SHOW & TELL '08 - #9 - H.E. Stand

Hard to believe 2 months of 2008 are already gone. Another week flown by and it's Friday and time to head to Kelli's for Show & Tell.

(click to enlarge for detail)
What I am showing today isn't very fancy but it is one of my treasures.

It is a very plain stand that was made for my father many years ago by one of his friends.

I'm not sure exactly when my father received this gift.

It's just something that was always in our home.

My fathers name was Henry Errett.....hence the H.E. are his initials carved in the front.

You can also see that all the edges are sort of chiseled out.

All this work and detail was done by hand and not with power equipment.

As a very young child I remember being confused by the HE thinking it stood for

"he" and not understanding about initials.

This little stand sits in my entry hall. During the 4 years Mickey and I traveled in our 5th wheel we even had it with us there!!!

You can see it holds a few books. The part behind the door has one shelf and we keep a few often needed household tools there: hammer, screw drivers, picture hooks, measuring tape, etc.

I acquired this little stand in 1971 after my fathers death and my mother had moved from New Mexico here to Oklahoma to be with us.

Thanks for letting me share a very precious item of mine. It is special because of the great love I had for my father and it was his.

DEPEND ON GOD

I usually participate in Show & Tell on Friday, and I may post on that later today, but based on the past three days and the discussion about Prayer I just had to share my daily devotional reading from THE WORD FOR YOU TODAY.

Once again, as I see over and over and OVER in my life. God reveals himself to me just as I need him to, when I need him to. Reading this morning was yet another of those times.

Jacob was left alone. Genesis 32:24

"Like Jacob, many of us know how it feels to be "left alone." When a loved one dies or a friend leaves, or you walk through the fire of separation and divorce, no matter how "spiritual" you are it still hurts! Emotional pain is to the soul what physical pain is to the body; it tells you something's wrong: that you need God to guide you through the challenges and upheavals of realigning your life to cope with what has happened. And the struggle doesn't begin in earnest while you're surrounded by people, it starts when you've been left along. The fact is you can survive without others, but you can't survive without God. That's why He sometimes strips away everything that makes us dependent on people. He sends certain individuals into your life to help build your faith and develop your character, and when they're gone, to leave you with the assurance that God's in control. The loss of loved ones (a) develops our spiritual muscle; (b) tests our resilience; (c) shows us the scope of God's power. When Moses died and Joshua was left in charge, God told him, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." (Jos 1:5). That's something Joshua could never have learned while Moses was in the picture. And it's a lesson you can't learn while you're looking to other human beings for all your answers.

In Mark 4:39 when Jesus "ordered the wind and waves to be quiet" the Bible says "everything was calm" (CEV). In the midst of the storm, ask Him to come and stand in the bow of your boat, and to speak peace to the thing that's upsetting you. He'll do it!"

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I mentioned that our church lost a precious, young 36 year old mother to cancer yesterday. I want to share with you an e-mail I received from a mighty prayer warrior

who heads up a group of us who are praying for revival for our city. Not just our church, ALL the churches, our CITY. I posted about the 24 hour prayer vigil that was held here during Fall Festival. Since that time 5 faithful prayers have been meeting weekly and recently they have added a monthly prayer vigil. Mickey & I were invited to join it last month and are so honored to be included. When we met last month there were 31 of us from 5 different churches. Got a little sidetracked there but I wanted to give you a little history of this group. This is the e-mail she sent out last night:

Many of you already know that T******'s memorial service is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. I believe God still intends to do amazing things through this woman's life. I plan to fast that morning and be in the intercessory prayer room by 1 p.m. interceding for the family, for Pastor Gary and the service. I'd like to invite anyone who feels led to join me. I have heard several prophesy that T******'s life and healing would by a catalyst for revival in this city. God "colors outside the lines" and His ways are higher than ours. Guess what--T****** IS alive and she IS healed and revival IS coming to this city!!!! To God be the glory!!!
If you know of others who might like to join us, please spread the word.

