Sunday
Today I want to worship You.
And just marvel at what You created.
And just be amazed at the miracle of babies.
And just thankful for the gift You gave of children and daughters-in-law.
And I want to think about how You know all about the over 500 souls who died by tornadoes this year.
I have to believe You know and You care about each tiny detail.
You are The God who comforts.
You are The God who judges, and who will set all things right someday.
In heaven there will be no tornadoes. No fear. No lurking in closets and listening to warnings on the radio.
In heaven there will be no mosquitoes.
And we will all be good spellers.
We know a lot about Your character. And everything You wanted us to know is in Your Word.
Creation reveals such exquisite detail, and points to You: Our Intelligent Designer.
But, I have read the end of the Book, and things look so bleak before things get better.
You made the cricket. And the doggy’s mournful howl. You put in nature lessons for us all.
Please put Your song on our lips. Clean out my soul, form in me a new heart.
Please be with all those who lost loved ones in tornadoes so that they are not bitter, but turn to You.
Please help us be accurate and true in teaching Your Word. Please put in our voice the soft love and gentle whisper---attractiveness instead of distain. Let others see we care, and in that care is help, not indifference. I need Your patience, long-suffering, gentleness. On my own, I am critical, judgmental, and impatient. Please mold me and make me like Your Son: our example and Savior. Redeemer and King. For we ask this in His Name: In Jesus Name. Amen.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Marinade
Email exchange...you might want to read it from the bottom up...
(Bob just called to tell me he was on the way to the train station --5pm--and how my email came just as everyone was headed to lunch, but his loud belly laughs caught everyones attention...and then my second one came in, the one about the one leg, and they all died laughing. again. Bob was laughing so hard walking to the train hours later, that I am sure he is a sight to behold. There. I hope I have not ruined it for you nor gotten your hopes up.)
RE: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
From: Robert
To: joyce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My, my, you have had an interesting day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joyce
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 12:48 PM
To: Williamson, Bob
Subject: Re: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
I am glad I made you laugh.
But, I would want to know if I had given someone something I was proud of and it had a dead insect in it. I just keep telling myself that it was a dead cricket. (saw blade back leg) (singular) I just hope it was not a dead roach. And was it drowning by hotsauce or cooked in hot sauce? did the cricket come from her pots and pans or was it hidden in the chillies? And I know she uses the blender for some portion of the sauce...so how did Mr. Jimminey come out so whole? (just missing one leg?) I need to quit thinking about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert
To: joyce
Sent: Tue, May 24, 2011 12:01:45 PM
Subject: RE: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
Yeah, you made me laugh. (I’m so ashamed.) But there was no need to feel guilty about hoarding the hot sauce. I’m not much of a Picante fan. (But I’d also say there’s no need to tell Amber about the cricket. That would just make her feel bad.) Just look on the bright side – it wasn’t a dead mouse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joyce
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:51 AM
To: Williamson, Bob
Subject: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
Amber made and brought us a jar of hot sauce. She said it was her best batch, as she had finally found just the right chilies. or is it chillies. Anyway. I keep forgetting to offer you some, and since there are fresh avacadoes in it, I have been eating it for my lunch. I insisted she leave it with us, as I did not want her to have to juggle it on her way to her sister's. I was selfish.
I dumped the last of it in my bowl, and took a call from Rachel, your niece (in town next Tuesday, wants to just do supper somewhere) and I was thinking about how selfish I had been. But, I decided to justify it as the avacadoes were fresh, and I did not want to let them go to waste...and in that last bowl was a dead cricket.
Suddenly, I was not hungry anymore. My hot sauce craving was gone. (as was my guilt)
I wondered if Amber was having a cricket infestation at her house.
I wondered if I should tell her.
I wondered if I was being punished, and if only I'd sent the jar with her to her sisters--who would have eaten the cricket?? And would she have told me??
too funny, huh? Are you snorting with laughter at your computer?
