TRYING IMAGES

I am trying out this new image thingy on the blog site.

This is the beach area near where I live. The water is much higher this year.
I have lived here 5 years now and I have never gone swimming. Can you believe it? I love swimming but I guess I am more of a pool person.


This is a picture I painted recently. I would really value your opinions on it. Be brutally honest please.

I am just a beginner painter. I learned from watching Bob Ross on t.v.

Have a great day.

WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?

Why haven’t you given you life to Jesus yet? What is the problem? Do you not realize what you are missing out on? He offers the greatest gift EVER and you haven’t acted on it yet. May I ask why?

I really don’t understand. You know you are a sinner. We all know we are sinners, so that can’t be it. We all know that Jesus died on a cross for all of mankind. That is a fact of History. Ask anyone. They all know that. So if that isn’t the problem, then what is? What could possibly stop you from accepting the GREATEST GIFT ever offered?

Is it that you don’t believe that Jesus was God come in the flesh? Come on now, really! What more proof do you need? Read about His life and the things He did. Any SERIOUS person can see it plain as day if they really want to know the TRUTH.

The only reason I can think of is that you enjoy your life and the things you are doing. You think that following Jesus means you have to give up all of that. Am I right? Or maybe you think you aren’t GOOD enough. Could that be it? Well, believe me, none of us is GOOD ENOUGH.

Hey, I am a sinner just like you are. Probably worse in some ways. BUT, I have the greatest friend that anyone could ever have and He loves me just the way I am. Really. JUST THE WAY I AM.

When I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour - I came to him JUST AS I WAS - with all my faults and sins. You know what? He accepted me - JUST AS I WAS - and he forgave my sins and I started out fresh and new.

Sure I still sin. The difference is, now I can go to him without fear and ask His forgiveness and I have a guarantee that he will forgive me.

Jesus came that we might have LIFE and have it more ABUNDANTLY. He came to set us free from the bondages of sin and all the sick stuff in the world. He came to give us HOPE. This world is sorely lacking in HOPE but Jesus gives it to us freely and abundantly.

My relationship with Jesus isn’t about what he does or doesn’t do for others. Our relationship is between Him and me and that is all that matters. Do I like some of the stuff happening in the world today? NO, for sure not. Why does God allow it? That’s his business - not mine. It’s His world and He can do what he likes when he likes. My business is just loving Him and being a good friend to Him and praying for others.

It really isn’t hard to be His friend. He makes it so easy and it is the greatest thing you could ever imagine. Imagine, the God that created the universe, talking to you, leading and guiding you, and caring about every little detail of your life. Wow. It is so amazingly beautiful to experience. Why haven’t you given it a try?

You know what? Even if there isn’t a heaven at the end of all of this life, and I just end up as nothing, I would not be sorry I gave my life to Jesus. Because of it, I have been a much happier person. I have had peace and hope in my heart. I have had a terrific friend to talk to and lead me. I have never felt totally alone or abandoned. I’ve read the greatest story ever, filled with love, romance, adventure, and stuff that fantasies are made of. I’ve laughed and cried and been comforted. I’ve shared my deepest darkest secrets and have been forgiven and accepted.

My Dear Friend Jesus,

Please help everyone reading this to understand the great love you have for them. Help them to see that you only want to help them have a much better life - no matter how good they think the life they now have is. Help them to realize you are not the Ogre the world makes you out to be. Help them to see the TRUTH for what it really is. Give them a hungering heart to read the greatest story ever told. Please open their eyes and heart to receive you as their greatest friend, lover and Saviour of their souls. Thank you Jesus.

Please have a Jesus friendly day.

RAIN IS GETTING TO ME

The thunder roared
The lightning flashed
I think I should be shaking
The rain comes down
For days on end
My legs they are an aching

Water, water everywhere
More rain coming
Getting higher and higher
No wood to find
That’s even dry
To try to light a fire.

Will it dry
Or will it flood
This thought fills me with woe
If the lake
Should fill it’s banks
And over run
Where am I to go?

God told Noah
Build an Ark
The rain it is a coming
Many people
Mocked the man
But ended up ‘a running’.

But to the rainbow
We do look
For we have His Vow
Never to destroy
With rain again
The end will not be now.

But soon my friends
He’ll come again
With Angels and with Glory
The trump will sound
And we will rise
It is the greatest story.

