Bible, (note)Book, Black pen, and BLANK!

I have collected all my materials....my wellworn, much underlined and marked Bible, a noteBook for collecting references and jotting down thoughts to turn into an outline, a Black pen (since it begins with B! ), and now everything is BLANK. I need to prepare a sermon.
I have no beginning thoughts........
no catchy stories.......
no list of possible texts.......
no themes......
nothing I "feel" led to talk about........
well, just a big BLANK!!!

Now, I wonder...... If I went to church on Sunday morning, we had a regular praise and worship time, collected the offering, ran through the announcements for the coming week, took prayer requests and prayed..............and then, I said, "Well, my sermon for this morning is BLANK. I have nothing to say. I guess we will just dismiss............... would the congregation rejoice and hurry to get somewhere to eat? would they decide to withhold the tithes since I hadn't delivered? would they sit in disappointed silence or shock????? I wonder what would happen.

Sometimes, I do have blanks and almost panic as Saturday evening gets closer and closer. But God is the "Sermon-Giver". He always comes through with a fresh Word!

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is!

Yes, I am going to be putting my money IN my mouth! Fillings are what you put in doughnuts or pies and cost under $5.00 for sure. But, in my case, fillings go in teeth and cost well over $100. I would much rather wear a crown...like Miss America or at least Queen for the Day at the Senior Citizens' Center.....but no! I get to have several in my MOUTH! They each cost about $1000 and do NOT have diamonds or any other kind of jewels. And then for plates....temporary, well that should be a cheapo paper plate, right? No, mine is going to cost $200 and will only help me to have teeth when I smile and not be toothless! And as for the permanent plate....well, I think I could find a beautiful, expensive one to use when dining.....and it certainly would not cost over $1000. (I will not even mention the oral surgery! No little teeth are worth that much just to get rid of them!) So now you know, my precious retirement money will be PUT in my mouth over the next few months!!!

Tribute to Dad

Today is Father's Day!

And my Dad is awesome!

Dad is a SURVIVOR! He had cancer as a boy and again after 70. He also had a heart attack. And that doesn't count a number of injuries while he was working! At 87, he is still going strong!

Dad is INVENTIVE! He can figure out a way to make something or do something when everyone else would have considered it an impossibility.

Dad has a TERRIFIC SENSE OF HUMOR! He can tell good jokes and funny stories. He has been known to play some practical jokes on a lot of people!

Dad is a GOOD TEACHER. He taught me how to drive! He has taught his sons and grandsons all kinds of useful skills. For a long time, he was a Sunday School teacher for the adult class at church.

After Dad had his right arm and shoulder amputated due to cancer, he developed a new CREATIVE SKILL. He began to do intarsia....working with wood to create pieces of art. Not only has he made and sold and given away many pieces of intarsia, but he also shows his work at senior citizen groups, church groups....well, all kinds of groups. And, he was a "profesor" for continuing education at the local junior college, giving a class on intarsia.

Dad, Mom, and David were PRESENTED THE T. W. ANDERSON AWARD at the Covenant Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado in June, 2005. This award is presented to a layman or in this case, a family team, for outstanding contributions to the local church, the denomination, their community and their workplace. Dad, Mom, and David each addressed the entire gathering at a special session where they received the award and were honored at a private dinner.

Dad is a WISE COUNSELOR. He shares his wisdom with his family, his church, and church leaders. Many of us have been saved from making mistakes or bad choices because of Dad's wisdom.

Dad is a CARING FRIEND. You can find him doing all kinds of things: driving people to appointments and shopping, greeting visitors at church, giving sound advice to the pastor, taking a crippled friend (wheelchair included) out to eat with the guys, fixing things for others, taking his grandkids places (not anymore as they all drive!), making hospital, nursing home, and home visits to the sick and shut-in, making a special piece of intarsia for a child, and on and on!

Dad ENJOYS ANIMALS....he feeds the birds in special feeders he has set up in the backyard, has peanuts and dog food ready for the raccoons and takes time to make a fenced-in area for Opie and Maxie when we visit in Rockford.

And although I don't really want to let the secret out, he MAKES THE BEST KROPKAKKOR in the entire world. I won't even dare explain what that is because we don't really want to share when he makes it.

Dad is an AVID READER! He reads historical novels, well written mysteries (not the murder/horror type), magazines, a wide variety of reading material. I love to share good books with him. He recognizes good literature.

