I have just finished reading this book and must say it is pretty good. It is written by two young ministers from Australia, Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson.
It brings out Scriptures about faith, grace, love, forgiveness, commitment, freedom, hope and more. It causes you to search for God of the Scriptures that is rumored about.
I was sent this book by BookSneeze for me to read and review. The thoughts concerning it are my own.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Years Gone By
I was remembering about our first home.This was 1962 in Metropolis Ill. It was three rooms and a bath with the landlady living in the other half. Our rent was $25 a month.
Al worked for a man who had a moving and storage business. I don't remember what he made on a normal week but once he worked 7 days and two nights on the road and his pay check was $37.50.
The house is still standing and I get a glimpse of it each time we go to the doctors in Metropolis.
Al worked for a man who had a moving and storage business. I don't remember what he made on a normal week but once he worked 7 days and two nights on the road and his pay check was $37.50.
The house is still standing and I get a glimpse of it each time we go to the doctors in Metropolis.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
A Sad Day
Today is a rather sad day for my family. We hugged and kissed a 9 year old boy and 4 year old girl ( Great grand Children) knowing we may never get to see them again.
The boy cried as we did because he is fully aware of what is happening but the girl is young enough that she did not realize it. My heart hurts for them.
We love all my grand and great grand children and never get to see as much of them as we would like.
Recently in past couple months I reconnected with a granddaughter who is 21 and we have not saw her since she was a tiny baby. She knew nothing about her dads side of the family. I hope to see her some day but that as grand as it will be does not erase the longing for the two who left 6 today nor the 3 year old that her parents are separated and her dad moving a few states away.
The boy cried as we did because he is fully aware of what is happening but the girl is young enough that she did not realize it. My heart hurts for them.
We love all my grand and great grand children and never get to see as much of them as we would like.
Recently in past couple months I reconnected with a granddaughter who is 21 and we have not saw her since she was a tiny baby. She knew nothing about her dads side of the family. I hope to see her some day but that as grand as it will be does not erase the longing for the two who left 6 today nor the 3 year old that her parents are separated and her dad moving a few states away.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Plain Jayne
A friend in Church gave me a book to read Wednesday night and I finished it today. It Is Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge.
It is a romance about Amish and "English" people. Levi ,a former Amish left his family to pursue an education. After he finished college he got a very good job in the city but after a few years he left the job to move back to the area his family lived. His father and brothers would have nothing to do with him but he visited his mom when they were not home. His grandmother was Mennonite and saw him frequently. His sister Sara was considering leaving too as she wanted to go to school to be a clothing designer. Levi had told her he would help her if she decided to leave.
Jayne was a reporter. Her father had died . She had not had a good relationship with him or the rest of the family. Her boss told her she had to take time off work or he would let her go. She decided to go to the area around the Amish community and see if she could get some interviews with the Amish or even arrange to stay a few days with a family.
Jayne meets Levi in his wood working business and he tells her he may know of a family she could stay with. So he takes her to his Mom's but does not tell Jayne who they are as far as being related to him.
Levi lets her know that she can stay there two weeks and helps her get her luggage in. It is quite a culture shock to Jayne but she likes the family and soon dresses like them and learns to cook a few thing and to cut quilt squares.
A week and half into Jayne's stay Levi's dad has a heart attack. She helps get him and his wife to the hospital and calls Levi. When Gideon was stable they learned he needed to be transferred to a hospital in Jayne's home town for open heart surgery.
Jayne decides she needs to try to see her mom and sister so she asks her boyfriend Shane to go with her for the weekend to meet her family. They go to her mom's and are invited in and offered rooms for the weekend. Her sister and family come for supper and her sister is very put off with Jayne. On the trip home Jayne and Shane decide to stop dating.
Jayne keeps thinking about Levi. When she returns to work her boss likes her article on Amish and asks her to get more.So she goes back .Martha and Gideon welcome her back for a few more days.