So take heart dear ones
Encourage one another
God sent a Saviour, Jesus
His love is always here
And we have his promise
That He will never leave us.

A LITTLE THIS, A LITTLE THAT

Here I sit broken hearted
To write a blog, I can’t get started
Should I write about my day
If I do, what do I say

What I need’s a simple plan
That applies to any man
Then I’d write the things I thought
And the battles I have fought

Could I be more boring
Oh my mind is soaring
As you can see I’m not a poet
And I’m sure by now you know it.

Oh Well. I needed some way of starting to say a lot of nothing. I need to write today and haven’t a clue what to write. Daily activities are very boring and uninteresting to the masses. I’d love to be funny and charming like Darlene is but woe is me, I am just a plain Jane when it comes to writing.

I was reading the Two Fat Chicks site and they nearly have me hooked into dieting. It seems to be the thing to do as I am gaining and gaining. I need motivation. They are so pretty and they have accomplished so much already. Make sure to check out their site. They are really funny and encouraging.

You go girls! Keep up the good work.

Darlene has posted some of her best and worst pictures. Give her a look if you haven’t already and be sure to leave a comment on her site. If you can’t get to her site by clicking on her name, then click on "Blogger can you...." on my side bar.

This week I am getting some money in and I will be able to pay off my mortgage. It will be the first time in my long life that I will be mortgage free. Yipeeee! I think I may have a mortgage burning party. Who wants to come?

Maybe I’ll hold off on the mortgage burning party and invite everyone over for a home ‘make over’ party instead. My house needs a lot of TLC inside and out. I need my walls washed and then painted and the old carpet I have in here ripped out and new flooring put in. I have very old verticle blinds that I want to get rid of and replace with curtains. I need shelves built everywhere but especially in the room I have planned to use as my craft/sewing room.

I’d love to be able to just go away for awhile and come back to everything being done for me like they do on Extreme Makeover. Wouldn’t that be nice? Anyone want to surprise a nice little old lady?

I had so many people say "If there is anything I can do for you, just give me a call." when my husband passed. Do you think I should take them up on their offer? Hee Hee. I’m sure it was just meant as a way of showing they cared - but - it would be so nice if I could turn to aaaallllll those people now.

I am the type of person that finds it really hard to ask for help from anyone. I would rather try to do it myself or if I could afford it, to hire someone. If I can’t do it or can’t afford it - I just leave it and learn to live with it.

Why is it so hard for us to ask others for help? Some would say it is pride but I don’t really think so. Not all the time anyway. I just don’t like to bother anyone else with my problems. I figure they have enough of their own to worry about.

I’d love to go back to the barter system. You do this for me and I’ll do that for you. Problem is, I don’t have a lot of things I could do for others. I am a Jane of all trades, master at none. I am into crafts and computing so what can I offer someone in the way of trade? What can I offer a carpet installer for example? A craft I made? Some printing on the puter??? Most people have their own computers now.

Speaking of crafts, here is a picture of a little angel I invented.

She lights up when you plug her in. I have fun coming up with new ideas all the time. Right now I am working on a picture album scrapbook that I want to get together and post on Ebay and see if I can sell it. I am printing up scrapbook pages and cutting out all kinds of clip art to include. Then I am going to cover a binder. May post a picture of it when I am done.

Well that is about all my thoughts for today.

Ummmm, could you do me a favour? Could you have a nice day?

THE HUSBAND I KNEW

I want to tell you about the husband I knew. I saw him as he really was. Not the imaginary man I had in my mind when we first married. But the real man that the rest of the world saw. That’s who he was. What you saw was what you got. He wasn’t one type of person in public and another type in private. He was always the same no matter what. He never put on airs or tried to impress people.

He just lived his life one day at a time and was content in everything he did. He found much pleasure in the little things of life. He loved animals and loved every little nuance about them. He loved reading and watching t.v. He loved fishing. Those were his passions. Not striving to make it big or get attention from the world - but just enjoying the little things in life.

In some ways he was a very simple man. No ambition or drive because he was content in whatever he did. Being simple did not mean he was less of a man, in fact it made him more of a man. It was the simple things that he enjoyed.

