Christian Photographers Community

Ruth if you need a ride somewhere I can help you.  Now that the phones are working feel free to call.

Quote from: Janet on December 13, 2011, 10:10:30 AM

Ruth, nice to see you.  I included your nieces' stories in the book, but unfortunately, they were edited out.    Editor said she only wanted to hear Beth's story.........I was disappointed in that, as I felt the information in your girls' stories would be helpful in understanding Neurofibromatosis.

Janet, no problem. It gave me a chance to revisit the losses my sister had gone through and to have a few talks with her. They were special girls and my sister is one very special lady!

Busy, busy, busy, bizzy, dizzy!!!

And the result? TIRED 

Tomorrow's much the same - cook for a family dinner after a funeral, attend the funeral, help clean up afterwards, then 2 back to back doctor appointments several miles apart.

Then...I think I'm coming home and turning off all the lights, the cell phone, and the television. 

I loved the earrings. Unfortunately, there are none that I can wear - I'm allergic to even the Whispers brand that was supposed to be nonallergenic. So, I enjoy the beautiful ones that others wear. I couldn't even wear my own wedding and engagement rings!

Now, it's 'way past midnight, so I'll shut down the computer and go to bed.

My prayer, as always, is that our gracious, loving Father will grant each of us peace and serenity as we rest.

Love to y'all,
Ruth Ann

               ROYAL REFLECTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS

A Season of Wonder



                   

                     Today's Scripture:  Stand still and consider the
wondrous works of God

                      (Job 37:14, NKJV).



                     Point to Ponder:  Pray to be calm and quiet and hushed,
and that He will

                      vouchsafe you the sense of His blessed presence; that
you may do all things

beneath His eye; to sit with Mary calmly at His feet and hear His voice, and
then calmly rise and minister to Him.    -Edward Bouverie Pusey



Today's Prayer thot:  Spend two or three minutes in absolute silence.  Do
not move; do not think of what you are facing today; just remember God,
listening for His wondrous Word to enter your heart. Perhaps you will want
to repeat the name of Jesus, always listening for His echo in your soul, for
"at His name all heaven and earth will bow in worship" (Philippians 2:10).

Hi everyone.  I expect to have a fairly quiet day today.  We do have Bible study with the pastor this morning and then will enjoy the time at Dunkin' Donut.  Then nothing extra on the schedule for the rest of the day.  Yesterday was a beautiful day here getting up to 65 degrees and a carbon copy is on tap for today.  I have my car scheduled for the body shop on January 9th.  Fortunately the repair is not at all urgent.

Pat, sure hope you don't get the flu.  My arm wasn't even sore this year after I had the flu shot.

Janet, I hope you enjoyed your time with Mary in repainting the trees and birds.  I am sure that adds a very nice touch to your room.  We had a mural in our dining room on one wall in the house we had before moving here and we really enjoyed it. 

Ruth Ann, it sounds like you are pushing yourself terribly hard.  Couldn't others in better health do the cooking?  I just worry about you-not trying to meddle.

Judy, thanks for that special piece.

Ruth Ann, I hope you're not pushing yourself too hard.  There does come a time when it's important to remember that little word "no".

Larry, it sounds like you should have a quiet, restful day.

The temperatures don't get very high around here these days, in fact there are still some traces of last week's one inch snowfall.   That's December in the North Country!   

Marilyn, I did take a peek at your earrings.  Beautiful!  I used to do bead work earrings but I got tired of doing them.  I gave all my supplies to a lady in Texas.  She was on SrNet.  Donna Getz.  Donna Marie was her name on SrNet.  She has family near here and we meet every once in a while.  Her church had a group that did bead work so I am sure they were all well used. 

Like Ruth Ann, I, too, and helping with a funeral dinner today.  I went to the visitation last evening.  I have Macaroni and Cheese in the oven now.  It will be a tiring day for me.  I just have to have a chair for me to sit down once in a while.  I am so fortunate to have back pain that is gone when I sit, lie or walk.  It only hurts while I am standing...like washing dishes, waiting in line at Walmart and such. 

Then this evening Ivalou, Jane and I are going to the Lions Club Christmas Dinner at Third Phase where the cook, Kathy, said we would be having ham, roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, REAL sweet potatoes...not from a can...and lots of desserts!  You feel like royalty when you eat at Third Phase.  Everything is so elegant! 

It looks like a drizzly day in Indiana but suppose to be a lot warmer today.  I will take it!

