Oh Dear!

Error of errors, I believe my math may have been off. This may, in fact, be post #201. I've taken a few posts off before they hit the airwaves, and the counter on the dashboard is truly not accurate. Regardless ~ it's a day to celebrate. 200 or 201, that's a lot of Grace Today. Far more than I ever thought would keep your interest, most certainly.

To start the festivities, I stuck in a pan of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. DJ will not be happy when he returns home, as these are fully empty calories. But the aroma! Ah, yes, now that contributes to a happy home. The next event of the morning was checking in with my beloved Laughter Support Group. I reached one of them, and hope to get in touch with all of them to share the good news of "Post 200 or 201." Hopefully their dancing will not get them in trouble, as their employers do not find dancing to be a sanctified activity. Well, unless it is, of course, choreographed stage movement, but we'll leave that for another post.

Max and I had a Fun Friday moment on the patio. The Friday part involved me trying to brush him before I began vacuuming the house. The Fun part was his efforts to evade said brush. He's very skilled at that, I must confess.

We may take a drive to the lake at lunchtime, or perhaps go through the drive-in window at In-N-Out. I love In-N-Out, but it reminds me of A&W and how very cool that try was that they stuck on your window with all the amazing food that was so terrible for you. Imagine how empty those calories were!

The sun is beautiful here in Sunny today. My condolences to all of you in Nebraska, Missouri and Wisconsin. The rest of you are probably fine, at least I hope you've got electricity and heat on this January morning. As I pondered these words, I began to imagine all of you sitting in front of your computers. One year ago I started this silly little blog just for fun. In return, I've been welcomed into your lives. You are all such dear friends now. We may meet at a conference somewhere. We may not meet until Heaven. Regardless, you're family and welcome to join me on my patio any sunny day. Thank you for your encouragement, support and laughter.

I suppose I should get ready for a trip to the Big Box store. Post #202 will most likely be prompted there.

Blessings,
Grace

No Luck

We had a birthday in the family this week. It was the honored Papa and our celebration was delightful. JJ phoned during our dinner with them and Papa was very happy to hear from him. Family times are so special.

But I've already digressed from the desired intent of this post. Alas. The theme was to be the silliness I observed ~ yet again ~ in a shopping experience...

As DJ was browsing through each rack of greeting cards for family members; I took off to find the source of the ever-so-irritating repetitive five tone sound. I was able to locate it. Stupid thing! It was coming from a box of music-making-valentine-heart-candy.

After I hid the highly annoying candy box under some blankets, I came across a display of ceramic planters filled with seeds inside their closed lids. They were quite dainty and delicate, engraved with names and the meaning of the names, as well. I'm sure you've seen this sort of display in the greeting card stores or 7 - 11. Occasionally you'll find a "blank" one in the racks. This assortment topped the cake, so to speak. At first glance, I thought you could special order one with a unique name. But no! They had an entire row of little clay pots that said (in the lovely ornate artwork) "They didn't have your name" How grand that would that make you feel! Imagine!

For the past few months, I've been working on a project for my special friends at Royal Family Kids' Camps. We've put together the music for all of the camps to use this year. Halfway through, the recordings will play "He Knows My Name." I sincerely hope each camp director will request that song to be sung at bedtime each night.

A high majority of kids attending these camps for neglected children have names that are unfamiliar, spelled differently or such. They may never find a plastic cup, mini-license plate or keyring with their names on them at the zoo, Universal Studios or 7 - 11. But they will leave Royal Family Kids' Camps hearing about how God knows their name and He is working on some special pottery...

#198

It looks like I should begin a countdown... This is post #198. I haven't really been keeping track, but #200 should warrant a celebration of some sort. Perhaps Max and I can go to the lake, feed some ducks and I'll declare, "Happy 200th post!" to all the ducks who reside in Sunny. Or if it's raining (as it is today) I suppose I could go down to the local cupcake bakery and ask for a red velvet with extra sprinkles. They probably don't personalize them with sayings. I will be sure to take photos of any celebrations that occur. That's only fair, isn't it!

I'm off to a goodbye celebration for a dear friend today. She's retiring and leaving town all in the same month. (Just writing those words makes me feel horribly old.) She is, however, a gorgeous blond who appears to be about 32. It is hard to say goodbye to good friends. Even if they're going off to a wonderful new life and they're just as happy as can be ~ it still brings a little tear to the eye.