After her stay she goes back to her apartment and when she is getting things out of her car she hears a banging coming from her trunk. When she opens it there is 18 year old Sarah. Sarah wants to stay with her until she gets her GED and can enroll in college.
Jayne gets Levi, Sarah gets her GED and admitted in college.
It was a good read and I enjoy reading about Amish people.
It is a romance about Amish and "English" people. Levi ,a former Amish left his family to pursue an education. After he finished college he got a very good job in the city but after a few years he left the job to move back to the area his family lived. His father and brothers would have nothing to do with him but he visited his mom when they were not home. His grandmother was Mennonite and saw him frequently. His sister Sara was considering leaving too as she wanted to go to school to be a clothing designer. Levi had told her he would help her if she decided to leave.
Jayne was a reporter. Her father had died . She had not had a good relationship with him or the rest of the family. Her boss told her she had to take time off work or he would let her go. She decided to go to the area around the Amish community and see if she could get some interviews with the Amish or even arrange to stay a few days with a family.
Jayne meets Levi in his wood working business and he tells her he may know of a family she could stay with. So he takes her to his Mom's but does not tell Jayne who they are as far as being related to him.
Levi lets her know that she can stay there two weeks and helps her get her luggage in. It is quite a culture shock to Jayne but she likes the family and soon dresses like them and learns to cook a few thing and to cut quilt squares.
A week and half into Jayne's stay Levi's dad has a heart attack. She helps get him and his wife to the hospital and calls Levi. When Gideon was stable they learned he needed to be transferred to a hospital in Jayne's home town for open heart surgery.
Jayne decides she needs to try to see her mom and sister so she asks her boyfriend Shane to go with her for the weekend to meet her family. They go to her mom's and are invited in and offered rooms for the weekend. Her sister and family come for supper and her sister is very put off with Jayne. On the trip home Jayne and Shane decide to stop dating.
Jayne keeps thinking about Levi. When she returns to work her boss likes her article on Amish and asks her to get more.So she goes back .Martha and Gideon welcome her back for a few more days.
After her stay she goes back to her apartment and when she is getting things out of her car she hears a banging coming from her trunk. When she opens it there is 18 year old Sarah. Sarah wants to stay with her until she gets her GED and can enroll in college.
Jayne gets Levi, Sarah gets her GED and admitted in college.
It was a good read and I enjoy reading about Amish people.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Games
I have always played games. When my kids were big enough we played Aggravation, Chinese Checkers, Checkers, Dominoes, Go Fish, Old Maids, Uno and many others.
In fact my son Terry learned to count at age 3 by playing Aggravation. Goes to show they can learn at home by playing games.
When the kids were teens we got our first computer game and played until we wore it out.Later we got a Commodore 64 . It was never on line but it was always busy with many games from pool, Frogger, Pac Man and many many others.
When my kids were grown they got involved in playing on-line games and yes, they recruited me. I played Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest, WOW, Star Wars and others.
Now I have played most of the Face Book games including Cafe world, Farmville, Frontierville, Cityville, Restaurant City,Garden of time and others.
I'm just a kid at heart!
In fact my son Terry learned to count at age 3 by playing Aggravation. Goes to show they can learn at home by playing games.
When the kids were teens we got our first computer game and played until we wore it out.Later we got a Commodore 64 . It was never on line but it was always busy with many games from pool, Frogger, Pac Man and many many others.
When my kids were grown they got involved in playing on-line games and yes, they recruited me. I played Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest, WOW, Star Wars and others.
Now I have played most of the Face Book games including Cafe world, Farmville, Frontierville, Cityville, Restaurant City,Garden of time and others.
I'm just a kid at heart!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Do you remember.....
Do you remember when there really was penny candy? In fact you go more than one piece for the penny.
Do you remember when soda pop was a nickle a bottle? There wasn't any cans back then.
Do you remember when you got aluminum glasses when you bought tea? We even got a pitcher to match.
Do you remember when feed was bought in colorful sacks and taken apart when empty to make dresses, aprons, curtains etc?
