Alone

Now that the weekend is over I can relate all the details..... I didn't want anyone in particular (mainly some weirdo stalker or something) to know that my whole family was gone and left me all alone for the holiday weekend.... well me and the watchdog that I am thankful for, especially in this neighborhood.
They all left to go see Edgey's dad in Nebraska on Wed. night. I went to church and then went to bed early.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. Nobody was around and I really didn't want to do anything, but 12:30 came around and I was hungry... so I got in the datebook from the Register and looked to see what restaurants were open. I really didn't want to bother anyone, although I was invited several places (thanks for the invite - you know who you are). Ryan's Steakhouse was having a Thanksgiving buffet thing for $8.99 so I went to that. It was actually pretty good and I even saw someone there that I knew. Since I was all by myself, however, the bus boy came and cleared my table and I wasn't even done..... so then I had to wait for new silverware and a drink again. LOL. Then I went home and read the ads for Black Friday and watched the last DVD's of LOST the 2nd season. I was kind of disappointed in the ending. Went to bed by 10pm. That's early for me.
Friday I got up at 7 and showered then cleaned for a while and then went shopping around 10am. It was crazy out there. I got one thing that was in the ad - a $10 vaccuum/hand vac for upstairs. I hate lugging my big one up the stairs. I usually have Ethan carry it up for me. Then I shopped for a while. I picked up my mother and we went to Bennigans for late lunch. It was around 2 p.m. by the time we ate. I had my usual. Mariah, you have to go with me and try the chicken strips there! I love them. Then mom and I shopped for a while. I found something I wanted for myself (I'm hard to buy for- who woulda guessed) so she bought it for me for my Christmas present. I told her to wrap it up so I won't be left out. :)

Saturday - had to work. It was actually a nice day again. Very few patients on the floor.

Sunday - I got to stay home on call. I slept in 2 extra hours then did some more cleaning.... is that naughty? cleaning on a Sunday? I had allllllllll the laundry done. 11am rolls around and I was getting worried I might get called in and hadn't eaten anything yet, so I went to chinese all by myself again. I tried to call my friend but she was busy and had already run through the McDonalds drive-through and got happy meals. :(
After that I went to Kmart, Bath & Beyond, Marshalls and then home again. I took the gals at work some Dairy Queen because they were having a chocolate attack. Then I went home and the family got home. Now I have 2 big baskets full of laundry again. The kids were totally squirrelly and wound up till they went to bed. Here I was trying to be thankful they were home.
I was certainly thankful when they went to bed.

So that's a wrap up of my weekend. Nothing too exciting.

More Thoughts on Giving Thanks

Yes, I know it is past Thanksgiving.

My friend sent out a note on one of our e-mail homeschool loops about her Thanksgiving and how she had a gal from Russia (getting married to my friend's cousin) at her dinner. They went on a walk down to the lake and were talking and she learned what a rough life the Russian girl had. To make a long story short.... they were walking back to the house and passed the edge of the trail. There is a big tree there she calls the "Narnia tree" because it's like the doorway into Narnia and escape from the real world. When she got to the tree and passed it, she said, "Back to reality." The Russian girl said, "And what a lovely reality it is."

My friend, of course, got a mental smack in the face and realized how self centered and unthankful we really are. I myself have said that more than once...... "Back to reality"

I also received this story in an email today and had to share it.

THE BLESSING OF THORNS

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against aNovember gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze. Then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole that from her.

During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she coveted, called saying she could not come for the holiday.

Then Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. She has no idea what I'm feeling, thought Sandra with a shudder.
Thanksgiving? Thankful for what? She wondered. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The shop clerk's approach startled her.

"I....I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.

"For Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving "Special?" asked the shop clerk. "I'm convinced that flowers tellstories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this thanksgiving?"
"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Just then the shop door's small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, "Hi,Barbara...let me get your order." She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying anarrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers."Want this in a box?" asked the clerk.
Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.
"Yes, please," Barbara, replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said as she gently tapped her chest. And she left with her order.

"Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh....she just left with no flowers!"
"Right", said the clerk, "I cut off the flowers. That's the Special. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."

"Oh, come on, you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!"exclaimed Sandra.
"Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling much like you feel today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery."
"That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk, "and for the first time in my life, had just spent the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel."

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra."I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and never questioned the good things that happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask questions! It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her.

"I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving Special....12 thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.
"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind measking why she wants something that looks like that?"
"No...I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from "thorny" times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend theSpecial!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said. "It's all too...fresh."
"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."
Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take those twelvelong-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.
"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in aminute."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?""Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. Thefirst year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed acard to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read: "My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thankedYou a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant.

"Praise Him for your roses; thank him for your thorns!

-- Author Unknown

Black Friday!

Why do they call this Black Friday? because it's the biggest shopping day of the year and even if stores are in the red, this is the day they end up in the black.
Am I going shopping? I might... but I did not get up at no 4:30 a.m. to be a some store at 5 a.m. It gets earlier and earlier every year. Unbelievable. I really didn't see anything that exciting in the ads anyway. All for the satanic holiday called christmas. Did you know that Santa switched around is also Satan? They both dress in red too.