God is mightily at work all around this world as we turn to him.

YES, I believe in praying for healing.

PRAYER - Clarification

On my previous post on prayer:



Danielle said...
Susan, you say-"I am personally against in praying for the sick is using the phrase "If it be your will please heal Mary." God is the healer........it is always God's will that we be healed. Satan is the one that comes to kill, steal and destroy not our God and Christ paid for our healing, as well as our sins, on the cross at Calvary."This reminded me of two things in my going to church years. One was that it always seemed to be implied that God's will was not your own. (Your will and not mine be done, his ways are not our ways, etc, etc). I struggled a lot with this in my young adult years, because I was programmed to think that everything that I wanted (my will) was something that God *didn't* want, and therefore, practically everything I perceived to be good was a sin. Secondly, the healing thing- My good friend's husband was diagnosed with a rare disease that made his bones turn to sponge. He had a month to live from this at the time that I found out about it. There were many healing services and prayers being held for him, and when he was not being healed, they said it was because his faith was not that strong. They convinced him, in the last month of his life that the faith he had was not real. That's psychologically a very bad way to die. Hope you don't mind me sharing.
February 28, 2008 10:50 AM

&

Jennifer said: Susan, I am proud of the discussion that went on about prayer too. Help me understand prayer for healing. I don't know how to pray if I don't ask Him for His Will to be for healing. What can I say if they don't recieve healing, that Satan had more power than Jesus? Can Jesus in His Will not say 'NO'. I completely feel the scripture about By His Stripes we are healed. But isn't that spiritual healing? Let me say right now that I am not arguing with you. I truly would like to understand. I have so many questions that God will answer and meanwhile I would like to know how you feel. Your blog always gives me blessing and makes me think! Jennifer
February 28, 2008 8:20 PM

&

I also had a private e-mail voicing some of the same thoughts. This is my reply to that e-mail:

Thanks for this e-mail and your thoughts. I was afraid I might be misunderstood on that but I had to say it to be true to myself.

I am FULLY aware that God does not always choose to heal. Just a few minutes ago I got word that a young 36 year old mother in our church has died this morning of cancer. Our entire church prayed last night for a miracle for her, because we knew it would take a miracle. Our church has been in constant prayer for this young woman for about 15 months now. We lost Mickey's younger, and only, sister to a terrible disease that literally, over a few years, took her legs, hands and body parts before her life. . We prayed and we believed.

I just don't personally like that phrase "if it be your will" because I have to believe in my heart it is His WILL to heal, just as it is His WILL that all be saved. It's just that we don't understand the full scope of the reasons why in His judgement it does not occur. That is where our Hope and Faith must then take up. Are we going to get angry or quit believing because our prayer was not answered? I will not, because my God is so much bigger than I can begin to understand.

It would have been so easy for me to not address that but like I said, to be true to my self I had to. I try very hard to be truthful, sometimes to my own hurt, on my blog. I hope you understand my heart. I'm not judging those who chose to use that phrase......I just personally do not like it. I made a real effort to point out it was my personal opinion. Do you think I stated it in a judgemental attitude or way? If so, that was not my intent and I will surely go back on my blog and state that fact.

To Danielle, & the person who e-mailed me, I have to say how terribly sorry I am that someone would say or indicate :

1)"and when he was not being healed, they said it was because his faith was not that strong. They convinced him, in the last month of his life that the faith he had was not real. That's psychologically a very bad way to die. "

or 2) " I had a friend tell me basically that it was God’s will that my Mom didn’t get cancer and die…if only we would have prayed harder…or believed more… or whatever … she wouldn’t have died of cancer. It was as if she was saying God wasn’t in control and Satan was…due to our lack of faith or prayer. "

I do not blame God, and no Jennifer I certainly do not believe satan wins........satan was defeated at the cross of Calvary. I know the faith that Mickey and I were standing and believing in when we lost his sister. I know the faith and prayer and belief that was operating when I lost one of my forever friends, back in 1986, at the young age of 45. I know it was not because of lack of faith. I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe His ways are higher than our ways. I believe in Romans 8:28 " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

It was just my PERSONAL OPINION and I do believe in my heart that it is God's WILL that all be healed and that it is God's WILL that all be saved. I would not pray "Please save Mary, if it be your will" and therefore I chose not to pray "Please heal Mary, if it be your will."