Do you remember when bologna and cheese was sliced by a hand slicer and wrapped in paper and tied shut with string?
Do you remember pickles in a barrel?
Do you remember when kids lunches were packed in lard buckets with a bail?
I'm sure there are many more memories but hope you enjoy this trip back.
Do you remember when soda pop was a nickle a bottle? There wasn't any cans back then.
Do you remember when you got aluminum glasses when you bought tea? We even got a pitcher to match.
Do you remember when feed was bought in colorful sacks and taken apart when empty to make dresses, aprons, curtains etc?
Do you remember when bologna and cheese was sliced by a hand slicer and wrapped in paper and tied shut with string?
Do you remember pickles in a barrel?
Do you remember when kids lunches were packed in lard buckets with a bail?
I'm sure there are many more memories but hope you enjoy this trip back.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Divorce or equivalent of it
Divorce is heartbreaking to children from the young to the grown ones. It turns their lives into undeserved turmoil.
Yes, I know it does some of the parents too but my heart is with those children. They think "I must have done something wrong to cause this" or " If I had only tried harder this would not have happened."
No little child deserves to feel this way and wonder why Daddy is not coming home after work.
Some children were brought into the relationship and after five or six years they have adapted and call the "father figure" daddy and now the relatisonship falls apart and this child has two dads they never see and the guilt thoughts come again.
I love kids and hate to see them go through this.
Yes, I know it does some of the parents too but my heart is with those children. They think "I must have done something wrong to cause this" or " If I had only tried harder this would not have happened."
No little child deserves to feel this way and wonder why Daddy is not coming home after work.
Some children were brought into the relationship and after five or six years they have adapted and call the "father figure" daddy and now the relatisonship falls apart and this child has two dads they never see and the guilt thoughts come again.
I love kids and hate to see them go through this.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
excuses
I 'm sure most of you have heard the song "Excuses". I have been thinking on that thought today.
Most of us at one time or another have given excuses as to why we could not or did not do something. However the truth of most of the situations is that we chose not to.
In other words our priorities did not have this situation high on its list so we make excuse as to the reason why we chose not to do it.
If the thing is high on our priority list we will make a way to do it. We may have to let other things fall by the way side in the process but if it what we want we will do it. It may take us a little longer than we want but we will do it.
Most of us at one time or another have given excuses as to why we could not or did not do something. However the truth of most of the situations is that we chose not to.
In other words our priorities did not have this situation high on its list so we make excuse as to the reason why we chose not to do it.
If the thing is high on our priority list we will make a way to do it. We may have to let other things fall by the way side in the process but if it what we want we will do it. It may take us a little longer than we want but we will do it.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Book Review: The Final Summit by Andy Andrews
This book was sent to me free by Booksneeze to read and review.
It about a man who was a time traveler named David Ponder and he was given 5 chances to figure out the two words that were the principle that would save humanity.
There was an hour glass and he had until the sand all fell to give the correct answer. He was also given other time travelers one for each chance to help him figure out this principle.
It was an OK book but not really one that interested me so it took longer than usual for me to read it.
It about a man who was a time traveler named David Ponder and he was given 5 chances to figure out the two words that were the principle that would save humanity.
There was an hour glass and he had until the sand all fell to give the correct answer. He was also given other time travelers one for each chance to help him figure out this principle.
It was an OK book but not really one that interested me so it took longer than usual for me to read it.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
young girls advice
I felt the need to give this advice to the young girls who are dating and looking fore ward to being married.
When you are dating if your gentleman is all about what he wants with no consideration of what you want or like, RUN don't look back. You do not want to be married to a guy who thinks only of himself.
It makes a miserable marriage when a spouse thinks it's all about him.
Marriage is intended to be a good thing and it can be if both are caring about each other and what they want out of it. It was never meant to be one sided.
When you are dating if your gentleman is all about what he wants with no consideration of what you want or like, RUN don't look back. You do not want to be married to a guy who thinks only of himself.