Good morning, friends,

I'll certainly rest when I arrive home this evening.

Much love to everyone.

Ruth Ann

Ruth Ann, I add my vote to your not driving yourself so hard, and learning to say "NO."

I am not feeling up to par, but being awake past 3 AM tends to do that to a person. 

Mary hasn't yet arrived.  Carpenter didn't come today, said he had one corner cabinet to finish before he tears out the rest of my kitchen.  It will get done, it WILL get done, IT WILL GET DONE!!  eventually.

Her is what I consider some excellent advice about gift giving to kids:  It is called the four gift rule.  Give them:

One thing they want
One thing they need
One thing to wear
One thing to read.

Sure would make Christmas simpler for parents and grandparents if that rule were followed, and the kids might appreciate the gifts more, too.

I'm going to try to catch a nap before Mary arrives (IF she arrives.)

Spent more than one day on a prescription error by my doctor's office - they sent my script to a place where I do not have coverage.  Meds came here ---they cannot be returned -- price is 3 months worth at almost $100 ----   Now, all is settled.  Thank goodness!

Oven repair man is coming tomorrow.  We shall see if we can even get the parts needed. 

Janet:  Last year, the main church Christmas service had what Don called "pure jazz" as we entered & later - we were so disappointed.  We love everything but not not what they plan for Christmas & want to return just for that night to what we grew up with in the more traditional church. 

Etta Sue:  It sounds like a wonderful place "Third Place" and bless all of them.  It amazes me that people don't know how to cook just to save a lot of money is the most important thing & better food (at times).  My sons know how to do laundry and cook & clean as well as their sister because I had back surgery when all were teens.    Wish I  could help the girls learn to mend and do a little sewing. 

It's been good reading everyone's posts and catching up. My life seemed to go into overdrive these last few weeks, looking after my Dad on weekends (case of painful shingles on his head) and juggling work in between. I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks off work.
I'm so glad and thankful that when we go through trials, we can lean on the Lord. He is always there for us.

Hello Betty!  I don't remember "meeting" you, but welcome!  And here is a cheap, simple and VERY effective treatment for those shingles!  I found it online, paid to download it, and my husband used it.  It cleared up his shingles in just a few days, and they haven't come back.  Have your Dad drink a half cup of water with two tablespoonfuls of good Apple Cider vinegar first thing in the morning.  Then soak a cloth with the pure vinegar and use it directly on the shingles.  Let me know how he does--it sure worked for Darrel!

HALLELUJAH!!  I just approved the layout on the book!  Should have a proof of the actual book in a week or so!  People keep asking me how many pages it has, and until now, I didn't know, but there are 212 pages!  Oh, how I hope it gets here while John is here, wouldn't that be great?  Exciting!

Mary still hasn't shown up......       

Oops, Judy!  You posted that today already.  But it's good to read it again........

Thanks Janet.  This one is different.

ROYAL REFLECTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS

A Season of Wonder



Today's Scripture:  Zechariah ... was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: "Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited his people and  redeemed them ... Because of God's tender mercy, the light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace" (Luke 1:67-79, NLT).



Point to Ponder:  Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine.  It brings us near to the Infinite.

-       Thomas Carlyle



Today's Prayer:  Great Light, Mover of all that is moving and at rest, ... be my glad Song and my stark Silence.   -  Stephen P. Lawhead

I was going to sign up for a credit card tonight......till I saw the interest and read the small print.  Eek that is not for me.

Hi everyone.  Just back from coffee and a quick stop at Walgreen's.  I have no other place to go today so am looking forward to a quiet and hopefully productive morning here at my desk.  My wife has a luncheon engagement with a friend.  Last evening I prepared my Christmas e-mail, which I will send this year in place of mailed cards.  This is my second year not to mail Christmas cards and am sure that will be what I do in the future as well.  It looks like we will have another very nice day here.  Yesterday it got up to about 70 degrees.

Etta Sue, my wife is also relatively pain free with her knees when she is sitting but certainly not so when she is walking.  Of course, her fibromyalgia always hurts.

Janet, liked your four gift rule for children.  Hope you got some good rest last night and are feeling better today.

Carol, glad you got satisfaction on your prescription problem.  I agree with you on the traditional type of Christmas service at church.  Fortunately, our church has a very traditional approach to those services.

Betty, sure hope you dad feels better some from those miserable shingles.  It sounds like you are ready for a couple of weeks vacation from work.