I really am sorry if my comment in any way offened anyone. I think we need to be very careful with our words that we do not step on toes and certainly that we do not step on tender hearts. I realize we all carry our particular hurts, pains and experiences that color and shade our views.

As I further told my e-mail correspondent :

" I know it is a very sensitive subject and like so many things in life we will just have to agree to disagree on this small phrase as we agree wholeheartedly on the fact that God is GOD and that Jesus is LORD!!!.

To Danielle, Jennifer and my e-mail friend I certainly appreciate your views and opinions. I certainly don't think for one minute I have all the answers or am above being wrong.

To any of my others readers: If what I said offened you or caused you personal hurt I am very sorry. I am glad I serve a God who looks at, sees and knows our hearts. I am also glad I serve a God who shows me Grace, time and time again.

PRAYER - More about - Thanks - Award

WOW!!!!!

I don't know about the rest of you......but I have been so blessed by the wonderful, in-depth discussion and thought that we, as The Body of Christ, are having about prayer and the aspects that relate to it. None of us have the entire picture, or answers, but put us together and the Holy Spirit moves and fills in a lot of understanding. One of my favorite scriptures is:

"Iron sharpeneth iron;

so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

Proverbs 27:17 KJV

&

"You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another."

The Message

and that is what I experience here from all of you. God has used each of you to sharpen me!!!

There are a couple of additional thoughts I have. We need to be very careful in requesting prayer that it does not turn into a form of gossip passing. For instance: "Mary needs your prayer because her husband is having an affair." If Mary feels close enough to you to share that kind of hurt and burden, then that is her option but it should not be passed on to another mutual friend, or acquaintance. Instead you could say, "Please remember Mary in your prayer as she is going through a difficult time". Even standing up in Church and saying something like, "Please pray that my husband will start coming to church with me." turns into a disparaging word against your husband.

I'm probably going to touch a tender spot here, but another thing I am personally against in praying for the sick is using the phrase "If it be your will please heal Mary." God is the healer........it is always God's will that we be healed. Satan is the one that comes to kill, steal and destroy not our God and Christ paid for our healing, as well as our sins, on the cross at Calvary.

We are ALL called to pray and to carry one anothers burdens. A prayer can be as simple as saying, "Jesus!" Some people have a special gifting in the area of prayer, just as some people have a gifting for teaching, or hospitality, etc. Some people are called out as intersessor's for their particular church, or their city, or their nation, or a particular mission area but we are ALL called to pray.

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Now a special thank you to Heather. Heather has a monthly give away here for a Home Interiors Candle each month. My name was drawn several months ago. Heather contacted me later to see if my candle had arrived and it had not. Apparently it had been lost or destroyed in the mail. I totally forgot about it. Monday I had a package arrive in the mail. I did not even recognize the name on the return address and I thought, "What is this?". Well, Heather had not forgotten and sent me not only 1 but 2 candles!!!! Thank you very much Heather. I will enjoy them.

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Last, but certainly not least, I have just been passed this Blogging With A Purpose award from a new blog friend, Tiffany of Southern Sass.

This award was created by Eric Novak at Blogging with a Purpose. Here’s how it works:Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.In their post about the award they need to link back to this entry.Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to the above linked site.

These are Tiffany's remarks in passing this Award to me:

I am happy to finally have the opportunity to share something with Susan @ Penless Writer. She is truly an inspiration and a portrait of a Titus 2 woman. She is honest and forthcoming about her love for Jesus and her desire to know Him more. I admire her commitment to her marriage and her family and how she fervently prays for them without ceasing.