It makes a miserable marriage when a spouse thinks it's all about him.
Marriage is intended to be a good thing and it can be if both are caring about each other and what they want out of it. It was never meant to be one sided.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Friends
I have never had an abundance of friends since my teens. Usually one or perhaps two.
In my later years it was the same.
I have moved so many times that some of my dearest friends were family and divorce separated us and she later died of cancer.Others remained though we were not in contact often.
In my years in Ga. one friend who was so dear and kind moved farther into the mountains and we moved to NW Ga. and occasionally talked on the phone. We even went to visit them a few times but the last two times we went no one was home and later when I sent her a birthday card it was returned. Her health was not good so I worried for a few years about her. She had 3 children about the age of my three little ones.( all are grown or teens now) She still holds a special place in my heart.
Later We found a Church and I became friends with a lady around my age and she moved away. ( Ouch) Then two other ladies both younger were/are dear friends and both moved away, one to Ohio and the other W Va.
I began to feel like it wasn't meant for me to have friends and still wonder because some of the ones that had remained here in Illinois that I had considered to be my friends don't seem to feel the same
I do have a dearest Friend that I met 26 years ago and He has stuck with me all these years. I am so thankful for Jesus.
In my later years it was the same.
I have moved so many times that some of my dearest friends were family and divorce separated us and she later died of cancer.Others remained though we were not in contact often.
In my years in Ga. one friend who was so dear and kind moved farther into the mountains and we moved to NW Ga. and occasionally talked on the phone. We even went to visit them a few times but the last two times we went no one was home and later when I sent her a birthday card it was returned. Her health was not good so I worried for a few years about her. She had 3 children about the age of my three little ones.( all are grown or teens now) She still holds a special place in my heart.
Later We found a Church and I became friends with a lady around my age and she moved away. ( Ouch) Then two other ladies both younger were/are dear friends and both moved away, one to Ohio and the other W Va.
I began to feel like it wasn't meant for me to have friends and still wonder because some of the ones that had remained here in Illinois that I had considered to be my friends don't seem to feel the same
I do have a dearest Friend that I met 26 years ago and He has stuck with me all these years. I am so thankful for Jesus.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Old Friends and playmates
This week my old friends and playmates have been on my mind and in my heart a lot. I guess it's because we received word that another one has passed away. This one 5 years younger than I am.
I grew up with a family that had 15 children,The last 4 all boys came along after I married so never got to know them like the other 11. There was a total of 8 girls and 7 boys and I thought that was the grandest thing to have so many playmates and not leave home.
I loved their parents very much and considered them my 2nd parents. Their mom was a wonderful cook who could make beans and corn bread taste good.
I'm not sure how they managed but they always had food on their table. The dad had built a long bench that was the length of their big table and the smaller children all sat at it as it was built high so they could reach the table and it left the other side and ends free for bigger people. Yes, the bigger girls helped some with the meals and did dishes afterwards. It made them hope for a dishwasher when they grew up. One even told me years later that she had two and neither one wanted to do dishes.
This family has had lots of heartbreak in past few years when two of the boys committed suicide and one of the girls is in the nursing home and this is the second one to die.
In our young years we knew everything about each other. We took many walks to Jackson Falls with our can of pork and beans,potatoes and a skillet to fry them in and spent several hours there. The food tasted so much better cooked outside.
When we moved to Metropolis the girls would take turns coming and spending a week with us. In fact one was there when I met my husband and double dated with us.
After we all grew up we went all different directions and hardly see each other except at funerals and such.
My prayers are with this family as they travel back home and grieve over the lost of another sibling.
I grew up with a family that had 15 children,The last 4 all boys came along after I married so never got to know them like the other 11. There was a total of 8 girls and 7 boys and I thought that was the grandest thing to have so many playmates and not leave home.
I loved their parents very much and considered them my 2nd parents. Their mom was a wonderful cook who could make beans and corn bread taste good.