Hope so. I hope I made your day. Love, John the Baptist
(Bob just called to tell me he was on the way to the train station --5pm--and how my email came just as everyone was headed to lunch, but his loud belly laughs caught everyones attention...and then my second one came in, the one about the one leg, and they all died laughing. again. Bob was laughing so hard walking to the train hours later, that I am sure he is a sight to behold. There. I hope I have not ruined it for you nor gotten your hopes up.)
RE: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
From: Robert
To: joyce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My, my, you have had an interesting day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joyce
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 12:48 PM
To: Williamson, Bob
Subject: Re: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
I am glad I made you laugh.
But, I would want to know if I had given someone something I was proud of and it had a dead insect in it. I just keep telling myself that it was a dead cricket. (saw blade back leg) (singular) I just hope it was not a dead roach. And was it drowning by hotsauce or cooked in hot sauce? did the cricket come from her pots and pans or was it hidden in the chillies? And I know she uses the blender for some portion of the sauce...so how did Mr. Jimminey come out so whole? (just missing one leg?) I need to quit thinking about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert
To: joyce
Sent: Tue, May 24, 2011 12:01:45 PM
Subject: RE: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
Yeah, you made me laugh. (I’m so ashamed.) But there was no need to feel guilty about hoarding the hot sauce. I’m not much of a Picante fan. (But I’d also say there’s no need to tell Amber about the cricket. That would just make her feel bad.) Just look on the bright side – it wasn’t a dead mouse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joyce
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:51 AM
To: Williamson, Bob
Subject: lunch, selfishness, God's sense of humor
Amber made and brought us a jar of hot sauce. She said it was her best batch, as she had finally found just the right chilies. or is it chillies. Anyway. I keep forgetting to offer you some, and since there are fresh avacadoes in it, I have been eating it for my lunch. I insisted she leave it with us, as I did not want her to have to juggle it on her way to her sister's. I was selfish.
I dumped the last of it in my bowl, and took a call from Rachel, your niece (in town next Tuesday, wants to just do supper somewhere) and I was thinking about how selfish I had been. But, I decided to justify it as the avacadoes were fresh, and I did not want to let them go to waste...and in that last bowl was a dead cricket.
Suddenly, I was not hungry anymore. My hot sauce craving was gone. (as was my guilt)
I wondered if Amber was having a cricket infestation at her house.
I wondered if I should tell her.
I wondered if I was being punished, and if only I'd sent the jar with her to her sisters--who would have eaten the cricket?? And would she have told me??
too funny, huh? Are you snorting with laughter at your computer?
Hope so. I hope I made your day. Love, John the Baptist
Friday, May 20, 2011
I want to remember:
I spent forty minutes a week ago composing a Mother’s Day post, and blogspot ate it.
So, I am composing this in Word, and will copy and paste like a good girl.
Mother’s Day was wonderful in that I heard from all three of my sons. James called from A-stan, and sent two dozen roses!!! Rose report---the red ones lasted eleven days! The orange and white pooped out much sooner. So, red roses are best!
On the 14th, the firstborn brought us his animals as he was on the way to the east coast for pre-deployment training. I am so glad they are conferencing with who they replace over there. Whew. He is deploying to one of the most dangerous places in A-stan on my birthday. What is it about my birthday that attracts deployments?? (middle son deployed last year on my birthday)
Our youngest, and college student studying to be an electrician (graduating Aug. 19th) built a kitty door and kitty climbing tower in the hall closet for Emma cat. This gives her a place of retreat and reflection from big Tifa dog. I was told and observed during skype calls that Emma cat was rather standoffish. But, she has warmed up to us and our house so smoothly. She loves the birdfeeder action, and jumping from table to counter. Her favorite place to sit is here on the computer table, which makes reading the screen a bit of a challenge. And she rolls around. Flops—as if almost into my lap, laying her head back on this keyboard. Where to scratch?? Not the ears nor tummy. And the poor thing is shedding as she walks. She is used to Alaska. We keep the AC at 76 degrees---which is comfortable for us, but has the cat stretched out like a kitty thermometer.
