around here. The good news is that it is still getting cool at night - which will not happen for very much longer around these parts. So far we have had our house opened up - letting fresh air in. I love this time of year. *****************************************

Well I hope you all have a great week. I have a long list of things that I would like to get done this week. I am going to have to learn some new things in order to finish some of the things on my list, but I really want the things done so I will be doing my best. Stepping outside of my comfort zone and hoping for a good result. :o)

Sabbath Praise

A Good Laugh for this Friday..

My husband got this forward and read it to me last night - I loved it so much and got such a kick out the humor that I just had to share it with you all today. I hope you all have a wonderful day! :o) *********************************

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.


Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Bottom up!


Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio two to one, etc.


Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No pain...good!



Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food are fried these day in vegetable oil. In fact, they permeated by it. How could getting more vegetable be bad for you?!?


Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach.


Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!


Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming good for your figure, explain whale to me..


Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is shape!


Well... I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.