Val loved Jesus with all his heart. For a man that had a hard time showing emotions, he just let his emotions flow when it came to things of God. He loved listening and singing praise songs and would jack up his car radio and sing along with his tapes in worshipping God. He said that many times, God had to drive his car home as he was so enwrapped in singing praises and crying. His tears were not tears of weakness but tears of the great love he had for Jesus.

He took pride in his jobs. He had a terrific work ethic and was an example to many others because of it. I know my son-in-law and nephew have both commented on that and what it meant to them to have his example. He gave himself fully to any employer and was a very faithful worker. He took pleasure in every aspect of his work. He took pleasure in the men he worked with and they became a very big part of his life.

He was the greatest husband. He loved me regardless of what I did or didn’t do. He was totally faithful to me at all times. He was a good provider and companion. He was intelligent and quite humourous as well. He had a good head on his shoulders and would lead and guide me when I would go off on an emotional tangent. He was so very thoughtful and always doing things for me and bringing me little gifts like a chocolate bar or a drink or whatever. It’s those little things he did that I miss the most. He would tell me that by doing those things, it was his way of telling/showing me he loved me.

He let me do what I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it and never complained about it. If I sat and crafted all day and didn’t make supper - he never complained but just got his own meal when he got in. If I didn’t clean house, he didn’t complain. He never beat me or treated me cruelly. He took interest in all my crafts and seemed to be proud of me for them. He would show or tell others about them and encourage me to explore endless ideas. He never complained about the money I would spend on these things. He got joy out of my joy in doing these things. You couldn’t ask for a better husband.

He was the greatest father and loved his girls very deeply. He was interested in every little detail of their lives. He didn’t try to play the "macho man" role around them but was ‘himself’ with them. He played with them, read them stories, and was a great example of our Heavenly Father to them. Money was never an object when it came to his girls. I could spend a fortune on them and it was always o.k. with him. He would do all he could for them as well. Hundreds of times he would drive them here or there just because they would ask. He could never say no to them.

At one time, when my youngest daughter Angela was delivering newspapers, Val used to get up with her and help her fold the newspapers. Then when she left to deliver them, he would make a thermos full of hot chocolate and then go meet her while she was delivering them and they would sit and have hot chocolate and she could warm up. (It was winter and very cold out)

When he worked a shift from 4-12, he would get up early so that he could spend time with the girls before they went to school as he wouldn’t see them later in the day. That was the kind of thoughtful father he was to his children. They meant to world to him and him to them.

Val was a great son-in-law and brother-in-law to everyone in my family. My parents really loved him and became very close to him. He was like the son they never had. He was the first son-in-law and that made him extra special because he was with them the longest. Whenever my dad or any of my brothers-in-law needed any kind of help - he was always there to lend a helping hand. When my sisters needed rides somewhere - he would be willing to drive them or pick them up. They really looked up to him. He loved each member of my family like they were his family.

When we first got married my dad was so proud of having him as his son-in-law. He would talk about him all the time to my mom and the guys at work. They did many things together and I think dad enjoyed having a man around for a change. My mom used to complain that my dad would always be saying "Val this or Val that."

Val loved to give and do things for others that they didn’t know about. He found great amusement and joy in doing that. We often talked about what we would do if we came into a lot of money. Mostly we wanted to help others with it and much of it anonymously if possible. We would have provided for our own needs of course but everything else would have gone to help others.

Val was always giving to others. When we were first married, one of my sisters lived with us when she was pregnant. Val let her live with us and welcomed her with open arms. Years later, a lady and her baby lived with us, then my cousin and finally we had teenage foster girls living with us. Val again welcomed them all with open arms. He never complained but considered it his duty to help others in any way he could.

Val was many many more things and I can’t even begin to list them all. I was and am so honoured to have spent the last 35 years being his wife and partner. His parents gave him his good qualities and God helped later in life to refine them. Some of the most precious characteristics were in the man I knew and loved.

I will forever be grateful for knowing and loving him. He will never be forgotten. He was a great man among men. His legacy will live on in the children that so loved and admired their father. Those same characteristics and qualities will now be passed on to his grandchildren.

If you go to meet Val before I do, please tell him I love and miss him.

Please have a love filled day and look at the little things more closely.

MORE QUESTIONS ON W

These were sent to me in an email so I thought I would share them with yout.