Tifa’s favorite game is chase/herd the kitty. So, when I hear Emma’s warning voice, I have to turn and say, unto Tifa: leave the cat alone. Shortened to: cat-lone. (which is what we used to tell middle son when visiting friends with a not toddler safe cat) And he would repeat in his cute little voice: cat-lone.
Tifa is amazing. We had observed her licking and needing petted on skype, so we were not sure how she would do here with boring old folks. She does not bark. I have only heard one deep-from-the-chest wolf for some reason while out driving. Yes. She loves to ride in the car! Fun! We just got back from mailing some bills at the post office and driving through McDonalds for a sausage biscuit for my snack.
Tifa is a big black dog with white feet---border collie markings and the type of hair. With an undercoat which speaks of her huskie mix, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback ridge of hair which makes her look like she is having a bad hair day. But, she is beautiful, friendly, energetic, loving, sweet, with the fastest legs, and body of a greyhound. She can run like the wind. And thankfully, God provided a seven year old neighbor boy to come play ball in the back yard with Tifa. It helps wear her out. Tifa loves to fetch and play keep-away with tennis balls. And I think she was so relieved to see the smaller version of people when she met Pedro.
Tifa does have the attention span of a toddler, however, and has sailed over the fence. Twice. So, she must be constantly watched when in our back yard. It is scary. Because we don’t want to lose her on our watch. She loves to run up and down the fence and “play” with the neighbor’s big dog and little wiener dog, but dogs one more yard over barked one day, and before we could stop her, she had sailed over the fence to investigate. And play. We hollered, and she came back---after a few minutes.
Then, when the new neighbors of the dogs was outside with her one year old baby, and doing a little sandbox play in the green turtle with a lid sandbox, something spooked Tifa, and she sailed over the fence again, and headed STRAIGHT for the baby, as I yelled, and shouted---“she is good with children”. And thankfully, the lady did not freak out. I would have freaked out if a strange dog sailed over my fence and licked my baby on the face. Yikes. The lady even helped push her back over the fence! And Tifa is big. We should have met the neighbors before this---I should have baked cookies. It is not too late, but, oh, my. Those were some scary moments.
So, I take her in the back yard, and try to look for the clues she is thinking about fence jumping. I wish I could trust her out there. I wish I could let her enjoy the yard. She loves to flush birds from the bushes, and examine every bug. She is very co-ordinated. She can use her front claws and paws as hands and investigate a huge black ant crawling up the wall. When we keep Brody, our other daughter-in-law’s little Yorkie, we can let him roam in the back yard, and he will come scratch at the back door, as he loves to be with us.
We will either have to put up an electric fence, or use the shock collar for a while. I don’t know. If we had the super tall privacy fence, that would be the best. Ours is just a chain link. Might as well be a ladder. Ha
We are so thankful that the animals traveled so well, and the airlines were so nice to haul the crates to our car, and since our son was here for the handoff---we got to enjoy seeing him face to face for 18 hours, and his animals then knew we were safe people.
We can’t wait for the next stage: once our son travels to his next pre-deployment training, his dear wife, brave woman, will fly to Seattle and start driving to Texas with her brother and our four year old granddaughter and 8 month old grandson. We are so blessed to get to see them on skype, but what fun to have them here! Here where it is warmer, and where we have more shopping and eating choices. Here, where we can watch them grow up before our eyes for a while. The brave daughter-in-law will probably find a place closer to her folks and grandparents and friends in Houston, but we will enjoy them as long as we can.