Janet, I copied your treatment for shingles and emailed it to myself to keep in a saved e-mail file so I could find it again if I need to find it.  Exciting times with your book.

Judy, thanks for the "Reflections for Christmas".  Credit cards are handy and we use one a lot but always pay it off when the bill comes and haven't paid interest for many years.

Betty:  Shingles are heard to be very painful and I am sorry for your dad.  May he heal quickly. 

Don is at his doc's appointment and our favorite repairman is here.  My hand is aching so much and it may be an injury I can't recall what happened.  Using a pain cream & also the paraffin dip.  Should stop using the keyboard, don't you think? 

Gray and gloomy and rainy today.  It's easy to grumble about it.  BUT!!!  It is a day the Lord has made and therefore it's a beautiful day.   

My, did we have a spread of food last evening at Third Phase!  Pork loin, chicken, green beans, corn, real sweet potatoes (that were heavenly), cole slaw, vegetable plate, cranberries, rolls, gravy, cornbread dressing and probably some things that I can't remember.  Pickle and cheese plate.  Dessert was strawberry cheesecake, pecan pie, sugar-free cherry pie, blueberry pie and cookies...all calorie free! 

I chuckled to myself when I returned to the dining room with my plate of food.  One of the girls was taking a goblet of ice water to a lady.  She started to set it at right-front of the lady by going from the left in front of her.  Then must have remembered her lesson to always serve on the persons right.  She pulled her arm back and set the ice water to the right of the person.  All the girls were the best of manners but not overly in-your-face.  Wonderful time! 

And Kathy didn't get her G.E.D. in the mail! 

We served about 56 people at the funeral dinner.  Clarksville Christian Church has the reputation of good food.  Most of them came into the kitchen to thank us and tell us how good the food was.  While scraping the plates, we sure didn't find much food not eaten.  They especially like it that they were eating on china and with silverware.  Then it was clean up.  But I was home by 2:30pm so when you have plenty of help, it goes fast!

Today is a do-nothing day!  Yay!  And it sure is rainy and windy today.  The temp is in the high 40's so not too bad but that dampness and wind would go right through you if you were out and about. 

Tomorrow is taking Ivalou for a blood draw and then breakfast out.  Then at 3pm I am going to church to help sort Christmas Cards to give out Sunday at church.  After that I am going to Tony and Charlene's, hoping to see all her little ones that she baby sits for.  She sent pictures this week and there were 9 there that day...all under pre-school age...all sitting on little chairs...all in a row!  One video they were singing 'Jingle Bells'!  Cute little tykes.

Then Tony, Charlene and I are going somewhere for out Christmas together. 

My best Christmas gifts are green.  Non-returnable.  Fits every pocket.  And no shopping on my part!

Hi Everyone...

In our Daily devotions each day, yesterday started a little series "The Twelve Days of Christmas" so I've decided that I'm going to post them in here each day and also in the "Manna For the Soul" topic on Seniors and Friends.

Please pray with me that the Word will be accepted in our topic on S&F where we can feel free to post God's Word.

Now, the first one...

Link to this on S&F

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  Genesis 3:15

The 18th Century Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a catchy tune and tells of a young man giving a cumulative group of gifts to the one he loves.  His gifts run from a variety of fowl to folk working, frolicking, and playing instruments!

Our story of a dozen days of Deity's invasion of earth, and the penetrating of men's lives, is also filled with various expressions of God's revealing of His Son, and our Saviour to mankind.  Come on and I hope you enjoy the trip, and perhaps it will put a tune or two in your heart.

Our text conveys the truth of the inbred animosity and enmity of Satan for the coming Messiah.  And an early expression of God's solution of a Redeemer is prophesied here, for His plan declares that the gift of salvation had been formed in the mind of God long before it was implemented.  Our Book says there was a "...Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8b).

Jesus Christ said that He would utter things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the world too (cf. Matt. 13:35). 

Friend, God did not search through Heaven looking for a "volunteer" to come forward as the propitiation for the human race.  No, the answer to redemption's plan was seated at His right hand!  The Crown Prince of Glory, Jesus Christ, was a ready and willing accomplice in the master plan of atonement.  How He was to arrive on planet earth, to me at least, is the greatest miracle in all of history--the virgin birth!

Such wonderful thoughts on this advent season. Truly, "Jesus is the reason for the season."

