Thanks Sonderella and Erin

My new header is from Sonderella and Erin. It is a festive look for a joyous season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a lot to be thankful! Enjoy Thanksgiving and count your blessings. Someone wise used to tell me that all the time. I will please him and God and count my blessings and not focus on my sorrows. We all have "sorrows" but I know my blessings outweigh them.

Eat lots! Enjoy family and friends! :o)

Ken, if an ingredient is missing from the German Chocolate Cake..... it wasn't me! hehehehe I would like a piece though! We miss you and Lynn..... enjoy Sonderella! :o)

Recently I received a parrot as a gift.

The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.
Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with
profanity.

I tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently
saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else I could
think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, I was fed up and I yelled at the parrot.

The parrot yelled back.

I shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

So, in desperation, I threw up my hands, grabbed the bird and
put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.

Then suddenly there was total quiet.

Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that I'd hurt the parrot,

I quickly opened the door to the freezer.

The parrot calmly stepped out onto my outstretched arms and said


"I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and
actions.

I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and
I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and
unforgivable behavior."

I was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As I was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic
change in his behavior, the bird continued,

"May I ask what the turkey did?"



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Our tongue and mischievous mouth

James 1:26 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society


26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

Proverbs 12:18 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society


18 Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.


Okay, here we go. One of my all time weaknesses is controlling my tongue. I didn't realize until tonight that my religion (salvation) is worthless if I can NOT control my mouth! This is really scary to me. I pray the Holy Spirit will keep his hand securely placed over my lips! Words can shoot out of my mouth without a single thought about what is shooting out! Not to everyone, but to the ones I love the most (my family)! How does that happen? Lack of self-control.... that is one of the fruits of the spirit!

So, as I was coming to this realization God showed me something else. The kids were talking about the tongue today. The tongue taste four different flavors. Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Look at the diagram above and take note of the location of each flavor area. Sweet is on the end. Close to our lips. Our words should be sweet. They should bring healing, not pierce like a sword. Now look at bitter. It is on the back, close to the throat. If we swallow bitterness it will root in our hearts and our beings. If we let that bitter root grow we will never live in victory. The victory granted to us by Jesus and his death on the cross!

I am only human, but will not use that as an excuse. I must be "salt and light" to those around me. Controlling my tongue and mouth is just one of those ways.


On a lighter note.... if bitter and sour were on the end instead of sweet and salty I would weigh a lot less because I would eat less sweet and salty foods! How many of you eat a sweet and then need a salty or vise versa?

I pray your week is filled with words that are sweet and bring healing and I pray the Holy Spirit firmly plants his hand over my lips!

Blessings to you and yours. Find something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!


Ken, did you get my e-mail with the German Chocolate Cake recipe? I wasn't sure I had your e-mail address correct. If not let Sonderella know and I will forward it thru her.

The roses from my garden

I hurried outside when I got home last night to try to save the roses from my garden. You see we had snow flurries earlier in the day. The picture above are the ones I thought were going to be enjoyable for a few days. Who knew I could grow or keep roses alive? Amazing! I collected over a dozen!

We are sending a few to Malakhi's teachers today. :o)

I walked more than 2 miles today!

I walked a couple of miles today. It felt good. It was cool and crisp.

While I walked I prayed. I realized how much my dad was the glue that held the family together. It still amazes me how he was such a quiet, stabilizing, gentle force. I miss him terribly.

I am having a difficult time dealing with the holiday's this year. We are supposed to go home to WV to visit my husband's family. I want to make the trip short. Why? I can tell you it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with me. I want to be home to decorate for Christmas. Traffic is always bad from WV. I want a day to rest. I want to come home on Friday, rest and get ready for the week on Saturday. Sunday is always busy. Elisabeth has Cotillions and we have small group that evening. I wished Joel understood. He just doesn't. He wants to run the whole time. I am always so tired to go back to work on Monday. I think it does have a little to do with my malfunctioning family. I feel like an orphan. I don't have a home to go to. If you know my family and the turmoil right now you might understand that statement. If you don't understand and think I am being ridiculous, just pray for me. I can cry at the tiniest things. The wind, the leaves rustling, the mention of family. You name it.

I am trying to embrace the holiday's with a festive spirit. I am planning a Christmas party for all the little girls in Elisabeth's class at school. I think it will a good way to celebrate. I hope it is fun. I am planning some activities the girls should enjoy!

Walking was a good stress reliever today!

Tagged by Lynn

Here's how it works: I am supposed to pick up the nearest book with at least 123 pages, turn to the 123rd page, find the 5th sentence, and then post the three sentences immediately after that. "

Here we go .... The Dawes Act Converts tribal lands to individual ownership. The intent is to encourage Indian assimilation.
The result is a substantial reduction in lands owned by Native Americans.

The entry is referring to the date 1887 and is found in Lynne Cheney's book " A Time for Freedom."

Here is one of my soap box statements..... The indians were discriminated against and you don't see them with their handout and crying discrimination! Matter of fact.... I dare you to find out how many of them were killed and what their population is now in comparison to the 1800's! Enough of that! I will only cause people to interpret my statements incorrectly.

Thanks for the tag! I do love books!