Yesterday was like a three ring circus---I had just gotten back from lunch with my friend who lives one street over. She is an animal person, so she had come inside to see Tifa and Emma. I saw the mail lady start up the drive with a box from our daughter-in-law which she had told us contained the treats, brush, etc., but I was not sure how the mail lady would enjoy being licked and jumped up on, so as Tifa charged the door to say hello, I motioned for her to put the box on the step, and the skype call sounded---doodeedoo. Doo. Doo. Dooodeedo, doo. Do. So, we got to see the granddaughter wearing her gossamer wings from her Halloween outfit when she was 2 years old. She was wanting to check on her dog. Tifa so enjoyed hearing their voices, that she felt comfortable enough to go finish off her food. She lets her food sit all day, and then about 10 pm, when we are headed to bed, gives up on getting people food, and eats. I turned the camera so that the granddaughter could see her dog chowing down, but a black dog against a black frig…
What a hoot. Never a dull moment. When you pet the kitty, here comes the dog for her turn. And we bought this huge rope thingy toy for Tifa to chew on instead of the carpet edges by the front door. Ha. It is an old, old carpet. And these kong toys are great, too, to help her with the boredom.
We could not figure out whatall the items in the box were for. The Christmas Vacation ornament is so wonderful ! Cute!!! Halelujah Chorus with lights! But, there were these two rubber and wire thingies, which we thought maybe went with the doggie backpack. Bob tried them on his head, kinda like a hat frame, however. Ben, our youngest, and gifted son---he figured it out quickly when he came home last night. Then we remembered back to how we had remarked to the Alaska folks how treacherous our driveway was when iced over, and working for the power company, my husband can’t call in unless he is dying. After slip-sliding down the drive in his cowboy boots last January, February, March and April---the Alaska folks took pity upon him, and sent him these contraptions that strap over your shoes!!! YAY! Now we are ready for winter…and where shall we stash these things for seven months?? I am all for tacking them to the wall because I am afraid they might get lost in a closet. I guess I could nail them to the inside of the closet where we’d still see them. In our old age we are forgetting where we stash stuff.
More later. But, I shall end today with a prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, please protect Israel. Please send bad weather and plague upon the muslims who rush their borders, hate, and insanely think all their problems would be solved if Israel was destroyed. Please give Israel the spine and strength to push the arabs and muslims into the sea. I say, restore the borders YOU promised King David, Moses, and Abraham. Your will be done. Please open obama’s eyes or remove the asshole from office. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.
So, I am composing this in Word, and will copy and paste like a good girl.
Mother’s Day was wonderful in that I heard from all three of my sons. James called from A-stan, and sent two dozen roses!!! Rose report---the red ones lasted eleven days! The orange and white pooped out much sooner. So, red roses are best!
On the 14th, the firstborn brought us his animals as he was on the way to the east coast for pre-deployment training. I am so glad they are conferencing with who they replace over there. Whew. He is deploying to one of the most dangerous places in A-stan on my birthday. What is it about my birthday that attracts deployments?? (middle son deployed last year on my birthday)
Our youngest, and college student studying to be an electrician (graduating Aug. 19th) built a kitty door and kitty climbing tower in the hall closet for Emma cat. This gives her a place of retreat and reflection from big Tifa dog. I was told and observed during skype calls that Emma cat was rather standoffish. But, she has warmed up to us and our house so smoothly. She loves the birdfeeder action, and jumping from table to counter. Her favorite place to sit is here on the computer table, which makes reading the screen a bit of a challenge. And she rolls around. Flops—as if almost into my lap, laying her head back on this keyboard. Where to scratch?? Not the ears nor tummy. And the poor thing is shedding as she walks. She is used to Alaska. We keep the AC at 76 degrees---which is comfortable for us, but has the cat stretched out like a kitty thermometer.
Tifa’s favorite game is chase/herd the kitty. So, when I hear Emma’s warning voice, I have to turn and say, unto Tifa: leave the cat alone. Shortened to: cat-lone. (which is what we used to tell middle son when visiting friends with a not toddler safe cat) And he would repeat in his cute little voice: cat-lone.
Tifa is amazing. We had observed her licking and needing petted on skype, so we were not sure how she would do here with boring old folks. She does not bark. I have only heard one deep-from-the-chest wolf for some reason while out driving. Yes. She loves to ride in the car! Fun! We just got back from mailing some bills at the post office and driving through McDonalds for a sausage biscuit for my snack.