I was speaking with someone yesterday afternoon, and he reminded me of this verse:

Matthew 22:38-39
King James Version (KJV)
³⁸This is the first and great commandment.

³⁹And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

That gave me pause - yes, I really do need to love myself more. We, as servants, tend to forget these 2 verses, but if we are to be true and faithful stewards of our time and talents, then we really do need to commit these verses to memory.

So, I'm going to rest again this evening, knowing that someone who is blind needs a ride to the eye surgeon tomorrow morning early - the hopes are that the eye to have the surgery will be able to see again. As I rest in the waiting room, my prayers will be that this person's surgery will be successful.

Love to each of you,
Ruth Ann

Wonderful idea, Pat.  I'll be watching for each day's offering.

Ruth Ann, I'll add the eyesight of your friend to my prayers tonight.

Thanks, Jeanne.

That was a good read, Pat.

G'nite, friends,
Ruth Ann

Hi everyone.  I have a few minutes before my neighbor picks me up and we go to the senior center for our men's Friday coffee.  Then have a friend coming over to spend an hour this morning and that will be followed by our ROMEO's luncheon, which is close by today.  Yesterday I ended up going out to lunch with Pat as they person she had planned to meet for lunch had come down with the flu.  We stopped at Walmart and Barnes & Noble and pretty well completed our Christmas shopping.  Now just have to write some check and get the few packages we have wrapped.  I did get my Christmas letters e-mailed yesterday. 

Carol, hope your hand is feeling better today. 

Jeanne, it is the gray and gloomy days that make us appreciate the bright and sunny ones so much. 

Etta Sue, your Third Phase dinner sounds like it was very special and with really good food as well.  I bet your green Christmas gifts are anticipated and really appreciated.

Pat, thanks for sharing the Daily Devotional material.

Ruth Ann, another good Samaritan act today.  I know your efforts are appreciated.

Well!  Mary finally DID arrive, late Wednesday night.  Yesterday, she and I got one wall in the kitchen painted with zebra stripes.  The end wall will be a jungle.  That wall is where our two stained glass windows with macaws are, and I had painted limbs, lots of leaves and other birds on it.  Now it has been painted over and really looks blank to us.  So today I hope we get going on that project.  Time is short; she needs to go to Dodge City one day and I want to go with her to do a little shopping (my first for Christmas.. ) and I'm sure she wants to be home in Dallas for Christmas.  She has a boyfriend now; last year she spent Christmas with us!

And...the guys are to be here at 8:00 to get busy tearing out the bottom cabinets and installing the new ones.  I HOPE!  This has already been postponed several times, for various reasons.  I know it is tough, with Lon being single and working by himself except for one helper.  He always anticipates getting much more done than he can really accomplish, and being an optimist myself, I do understand that.

AND.....Rising Above has its back cover being designed, then it will be bound and sent to me as a REAL BOOK!!  How wonderful if it arrives while John is here to share in Beth's joy!  God is SO GOOD!

I must run over to Pat's and get my hair done.  Maybe I will have time to stop back by later, but no promises today!

"...the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the powr of the Highest shall overshadow thee:  therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."  Luke 1:35b

The opening "act" if you please , played out on the stage in the quaint, quiet, city of Nazareth; finds the angel, Gabriel, communicating the most fantastic news to an incredulous, young virgin named Mary.  The staggering news that was given that night is to me the greatest miracle in the annals of time.  You might argue that the resurrection was a greater miracle or the Rapture of the saints will be far superior.  But, let me present my thesis with this rebuttal; others had risen from the dead!  The widow of Nain's boy, Lazarus, and the man who fell on Elisha's bones for instance.  Also, others had been "raptured," like Enoch and Elijah I propose.  However, a virgin birth was unprecedented and unrepeated for time and for all time.  And the means of her being with child doesn't border on the miraculous, it is a miracle beyond our comprehension.  The Holy Ghost overshadowed her and placed the seed of God in the womb of Mary.

When you think about it, the only thing approaching this miracle is what God does in us at the time of our new birth!  The Holy Ghost comes in with the seed of God and imports in us a new nature, the divine nature, God's nature in the womb of our soul, and we are born again!  In some respects we must become a "Mary," willing to yield to the Holy Ghost, so that life, God's life can be born anew in us.  Perhaps we should lift our voices as the virgin did and shout, "My soul doth magnify the Lord"  (Luke 1:46).

Wow!  That's wonderful.