I am very honored to receive this award. I truly want the purpose of my blog to be to lift up the name of Jesus and tell of His wonderous works and ways and how wonderful He has been to me.

The five I pass this award on to are:

Aimee of Adopted As His Own. Just go to Aimee's blog and look at the beautiful picture of their family as her header and you will see why I have selected her. She is not only mother to EIGHT beautiful children but even creates beautiful patterns for childrens clothing on her SewSensible site. Aimee your entire life has a purpose and I am honored to know you.

Jennifer of Double Nickle Farm. Jennifer and her husband and children have just recently purchased a place in Southern New Mexico and the purpose of this blog is taking us step-by-step in the process of their learning to live a much more self-sufficient and self-sustaining life style. Something we can all gain from and learn from. Jennifer is truly a "can do" person.

Heather of Especially Heather. Heather does not even "know" me. I have only left her a few comments over the months I have been reading her blog. But read her blog I do!!!!! Heather's blog is about her journey with Brain Cancer. This young wife, mother and woman has such faith and courage and honesty that I marvel every time I read her. Many times I am reading through tears as I cannot begin to imagine going through what she is with such grace and charm. Your blog certainly qualifies as A Blog With A Purpose.

Rita of Jungle Hut. Rita is another of my must reads. She is a missionary wife and mother, although they are currently in the U.S. preparing and raising support for their next assignment. Rita's purpose in this blog is to keep us updated and informed about the doings of dictator Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. I am thankful for her doing so because we sure don't get this information on the nightly news.

Last, but believe you me not least, is Ginger of Just A Thought. Ginger is truly one of my dearest blog friends. BUT, not just mine she is a dear friend of many of us because she is such a kind, gentle, carrying, sweet friend and she loves Jesus with all her heart. Every post of Ginger's points us to Jesus........even in the difficult times and issues. I know you don't particularly like getting these Ginger but I just could not NOT name you.

As I have said in times past.........I take both the receiving of these Blog Awards and the passing them along VERY seriously. What we say, and how we say it, here in this public domain of Blogland is very important. There are MANY of you who bless me and you all know who you are because I comment on your posts. It is very hard to limit this to only 5 and pick only 5 but as always I do follow the rules.

PRAYER - The other side - prayer requests

I was contacted by a dear blog friend (you know who you are!) who e-mailed me with her thoughts about my post on prayer yesterday, along with this request:

"To further that, I was wondering if you would write sometime about the other side of the prayer fence, asking for prayers. I struggle with this a lot in that I often times think people ask for prayer for attention."

I was a little taken aback by the request because to be truthful I had, to that point, not thought about the side of the Prayer Requests. I have been pondering, thinking and praying about this request for the past 3 hours or so since getting the e-mail.

At this point in my life with God I do see that EVERYTHING comes from God and does not take God by surprise, althought a LOT of things surely take me by surprise. I've also begun to try and immediately respond to things as I feel God is placing them before me. As an example, 2 weeks ago I received a telephone call on a Saturday morning from our Sunday School teacher requesting me to teach the Sunday School class the next day because both he, and his wife, were ill. In the natural I wanted to say "no". Actually, in the natural I wanted to run the other direction quickly. BUT, I knew that it was more than the Sunday School teacher making this request and that God was asking me to step out of my comfort zone and walk in faith and trust with him. After only a few minutes hesitation (which seemed like at least a 1/2 hour to me) I said, yes.

I view this request in the same vane, while coming from a dear blog friend in the natural, really coming from God and stretching me to think, and respond about an area of prayer I really had not given much thought or attention to. So in obedience to that I will endeavor to put down my thoughts.