Tifa is a big black dog with white feet---border collie markings and the type of hair. With an undercoat which speaks of her huskie mix, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback ridge of hair which makes her look like she is having a bad hair day. But, she is beautiful, friendly, energetic, loving, sweet, with the fastest legs, and body of a greyhound. She can run like the wind. And thankfully, God provided a seven year old neighbor boy to come play ball in the back yard with Tifa. It helps wear her out. Tifa loves to fetch and play keep-away with tennis balls. And I think she was so relieved to see the smaller version of people when she met Pedro.
Tifa does have the attention span of a toddler, however, and has sailed over the fence. Twice. So, she must be constantly watched when in our back yard. It is scary. Because we don’t want to lose her on our watch. She loves to run up and down the fence and “play” with the neighbor’s big dog and little wiener dog, but dogs one more yard over barked one day, and before we could stop her, she had sailed over the fence to investigate. And play. We hollered, and she came back---after a few minutes.
Then, when the new neighbors of the dogs was outside with her one year old baby, and doing a little sandbox play in the green turtle with a lid sandbox, something spooked Tifa, and she sailed over the fence again, and headed STRAIGHT for the baby, as I yelled, and shouted---“she is good with children”. And thankfully, the lady did not freak out. I would have freaked out if a strange dog sailed over my fence and licked my baby on the face. Yikes. The lady even helped push her back over the fence! And Tifa is big. We should have met the neighbors before this---I should have baked cookies. It is not too late, but, oh, my. Those were some scary moments.
So, I take her in the back yard, and try to look for the clues she is thinking about fence jumping. I wish I could trust her out there. I wish I could let her enjoy the yard. She loves to flush birds from the bushes, and examine every bug. She is very co-ordinated. She can use her front claws and paws as hands and investigate a huge black ant crawling up the wall. When we keep Brody, our other daughter-in-law’s little Yorkie, we can let him roam in the back yard, and he will come scratch at the back door, as he loves to be with us.
We will either have to put up an electric fence, or use the shock collar for a while. I don’t know. If we had the super tall privacy fence, that would be the best. Ours is just a chain link. Might as well be a ladder. Ha
We are so thankful that the animals traveled so well, and the airlines were so nice to haul the crates to our car, and since our son was here for the handoff---we got to enjoy seeing him face to face for 18 hours, and his animals then knew we were safe people.
We can’t wait for the next stage: once our son travels to his next pre-deployment training, his dear wife, brave woman, will fly to Seattle and start driving to Texas with her brother and our four year old granddaughter and 8 month old grandson. We are so blessed to get to see them on skype, but what fun to have them here! Here where it is warmer, and where we have more shopping and eating choices. Here, where we can watch them grow up before our eyes for a while. The brave daughter-in-law will probably find a place closer to her folks and grandparents and friends in Houston, but we will enjoy them as long as we can.
Yesterday was like a three ring circus---I had just gotten back from lunch with my friend who lives one street over. She is an animal person, so she had come inside to see Tifa and Emma. I saw the mail lady start up the drive with a box from our daughter-in-law which she had told us contained the treats, brush, etc., but I was not sure how the mail lady would enjoy being licked and jumped up on, so as Tifa charged the door to say hello, I motioned for her to put the box on the step, and the skype call sounded---doodeedoo. Doo. Doo. Dooodeedo, doo. Do. So, we got to see the granddaughter wearing her gossamer wings from her Halloween outfit when she was 2 years old. She was wanting to check on her dog. Tifa so enjoyed hearing their voices, that she felt comfortable enough to go finish off her food. She lets her food sit all day, and then about 10 pm, when we are headed to bed, gives up on getting people food, and eats. I turned the camera so that the granddaughter could see her dog chowing down, but a black dog against a black frig…
What a hoot. Never a dull moment. When you pet the kitty, here comes the dog for her turn. And we bought this huge rope thingy toy for Tifa to chew on instead of the carpet edges by the front door. Ha. It is an old, old carpet. And these kong toys are great, too, to help her with the boredom.