And, this is just a peek at all the wonderful things my Dad is!!!!!! His deep love for God and desire to serve Him and his love for his family make him.....well, just AWESOME!!!

(**Just a note: After 64 years of marriage, it is very hard to talk about Dad without mentioning Mom because she is a part of everything Dad does and is. That's what ALL those years of marriage have done!!)

Chula

Chula came to me 11 years ago. She was homeless and pregnant.....and vicious. I was actually afraid of her. She stayed around and then had her babies at the very back edge of my property. I felt bad for her because she was nursing all those little guys and no one was feeding her. I started putting food out for her....at first, close to where she had the babies and then closer and closer to my back door. After almost 6 weeks, I found her waiting for me at the back door. I touched her for the first time!

After that, our friendship grew. She was always waiting for me when I came home. She brought her babies over for me to see. And then all but two of them disappeared. The neighbor told me that she carried them away. The prettiest two stayed by my back door.

I was worried about what would happen after I gave the two puppies away, but she only became friendlier. It was time for me to go to Illinois.....so I left wondering if I would ever see her again.

But she was there waiting for me when I returned. And by this time, she was very protective of me and my house.......no one could come close. In case she decided to bite someone, I thought I had better take her to the vet and get her shots. She surprised me by jumping right in the front seat and being a wonderful passenger in the car. The vet determined that she had been abused because of her fear of people and her protective ways as well as evidence of a broken front leg. I needed a name for her records. Since I had always called her Chula (meaning pretty), I gave her that name and Chula she was.

Chula had two more litters of puppies and her daughter Chiquita stayed with us to keep Chula company. Together, they became guard dogs....ferocious to everyone except me. They were sweet and loving with me always!

After the 2nd litter of puppies, Chula developed cancer and had chemo. She lost lots of weight and didn't have much energy, but the cancer was gone and never came back. She got her energy back and was a great mother to her last litter of puppies.

However, this past winter Chula started slowing down. She became very fussy about her food, only wanting chicken or beef with rice and turkey hot dogs. In the late spring, I had to start feeding her or she would usually just leave her food. She stopped barking at strangers and didn't want to run and play with Chiquita any more. But she was always ready for me to rub her tummy or sit and talk to her.

On Tuesday afternoon, she was less energetic than ever and I noticed that she had a lot of ticks and fleas. I took her to the vet yesterday for a bath......and the vet suggested an iron and a vitamin shot to give her a boost. Chula got back in the front seat of the van and we started for home. We had no even gone a block when she looked at me, gasped for breath 3 times, and shook all over. And she died.

Chula is buried in the pet cemetery at the church here in Reynosa...with her daughter, a granddaughter and a granddaughter as well as other "church dogs". Chiquita, Maxie, Opie and I will miss her so very much. Eleven years is a long time to love a dog.....I will always remember her!

Baking soda, powdered sugar and peppermint!

Okay! I hate cockroaches and mice! I hate them more than snakes and tarantulas--those big, black hairy spiders that can jump a mile at least!! Snakes...well, you don't really see them up close too often and tarantulas don't hurt people much and if you are fast, you can kill them pretty easily. But cockroaches multiply and multiply and get in everywhere. Mice...if I put out poison, I might kill them, but then I run the risk of having them die somewhere and stink up the whole house OR have one of the dogs find them, try to eat them and maybe get poisoned too. Usually, you just manage to see the hind legs and tail as they run and escape. So, yes, I hate cockroaches and mice!

Well, I found some help for getting rid of both cockroaches and mice! I am willing to try just about anything. So, I hear that peppermint chases mice away. Supposedly, they hate peppermint. I put peppermint candy around in the kitchen.......and yes, mice seem to be gone. I haven't seen any in a long time.

Now, I am also told that if you mix equal amounts of baking soda and powdered sugar and put it around the baseboards and other places where cockroaches hide, you can get rid of them. AND LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THAT IDEA! You can try it if you'd like...but the roaches that were in my kitchen have multiplied and now spread to the bathroom. I put the mix in the bathroom and they appeared in my craft room. I do NOT dare try it anywhere else. I guess it does make them leave one area....but they move somewhere else and multiply. I really should have known that because when the neighbors have the exterminators come, they are suddenly roach-free and then all the rest of us are suddenly generously roach-endowed. I guess I will be going back to insect sprays and exterminators. (Sorry, neighbors!)

Yes, I still hate cockroaches and mice.