I guess the reason I haven't given the issue about asking for prayer too much attention is because Mickey & I are not really much ones to request prayer. Now occasionally, if something really big or tramatic comes up in our lives I will, and have, asked for prayer. Even here on this blog in the last year I know I have put out a general request on a couple of occasions that we coveted your prayers. The incidents concerned our beloved Granddaughter's decision when she left Tulsa and us for a while, and when our son returned from California and was facing some big issues and problems in his life.

Now that I really have begun to look at it I have to ask myself a couple of questions: 1) Do I not ask out of pride and a feeling of self sufficiency; 2) Do I not ask out of a feeling that it's my problem and I shouldn't bother others with it; or 3) Do I feel, that except for those rare occasions, it is my own responsibility to "come boldly to the throne room of God" and "storm the gates of hell" myself on behalf of my self and my loved ones and others needs.

At this point of just beginning to analyze this I'd have to say it's probably a little bit of all three. I truly see ourselves as having complete and total access to our Father God and not needing an intermediatary of any kind because we have Jesus as our advocate, sitting at the right hand of God ever making intercession for us. Because we have walked with the Lord and seen so many victories in our lives I know that I have a God that not only hears our prayers but answers our prayers. I know sometimes we do not see the manifestation of that answer immediate, or how we thought it should be. But, I know he hears and he answers!!!!!

As I'm writing this I see that I'm really addressing it more in a personal way than the actual question about other people making prayer requests. In response to that, and in agreement with the questioner, I do have to say that I have known people who seem to always be asking for the same thing, over and over again, and sometimes asking for things that ,in my humble opinion, are issues they should be dealing with and addressing themselves. BUT, having said that we must remember that we are the body of Christ and that we are there to fulfill the needs of the other members of the body. Period........and without reservation and without judgement. We are certainly all at different areas in this journey with our Lord. And we have to constantly remind ourselves it is a journey and not a destination. None of us have arrived!!!!

I am not happy with this post. It is rambling and not thought out. It is sitting down at this keyboard and typing my Penless thoughts as they flow from my mind and Spirit. I know I have done what God has placed before me and called me to do at this moment in time and space. I trust that those who He directs to read this will understand and show me the same grace He does!!!

This was a post that I wrote at 3:15 and sat on until now to re-read and decide if I was going to post it or not.

PRAYER - Links, Forwards & Real Prayer

A big part of our Christian walk is praying for one another. We are instructed to "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. " James 5:16 KJV

and

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with." James 5:16 The Message

I have to confess that I had been a Christian for years, 19 in fact, when one day I suddenly realized, or maybe it was confessed, that I truly did not know or understand the first thing about prayer. Oh, I had prayed during those 19 years but I knew there was something much deeper than what I was experiencing and I wanted that "something".

I began the simplest way I knew how at the time, simply repeating, very slowly, the Lord's Prayer. Taking each part "Our Father" and analysing it......what did it mean that He was "Our Father"? Was He my Father? What made him my Father?, etc., etc. Then I began to read and study on prayer in great detail. It was 13 years later when I found the book ARTHUR MURRAY on Prayer. It was at this point that I began to get a grasp on what true intercessory prayer was all about.

I have become aware, or maybe the correct word would be burdened, lately that I think we Christians are a little to loose and flippant with quickly saying, "I'll pray for you." "I'll pray about that." The question is, do we? Or do the words just fly off our lips and we never seem to get around to the praying part. I know I have been guilty of that. Again, several years ago I was grieved when I realized this was what I was doing some of the time. Not truly taking the responsibility of the seriousness of the words of my mouth and putting them into action.

The other thing I've noticed lately is it seems someone will hear about a need that needs prayer and instead of immediately beginning to pray about that situation themselves be more concerned with "spreading the word" or getting others and telling them to pray. When the Lord places on us a need for Prayer on a particular thing shouldn't our first, and most important, response be to pray?

Please don't misunderstand me.....I am all for prayer chains, that various groups set up, etc., but I believe God has to be calling us first, and foremost, to pray and interceed ourselves.