We could not figure out whatall the items in the box were for. The Christmas Vacation ornament is so wonderful ! Cute!!! Halelujah Chorus with lights! But, there were these two rubber and wire thingies, which we thought maybe went with the doggie backpack. Bob tried them on his head, kinda like a hat frame, however. Ben, our youngest, and gifted son---he figured it out quickly when he came home last night. Then we remembered back to how we had remarked to the Alaska folks how treacherous our driveway was when iced over, and working for the power company, my husband can’t call in unless he is dying. After slip-sliding down the drive in his cowboy boots last January, February, March and April---the Alaska folks took pity upon him, and sent him these contraptions that strap over your shoes!!! YAY! Now we are ready for winter…and where shall we stash these things for seven months?? I am all for tacking them to the wall because I am afraid they might get lost in a closet. I guess I could nail them to the inside of the closet where we’d still see them. In our old age we are forgetting where we stash stuff.
More later. But, I shall end today with a prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, please protect Israel. Please send bad weather and plague upon the muslims who rush their borders, hate, and insanely think all their problems would be solved if Israel was destroyed. Please give Israel the spine and strength to push the arabs and muslims into the sea. I say, restore the borders YOU promised King David, Moses, and Abraham. Your will be done. Please open obama’s eyes or remove the asshole from office. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Way to Go Navy Seals !!!
It is an answer to prayers. No one can hide from God. God knows, and God can direct and protect. I am so thankful none of our soldiers were killed or injured getting evil.
I must admit, that last night, as we watched TV, they announced that the president was going to make an announcement at 9:30pm our time, and no subject. We thought that was kind of presumptious. I never guessed news of Libya nor pakistan.
The president is so hard to listen to. Halting speech. The way he pronounces pakistan. And where was he on 9-11?? Didn't he speak out against 9-11??
Such relief. Brought to justice. I am thankful there will be no trial.
But, let us look at pakistan. Why are we sending them any money?? They allowed evil to hide amongst them in plain sight. In fact---within a block of their West Point and police stations. And let us beware hamas---listen and keep them at bay. Do not support nor help anyone critical of getting rid of an evil terrorist.
Remember the 1998 US embassies in Africa where 231 Americans died.
Remember the 2000 USS Cole where 17 American sailors died.
Remember September 11th where at the WTC, the Pentagon and Flight 93 where over 3,000 Americans were murdered.
This story was interesting: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/who-is-sohaib-athar-%40reallyvirtual-dpgo-20110502-fc_13017753 A guy moves to a "quieter" town where his wife and child are injured when a police van hits their car, and then the biggest story ever happens over his head. Too funny. irony.
Can't wait to hear the Navy Seals give us the details. God bless our troops.
I must admit, that last night, as we watched TV, they announced that the president was going to make an announcement at 9:30pm our time, and no subject. We thought that was kind of presumptious. I never guessed news of Libya nor pakistan.
The president is so hard to listen to. Halting speech. The way he pronounces pakistan. And where was he on 9-11?? Didn't he speak out against 9-11??
Such relief. Brought to justice. I am thankful there will be no trial.
But, let us look at pakistan. Why are we sending them any money?? They allowed evil to hide amongst them in plain sight. In fact---within a block of their West Point and police stations. And let us beware hamas---listen and keep them at bay. Do not support nor help anyone critical of getting rid of an evil terrorist.
Remember the 1998 US embassies in Africa where 231 Americans died.
Remember the 2000 USS Cole where 17 American sailors died.
Remember September 11th where at the WTC, the Pentagon and Flight 93 where over 3,000 Americans were murdered.
This story was interesting: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/who-is-sohaib-athar-%40reallyvirtual-dpgo-20110502-fc_13017753 A guy moves to a "quieter" town where his wife and child are injured when a police van hits their car, and then the biggest story ever happens over his head. Too funny. irony.
Can't wait to hear the Navy Seals give us the details. God bless our troops.
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