But until the celebration begins this afternoon, Max and I are just puttering. Fridays are so wonderful for that. A little laundry, a little bite of toast with honey, brewing a pot of strong tea, and chatting with a friend or two... Somehow, just somehow, I wonder if our family members in Heaven do the same thing on rainy days.

Looking to get Lost

Tonight is the greatly anticipated opening episode of Season 5 of Lost ~ in case you aren't aware of that already... From polar bears on a tropical island to mysterious "Others" to unseen masters in dark cabins that float about...ah, yes, such fun!

When I was a tiny little girl, my mother would create tales for my bedtime stories. I was captivated to hear what the next chapter would hold for our forest friends. They were mostly pleasant tales without too much danger, but still. You never knew if the small fairy would end up being captured by the giant ogre or find her prince in the castle who was destined to love a fairy who could never become human ~ or could she???

Sadly only parts of these stories remain in my memory. But I do remember the joy of snuggling with my parents at bedtime, hearing their expressive voices and feeling their arms hold me as I was just a little bit nervous for the characters of the week. They gave me a love for fantasy that is good and right. We didn't watch much television at all. There was usually church instead and we certainly didn't have recorders for our televisions or a way to rent a tv program...

I do think when the mysteries of LOST are revealed we may find Jacob with a goofy grin wearing a white hat and sailor's pants and he may also lead us to the Howell's hut where Ginger and MaryAnn are preparing for the next talent show...

And Then...

Little Cameron surprised me again today. She's in first grade. We've been talking about God's love and how HUGE it is this month. Our lesson time included the scripture verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." I began to move on to the next point when whoosh...first grader Cameron added, "But God didn't send his Son into the world to condemn the world ~ but rather to redeem it."

I think I'll see if she can take over if I get sick sometime. She seems to have a fairly good grasp of God's love already...

A Date, A Date

Yes, you've read it precisely correctly! Our grown-up JJ and his beautiful Honey have set their wedding date. It's sometime this summer and the setting will be amazingly perfect. To honor their privacy, I'm not going to post it here. However, if you've far too curious to simply hear the good news ~ feel free to e-mail or comment a note to me.

This spring will be a flurry of happiness around our home in Sunny. JJ, Honey and Honey's sister will all graduate from the University of Central Intelligence and we'll be going to the ceremony in May. Honey is already a busy bee working on all the details of the big day and it promises to be most delightful!

We're so proud of our kids. (That would be coming from Honey's folks as well as DJ and me.) They're doin' it up right and following biblical standards. They've finished their educational requirements and are looking ahead to a bright future. Primarily ~ they want to spend their lives together and serve God together in every way possible.

But I can't quite pull out the photo albums from the last few years...my throat gets fairly lumpy and my eyes water up like the top of Niagara Falls... And there's no way we're going to rent "Father of the Bride" this year!

Heard 'Round the Kiddie Table

We'd been discussing Zaccheus in our small group with the 2nd graders. We'd talked about loving others, befriending new kids in class, loving like Jesus loved...I mentioned how much Jesus loved people and liked to have fun.

Somehow...I truly do not know how...the conversation turned to Jesus attending the wedding party and turning the water into wine. "Didn't that make everyone at the wedding sleepy?" I replied, "The wine Jesus made may have been a lot more like our fruit juice ~ we don't really know what it tasted like." "Well. When MY mom drinks wine she sure gets sleepy pretty fast." Then the room was filled with snoring noises faster than you could imagine...

I immediately began a game of snowball toss to take our thoughts to the afternoon's football match-up. We don't get much snow here in Sunny. I originally had other plans for that stack of white paper....

Inspiration, True Inspiration

I've got it! The title of a book I may write one day... Are you ready? Are you sure?

Streams in the Dessert

Ah....imagine the possibilities.

No Vitamins

I found myself doing it again. Cart-spying. Have you ever watched the people in front of you at the big box store unload their cart and imagined what their home was like or where they were going? It hits me on the odd occasion. Saturday was the most recent occurrence....

The woman was about 65. She asked the checker if he could scan her package of steak from the cart as she was looking for her wallet. I noticed the counter only had two other items... One bag of pitted prunes and a "large" bottle of Black Velvet whiskey. (I don't actually know the breakdowns in sizes.) That was it.

Perhaps she was on her way to a delayed New Year celebration. Or maybe off to snuggle with her cat for the evening in front of her fireplace. I do hope she wasn't going to finish it off by herself.