This was not an easy post to write and I really don't know how to end it......but I know that God has laid this issue strong on my heart so I am being obedient. May we be faithful to His call upon our lives to pray.

This is my 300th post!!!!!

What a ride the past year and 23 days and 300 posts have been.

This blog of Penless Writer has blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined when I began it. Thank you SOOOO much to all the wonderful people I have met and I look forward to the next 100 posts.

One of the really unexpected joys of this blog has been the part about being able to document so many people, events and items from my past. A great joy to me the other day was when my, just turned 13 year old, granddaughter told me she had read my "100 things about me". I said, "I bet you learned a lot about your grandmother you didn't know" and she said, "Yeah!!" Things you just don't get around to always saying and telling and yet are what make up who we are today.

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR ME!!!!!

Please leave me a comment so I'll know you came by.....

SHOW & TELL '08 #8 - Fruit bowl

Friday is Show & Tell...take that picture(s), write your post, go here and put your name on Mr. Linky and then enjoy reading and viewing the wonderful Show & Tell items of others.

I purchased this bowl for my mother in 1977. Isn't it beautiful. I loved the varigated coloring of the glass.

This fruit is 52 years old. It was purchase for me in 1956 when I was 19 years old. I had just moved into my first home and my mother and I went to a lumber store and saw this fruit. I really liked it and she bought it for me for my new home. I had a bunch of red/purple grapes too but somewhere along the years they have disappeared. When my children were little one of them stuck a Chiquita Banana sticker on the banana. It was long ago removed!!!

These grapes belonged to my Mother-In-Love. She had them hanging on an old horseshoe in her kitchen. I still have the horseshoe, too, but separated them!! Can't remember the year I got these but it's been many years ago.

These 3 little gords were brought to us by Mickey's brother, Bob, and his wife, Sally, in 1985 when they came to visit us from Virginia when we lived in Albuquerque. They had stopped by the road and found them. I loved them and have kept them ever since.

Here is the complete Fruit Bowl as it sits in my home. Made up of all these special pieces, from special people in our lives and with one of my little angels sitting on the edge.

Thanks for letting me once again share one of my cherished items of remembrances.

SHE IS 13!!! Oh me or my

February 20th and Oksana celebrates her birthday with the family dinner at Macaroni Grill

(left to right) Brother Aric, Aunt Suzette, Uncle Dave, Uncle David, Oksana, Dad

Aunt Jacque and friend, Benny. The empty chair between Jacque and Aric was for 22 year old cousin, Jessica, who had to work

:o(



Uncle David, Oksana, Dad, Grandpa. Grandma took over tonight as photographer!!!

View of the interior of the restaurant

All of us had pasta except Mickey who ordered these pork chops with rice and brocolli.

One of the pasta dishes.

Oksana begins opening her gifts.

Red cell phone from her Dad. Check out the smile and joy.

Pink camera from her Dad. Marc is saying, "I'm sorry it's pink." and Oksana is saying, "No, no, it's ok. I love the pink."!!!

We have had a series of birthdays beginning with November 24th. Thanks for letting me share them with you. We now get a break until June. Whee!!!!

THANK YOU & A SERIOUS ISSUE

First, thank you to all who stayed with me during 8, yes count them 8, posts answering your questions. Many of you probably learned way more than you wanted to know about what I thought!!! I was stunned at the number and depth of the questions I was asked. You truly made the climax of my first year a very special event for me. My blog friend, Barbara, from England just received the package of the give-away items for my drawing. I'm so glad they arrived safe and sound.

Thanks also for the sweet comments about Oksana's birthday celebration for her and her friends. Today is actually her 13th birthday. How, or how, did she get to be a teenager so quickly!!!! She is a very mature 13 year old and we are so extremely proud of her and the decisions she has made and making. Since this is her birthday the family will be celebrating it tonight with dinner at Macaroni Grill. (See why I don't lose weight........we eat all the time.....our social life it around food!!.) I'm sure I'll post a picture or two tomorrow of this event.