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a
revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
Why are there still apes, if people evolved from apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Why are mattresses always on sale? Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you first try?
Why do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?"
Well, it isn't all right so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
Why, in winter, do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
Why don't we ever hear father-in-law jokes?
Why don't we do this - If at first you don't succeed, shouldn't you try doing it like your wife told you to do it? And obviously if at first you don't succeed, then don't take up sky diving!
And my FAVORITE......The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends, if they're okay, then it's you. Why is that?

Why don't you have a glorious fun filled day for a change?

THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE

I must write to thank everyone for their prayers and wonderful words of encouragement. My heart is overflowing with love and gratitude to everyone that has prayed and written to me. I just reread all the remarks and my heart was filled with a special peace. You are the dearest brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you for being a part of my family and helping me to not feel so alone.

Little things are starting to get to me and a weird kind of loneliness. I can have people around but I am still feeling alone. I am a single person now - after being with my husband for 35 years plus the two years we were going out. The longest we were ever apart was a few weeks one summer when I went on holidays. Well the holiday is over and I have no one to go back to.

No one waiting for me. No one to wait each day for. No one to cook for. That is a problem. Because I have no one but myself to cook for, I don’t feel much like cooking at all and just grab whatever is handy. No one to clean house for except myself. No one to share my stupid humour with.

I have my great friend - Tilly - and have been so thankful for her. I have been unloading on her daily. At least I have her to unload my deep thoughts on. Please pray for her as she has many problems of her own and I just overweigh her with mine. I worry about her well being and her health. We live so far apart though and that makes it harder.

One of the things I miss the most about my husband is his scent. I know that may sound strange but it is true. I had recently washed all his clothes before he died and I have nothing of his scent left. I try sniffing things to get that feeling of closeness and can’t find anything yet. I miss that terribly. Maybe that is some sort of animalistic trait in us but it can be a source of comfort.

I look at his pictures and it all seems so unreal. I can recite every little detail of the night he passed on and it is all like a dream. It seems like it was ages ago. Maybe that is all part of the denial that each of us goes through.

No one to hug. No dirty dishes to haul out of the living room. No one to take out the garbage. No one to get the dog all riled up and excited. No one to yak at me when I am on the phone. No one to interrupt my favorite part of a movie with his quips about the dog. No one to leave a mess on the kitchen counter because of making a snack. No one to eat all the food. No one to leave the toilet seat up. It’s the little things that begin to get to you.

You get this feeling of waiting - like suddenly you will wake up and it was all a terrible dream. How long will the waiting last? When will the normal begin?- or is this what normal is?

The weather in our part of the world has not helped at all. We have had cloud and rain for about two weeks straight now. My yard is so full of water that we can’t even cut the grass. I don’t know how we will cut it when the sun finally does come out. I wonder if the sun will ever come out. The weather is contributing to my mood, or maybe complementing my mood. I don’t know which is the case.

Little things like being quiet in the evening because he is sleeping. Choosing a movie to watch that he would like to watch. I can watch anything I want to now but it isn’t the same. It isn’t a good freedom. Then when I do watch it, I have no one to share my feelings about it with. Would he have enjoyed it as much as I did?

Little things, like tripping over the shoes he left in the middle of the floor or having to pick up after him. Little things like his annoying habits that you wish so much were happening right now. Waiting for him to get out of the bathroom. Who’s going to run all those little errands for me now? Who can I look to for approval of all my little crafts and accomplishments? Who’s there to give me his opinion and his sound advice when I am so emotional about certain things?

Who’s there to nag me about my improper eating, or my smoking or my weight? Even though I may not have liked it much at the time, it is something you do miss. It was all a part of his being there with you - constantly - even when he was away.

It’s the little things that get to you.

Hope you will enjoy all the little things in life today.

RANDOM QUESTIONS ON "W"