I'm not sure how they managed but they always had food on their table. The dad had built a long bench that was the length of their big table and the smaller children all sat at it as it was built high so they could reach the table and it left the other side and ends free for bigger people. Yes, the bigger girls helped some with the meals and did dishes afterwards. It made them hope for a dishwasher when they grew up. One even told me years later that she had two and neither one wanted to do dishes.
This family has had lots of heartbreak in past few years when two of the boys committed suicide and one of the girls is in the nursing home and this is the second one to die.
In our young years we knew everything about each other. We took many walks to Jackson Falls with our can of pork and beans,potatoes and a skillet to fry them in and spent several hours there. The food tasted so much better cooked outside.
When we moved to Metropolis the girls would take turns coming and spending a week with us. In fact one was there when I met my husband and double dated with us.
After we all grew up we went all different directions and hardly see each other except at funerals and such.
My prayers are with this family as they travel back home and grieve over the lost of another sibling.
Monday, July 4, 2011
marriage
I met my husband 50 years ago this month in Metropolis Il. ( yeah Superman town).I had just finished my sophomore year in high school.
We got married Oct. 21st . I was 15 and he was 20 ( both going to have birthdays before end of the year. He had a job in Bloomington, Il. cleaning gutters and washing windows. We had a 1 room apt. and had to share a bath.
Then I found out I was pregnant ,oh the morning sickness. Not something I'd want to repeat. After a few months we moved back to Metropolis and lived with my parents for a few weeks.
We got our own 3 room apt. and paid $25 a month rent. Gas was 16 cents a gallon when our 2nd son was born two years after the first . My husband worked for Martin Oil pumping gas, changing tires and oil.
My parents moved to Marion , Il. and a few months later we followed with my husband working at Jake's tire store. We lived in a duplex next to my parents house.
A few months later we moved to Waukegan ,Il. and my husband worked at candy factory and then a paint factory. It was cold up there and lonely. LOL. Then I found I was pregnant with our third son. after almost a year we moved to St Louis, Mo where my son was born and we were there 2 years but city life is not for me so we moved back to Marion Il. and took care of several rental properties. Shortly after that move I was pregnant with our 4th son who was born in Marion, Il. Two months later Al was in a car wreck and lost his right thumb and had several stitches in face and head.
We moved to Vienna, Il and later to Buncombe, Il where our two oldest attended school. Our 5th son was born while we lived there. We lived at the edge of Buncombe next to a small saw mill that would let us have slabs of wood which we used for heat. Al and I have used a two man cross cut saw to saw down trees and chain them to car and drag to house where we cut them up with a buck saw.
It was here our oldest son fell off the top of the outhouse , where he watch the neighbors ride mini bikes and messed up his spine and broke his arm.
We moved back to Vienna, Il and then to Cypress, Il. Al got a job at Skellys truck stop at first fueling semi's and later as cook in the resturant. When he got his vacation from there we went to Nebraska to see his dad's only sibling and found he was dying of cancer so we stayed from June to Feb.
By then I was pregnant again and due Jan 1st. so when we had no baby by Feb 1st we loaded up and headed back to Illinois. We must have looked like Beverly Hillbillies as we had a u Haul and then our kids were laying on their stomachs on top of blankets and stuff in back seat and floor board with our Siamese cat and American Eskimo dog.
On Feb 10th our daughter was born. When she was a few months old we moved into my dad's farm house on the property where we now live.
When our oldest graduated high school I went and got my GED and we started college together. He took auto mechanics and I took Nursing. Shortly after that Al decided to take CNA classes and after I graduated we worked together a couple years and then he took a day shift and I did evening and night swing at same place.
Up till that point things had gone fairly smooth in our marriage. But not having time together caused a riff and we had major problems over the next couple years but I stayed and finally he decided to try to work in out.
It took several years before I felt I could trust him again but we have now had 50 years together and even with the ups and downs I'm glad we stuck together and if I had it to do over again I still do it.