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Now to a very serious issue. As you all know I am an avid reader. My preference for reading are books of a spiritual nature but a friend at church recently shared with Mickey & I about a book he had just read that really disturbed him and asked if we would like to read it. He told us briefly about it and I said yes. He brought me the book and we had it read in 3 days!!! It is CRASH PROOF by Peter D. Schiff. He is actually giving investment advice, which is not why I read it or why I encourage you to read it, but it's because he tells the terribly shape America is in that I do so.

In 1999 we went to Dallas and attended a Hal Lindsey conference. At the time we purchased Cliff Ford's book, BLOOD, MONEY & GREED. We read it back then and after reading Crash Proof I pulled it off my shelf and are almost finished re-reading this book again now 8 years later and see how "right on" Cliff was.

We are in a VERY critical time in the life of our country. We Christians know how very serious this upcoming election is to America. We must start making some of the serious decisions in our personal life and in the life of our nation. We must not elect people who promise us all the "something for nothing" mentality that American's want to hear. There is no "Free Lunch" and we are ruining our nation and destroying the future for our children and grandchildren. I personally feel the return of the Lord is VERY near, but the Bible tells us to "Occupy until I return" and that is what we must do.

I would love to hear your comments, feelings and thoughts about the condition of our country. I would encourage you to read either or both of these books and if any of you have other ones to refer to us I would appreciate it.

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I am happy that I see the glass 1/2 full and not 1/2 empty. Even though I am moved enough to be concerned I still know that God is on the throne and that we win. I know "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

I don't know how many of you are familiar with THE CALL (Lou Engle) but Mickey & I are participating in this call to pray and fasting. Lou is asking us to read Joel 2:12-23 for 21 days (this began on February 13th) and to add Isaiah 22:20-22 and Daniel 2:20-22 for February 20-22. Any who would like to join in I encourage you to do so.

GRANDMA'S JOY

Our younger granddaughter, Oksana, will turn 13 tomorrow, February 20th. Since her birthday fell on Wednesday she celebrated with her friends last week-end. She had a slumber party and then I picked her & her 4 friends and took them to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then cheesecake for dessert!!!

The Cheesecake Factory opened in Tulsa just before Christmas and is "The In Place" to go at the moment. I had told Oksana I would take her & her friends there to celebrate. She was thrilled with that idea.

Here is the picture her Dad took of me and the girls when I picked them up at 11:30 Saturday morning.

(Back Row) Alicia, Lauren, & me (Front Row) Amanda, Oksana & Krystal

Oksana and Amanda sitting in the front seat with me on our way. We did not get a picture of the 3 in the back seat.



Oksana took this shot of them in the entrance area to the restaurant as I was parking the car.



The restaurant is very fancy. I wanted to get a picture of the outside but it was raining so didn't. Here is one shot of part of the interior from our booth.

Another angle of the interior from our booth.

Alicia, Amada & the honoree, Oksana

The food is not only delicious but presented beautifully. Alicia's hamburger. This girl orders hamburger no matter where she is! The menu is a 19 page book!!!! AND, there are 30 different flavors of cheesecake!!!

This is a 4 Cheese Pasta dish that both Lauren & Krystal had.

This is my BLT salad. A full head of lettuce. I almost fainted when they brought it out. Needless to say, 1/2 of it went home with me in a box. It was delicious. It not only had bacon & tomato but eggs, blue cheese and nuts and served with a wonderful blue cheese dressing. Yummy!!!

This is Oksana's Chicken Fetticini.

Amanda's Orange Chicken.

A serious moment of Krystal & Lauren.

Amanda taking a picture with her telephone of Oksana's Chocolate Mud Pie Cheesecake with her birthday candle in it.

The wait staff singing Happy Birthday to her. Our waiter, Chuck, is the one on the left. He was great and wonderful and so patient and caring with the girls.