Why am I waking up so early when I go to bed later?
Why do I have indigestion?
Why do I fart and burp so much?
Why don't we write "Y" instead of "why"?
"Y" did God bless me so much with such a terrific friend?
Y do birds wake so early?
Why does my dog want to go out all the time now that Val isn't here?
Why am I too chicken to drive myself into the city?
Why does it take so long for the marks on my face to fade away each morning?
Why does skin wrinkle?
Why couldn't smoking and overeating be healthy for you?
Why couldn't all the bad things be good things instead?
Why do people love doing the bad things more than the good things?
Why are my random thoughts all questions?
Why am I so weird and ditsy?
Why can't I be rich and beautiful instead of being a genius?
Why does the word widow have such a strange sound? It sounds more like a spider word than a people word.
What is my purpose in life?
What can I write when I don't know what to write?
What's it all about Alfie?
What can I say?
Whatever happened to baby Jane?
What is fair play?
What goes up must come down?
Why?
Who put the bop in the bop she bop bop?
Who put the ram in the ram a lam a ding dong?
Who was that man?
Who's on first?
Why isn't coffee piped in like water?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Why does beauty fade and ugly stay?
Why don't we close up the world all winter and hybernate?
What have you been up to?
When should I start building my ARK?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
WOW?
W-How?
Wha hoo, wazoo?
WWWWWWEEEEEEELLLLLLL?
Why wouldn't you answer me?
Whatever?
When did I become so boreing?
Who's looking down the streets of the city, smiling at every body she meets?
Who' looking out to capture a moment?
Why does everyone know its Wendy or is it Windy?
Which really is better, Coke or Pepsi?
Why is it available only in Canada?
Why can't I stop doing this?
When will I stop?
When will the oceans wear rubber pants to keep it's bottom dry?
Where did we go wrong?
Willie Nelson?
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Why is it our last WILL and Testament?
Why isn't it our Last When or Why and Testament?
Will I grow up to be a girl or boy?
Willy nilly?
When will the sun come up?
When will we have sun again?
Where did it all go?
Who knows?
Who is/are "they" in they said?
Whoever thought of doing it that way?
Would it be o.k. to copy this to my blog?
Would you mind?
Would I be sharing personal stuff?
Wouldn't you know it?
Who would have thought?
What's up?
What's for dinner?
What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
Why is there air?
Why can't I be normal?
Where or where has my little dog gone?
Where or where can he be?
Where there is smoke there is fire?
Where withall?
Who will be coming round that mountain when she comes?
Who wants to be first?
Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too?
What's in a name?
Where's my brain?
Well, well well?
Will you write soon?
Will I see you again?
Will you give me a call?
Will I see you in September or lose you to a summer's love?
Who wants a breath mint?
Who's your daddy?
Who loves ya baby?
Who can stand it?
Who knows?
What would Jesus do?
Who can carry a tune in a basket?
When you are up you are up, when you are down you are down?
When you are only half way up you are neither up nor down?
Why don’t we start out old and then get younger instead of the other way around? Will I make it to heaven?
Who cares?
What is a reasonable price to offer?
Would you care to repeat that?
Would you close the door?
Would you be willing?
Wasn't it a party?
Why would anyone read all this dribble?
Why would anyone write it, for that matter?
What has kept you interested thus far?
When should I end this?
When I have said all I have to say?
Who can top all this?
When will you write back?
Will you be o.k.?

Will you please have a wonderful day?

AFTER THE STORM , GOD SENDS A RAINBOW

I am so excited to announce to the world, that my oldest daughter is also going to be a mother very soon. She has tried for years to conceive a child and has had one miscarriage after another. Now God has worked it out that she will be able to adopt my niece’s baby. The baby is due in about 2 months.

This will be my niece’s fourth child. This child will be going to my daughter. God knew that my daughter and her husband wanted a child and so He arranged that this child would be born for them.

They are very nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous that it is due so soon and that they haven’t had time to prepare anything. Excited that they are getting their hearts desire. I am so excited as well as I will have two grand babies being born about the same time. Each sister will be calling the other sister constantly to compare notes and ask questions and this will bring both my daughters closer together as well. God is so very good and knows exactly what he is doing.

I have to get busy making baby things for this daughter now as well. I just finished making things for my other daughter. What a joy for this soon-to-be grandmother. I thought, the way things were going, that I might never experience the joys of being a grandmother and now, I will be having two grand kids back to back. It is nearly like having twin babies born.

Please pray for my daughters. I ask that there would be no complications for either of them in having their babies, and that they would get happy, normal, healthy babies. I know that both babies will be brought up to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Lord God, please guide these mothers and give them wisdom and knowledge in raising these babies for your honour an glory. Protect them from harm or evil. Guide them in the things they should do. Help these little ones to grow up to be the people you want them to be. Bless their lives and keep them in your loving hands. Guide their paths and use them in service to you and others. Thank you Jesus for their very lives and for bringing them into our family. In Jesus name I pray.

May your day be filled with rainbows.