Anyway, I love Christmas! so don't get your britches all up in a bunch. I love the lights the most, and the smells of the season and the giving stuff.... but it all seems sooooooo commercial sometimes. We just give 3 gifts to our kids. I think I have said this before. If Jesus got 3 gifts then my kids can just have 3 gifts. Well... I do put a few more in the stockings because I love stockings too. I actually put a few presents in my own stocking last year just so I would have something fun to open. :) If I wrap them I forget what they are anyway till I open them.

I usually start shopping in October for Christmas stuff. This year I am way behind! I usually have some sort of crafty thing figured out too and I haven't figured out anything this year. I am really way behind. I guess I just haven't been very creative yet. So pray for me so I will get creative. :)

Thanksgiving

This is from Jesse. He did this for part of his school on Wed. He is very detail oriented. I asked him to color in the letters and he had to use all the colors of the turkey in the right order.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for family, an awesome husband, church family, good friends, a great pastor, a house to live in, vehicles that work, a watchdog, my college classes and the teachers there and the fact that I can study the bible freely, my country and servicemen that fight for it, my job, and the list goes on and on.......
But especially I am thankful to Jesus for being my righteousness.... Without Him I am nothing ....

Oh yeah, and I'm thankful to have time all to myself too!
:)

Blessings!

This weekend was my weekend off and it was really great! Friday night Edgey and I went out to Anita, Iowa to some hick restaurant called the Redwood Steak House with the men's group peoples. Edgey wasn't too excited about going all the way out there, but they kept telling us it would be worth the drive. It was a long drive and they promised they would protect us from the children of the corn out there. We all had a lot of fun and laughs and got all rowdy and had a run in with the law. LOL.

Saturday I tried to sleep in but I was wide awake. Ethan had karate and was gone till around 12:30 and Jesse slept till after 11:00 a.m. because he went to bed sooooo late the night before. I just sat in my bed with the covers pulled up to my chin trying to go back to sleep. Finally Edgey came and woke me up with a cappuccino from QuickTrip. He was going to go to get a real one from Starbucks or Caribou Coffee but I talked him out of it because I figured we would get one later that night when we went out again.
He took the kids up to his Auntie's to spend the night and then we went shopping for a while.
We met up with B & Larry at Olive Garden. What was really great about that was that I was really hungry for good pasta and we let them pick the restaurant..... so I was really blessed because I got to get some good pasta. I only had a cheese stick and cappuccino all day so I really enjoyed dinner. We talked until we felt guilty for sitting there because there was long line waiting to get in.
After that we went to the new Caribou over by Jordan Creek.... Larry gave us a tour because we are Jordan Creek challenged. We talked for a while there and then Larry took us to the Apple store at the mall to explain the computers. The guys were making fun of B & me because we were playing with the computers. B wrote on her blog just so she could say she blogged and I hadn't. She was giving me a hard time because she was tired of seeing Salt & Light all the time. My mom has been bugging me too.
I guess I haven't felt like writing much. Sometimes I feel like writing and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I am creative and sometimes I am not.

Anyway, we had a really good time. After they dropped us back off at our vehicle, we went to Walmart. What is a date night out without going to Wallyworld?
By the time we got home and unloaded we both sat in the lazyboy chairs to chat and guess what? We both fell asleep in the chairs watching CSI Miami. Pretty pathetic don't you think?
So much for romance.

Sunday was nice because we didn't have to get anyone ready but ourselves. Somebody had to have Starbucks to top off the weekend...and it wasn't me. I got to sing at church. Yay!!!
Then after that we were going to help decorate for Christmas but there was a board meeting and it was taking forever..... so we went driving around Adel looking at houses. We stopped in and saw two. One we really liked and another one was just way overpriced for what it was.

After that we went to pick up the kids at Auntie's and ended up staying a while and watching Iron Chef. It was a face off between Rachael Ray and some other chick named Gionni.... the secret ingredient was cranberries. All the dishes had to have cranberries in it. I would have been in big trouble because the only thing with cranberries that I ever eat is cranberry jelly right from the can.... and the only time we really have that is for thanksgiving or with turkey. I guess I need to expand my horizons. Some of the stuff they made looked absolutely delicious and the winner was Rachael Ray.

Monday - back to the same old stuff... doing school with the kids, cleaning, cooking and laundry.

salt & light

Well, I must start by saying that I was getting discouraged about the outcome of the elections..... but you know, then I remembered that God, himself, is in control. I did what I believed I was supposed to do. I voted for who I thought I should vote for. It's done and over now.

God is sovereign over all! All authority is established by God (Romans 13:1-2) and whoever resists (my interpretation - whines, complains and has a fit) that power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

It reminds me of David and Saul. Even though Saul chased and hunted David down and cursed him- David always honored Saul because he was the King and God's chosen one for that time. Even when David had his chance to kill Saul, he still honored him.

We should honor God's chosen leaders now. Don't forget where we stand in God's kingdom. We are to be salt and light....

Duh?

In response to John Kerry's remark: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."