Oksana's birthday plate after 1/2 of it has been devoured. We ordered different flavors and then shared in sampling all. It truly is devine Cheesecake.

Here are the girls as we left the restaurant. You can see they are ALL carrying their "doggie box" bags, except Amada. We also had a "doggie box" of left over cheesecake. They do like to pose!!!!

It was not only a fun time for these 5 girls but Grandma throughly enjoyed it and them. These 5 girls are all delightful , very intelligent and turning into delightful young women. I am VERY proud of not only my granddaughter, but her choice of friends.

One of my very first posts on this blog was about taking the girls on another occasion in my '93 Caddy "Limo". Click here if you'd like to read about that Very Special Occasion.

ANSWERING BLOGOVERSARY QUESTIONS #8

and MORE!!!!!!

Michelle, Franzenfam, asked........If you could be a color what color would you be and why?(I work with kids can you tell :-))........This is an easy one.....blue has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. NOW, Michelle, you must tell me what that means?

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Jewelgirl, Jewelgirl Loves Jewelry, asked......Have you ever put togetheryour family history?.....Short and sweet answer, no. I really do not know very much about my family past my own mother and father. I wish I did and it is one reason that I am using this blog to document things for my children and grandchildren.

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LAST but certainly not least, Sarah, Short Stop, asked.....Can you share a trial in your life where you saw God's grace SO clearly as He brought you through?

Yes, I sure can. After 25 years of marriage Mickey & I went through a very difficult time. It was wholely and entirely God's grace, and standing on His WORD and His commandments, that brought us through. At 30 years of marriage we renewed our vows. You can read about it here. The fact that we will celebrate our Golden Anniversary on October 4th of this year is testimony alone to God's grace and His faithfulness to restore to us what we had lost. God has blessed us above and beyond what we could have hoped or dreamed. Just as His word proclaims: Delight thy self also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalms 37:4

He does - He has!!!!!

VALENTINE'S DAY

Show & Tell can be found below this post!

I just wanted to share our private little Valentine's dinner with you.

Here is our little table arrangement that has been in place for a week.

The table is set with the china, crystal, silver and a few additions.

The candy dish to the right hold the wonderful milk and semi-chocolate Wilbur Bud's that I won in the drawing on Leigh Ann's 1 year blogoversary recently. YUMMY!!

I made the heart shape brownies (mine from a box!) that Annie showed on her blog recently. Aren't they cute!!!!

The candy dish is now edged in Queen Anne Chocolate Covered Cherries.

Do we like chocolate!!!!

Here is our dinner and menu: Salad with my home made salad dressing, bacon bits and croutons, rib eye steaks, baked yams with butter and cinnamon sugar, asparagus and toasted French bread. Cranberry Juice Cocktail to drink and the heart shaped brownies for dessert.


This picture didn't turn out well, but you get the feeling.

I had this meal all planned and ready to serve when Mickey walked in the door from work. He was very surprised as I had not said a word about fixing a special meal.

The best part of it all was the special Valentine card I found for him a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping at the Christian bookstore.

I am a "stickler" for cards absolutely having to say just the right thing and will spend much time picking out the perfect card. This time I walked to the cards, picked this one up and if I had written it myself I couldn't have said it better.

(it reads)

A Valentine For My Husband

When God gave me the gift of a husband,

He sent me someone who would remain

steady through life's changes...

someone who would grow in strength

and sensitivity through the years...

someone who would help me discover

in new and wonderful ways

the beauty of our love.

Inside on the left bottom is" "Truly God is good" Psalm 7:31 kjv

The inside reads: I'm so thankful for the love that you give and the life that we share, and I treasure the man that you are. Happy Valentine's Day With Love.

I signed it: These words are my heart, my LOVE

Love always & forever

Susan

Just so all you younger people will know and understand that love, and romance, can grow through the years and get better and better!!!!!