We got married Oct. 21st . I was 15 and he was 20 ( both going to have birthdays before end of the year. He had a job in Bloomington, Il. cleaning gutters and washing windows. We had a 1 room apt. and had to share a bath.
Then I found out I was pregnant ,oh the morning sickness. Not something I'd want to repeat. After a few months we moved back to Metropolis and lived with my parents for a few weeks.
We got our own 3 room apt. and paid $25 a month rent. Gas was 16 cents a gallon when our 2nd son was born two years after the first . My husband worked for Martin Oil pumping gas, changing tires and oil.
My parents moved to Marion , Il. and a few months later we followed with my husband working at Jake's tire store. We lived in a duplex next to my parents house.
A few months later we moved to Waukegan ,Il. and my husband worked at candy factory and then a paint factory. It was cold up there and lonely. LOL. Then I found I was pregnant with our third son. after almost a year we moved to St Louis, Mo where my son was born and we were there 2 years but city life is not for me so we moved back to Marion Il. and took care of several rental properties. Shortly after that move I was pregnant with our 4th son who was born in Marion, Il. Two months later Al was in a car wreck and lost his right thumb and had several stitches in face and head.
We moved to Vienna, Il and later to Buncombe, Il where our two oldest attended school. Our 5th son was born while we lived there. We lived at the edge of Buncombe next to a small saw mill that would let us have slabs of wood which we used for heat. Al and I have used a two man cross cut saw to saw down trees and chain them to car and drag to house where we cut them up with a buck saw.
It was here our oldest son fell off the top of the outhouse , where he watch the neighbors ride mini bikes and messed up his spine and broke his arm.
We moved back to Vienna, Il and then to Cypress, Il. Al got a job at Skellys truck stop at first fueling semi's and later as cook in the resturant. When he got his vacation from there we went to Nebraska to see his dad's only sibling and found he was dying of cancer so we stayed from June to Feb.
By then I was pregnant again and due Jan 1st. so when we had no baby by Feb 1st we loaded up and headed back to Illinois. We must have looked like Beverly Hillbillies as we had a u Haul and then our kids were laying on their stomachs on top of blankets and stuff in back seat and floor board with our Siamese cat and American Eskimo dog.
On Feb 10th our daughter was born. When she was a few months old we moved into my dad's farm house on the property where we now live.
When our oldest graduated high school I went and got my GED and we started college together. He took auto mechanics and I took Nursing. Shortly after that Al decided to take CNA classes and after I graduated we worked together a couple years and then he took a day shift and I did evening and night swing at same place.
Up till that point things had gone fairly smooth in our marriage. But not having time together caused a riff and we had major problems over the next couple years but I stayed and finally he decided to try to work in out.
It took several years before I felt I could trust him again but we have now had 50 years together and even with the ups and downs I'm glad we stuck together and if I had it to do over again I still do it.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
growing old
Growing old is not fun. It beats other options and as an 86 year old man said today "The only way to keep from getting old is to die young".
My husband has been sick and in hospital a couple days last week having problems breathing.This week has been trips for more tests and dr visits with no new info. I have depended on him the last 3 years to most everything since I can only stand about 8 minutes without terrible pain. Now he can't breathe and I can't walk or stand. We are a great couple.
We went grocery shopping this morning. Usually I ride in power chair but Wal-mart has new chairs and you can't take them out to the car( I don't understand how it helps to have them if you can't get what you bought to your car) so we had to find a new place to shop. Al usually leans on a grocery cart while I go in power chair but today we both needed one so went to Krogers. They have their chairs inside and in a tight place so it is almost impossible to get one out or put back when you finish. We got a few things and made it to car. Then we went to Aldi and they have no power chairs so we managed to grab a few things but by the time we got to the car we had decided that if Drs can't figure out what the problem is we will have to stop shopping and try to get some one else to do it for us. Someone who rather not have to be bothered.
It is hard to give up doing things you have done for years but growing older requires this. Our minds say we can but our body says no you can't.
My husband has been sick and in hospital a couple days last week having problems breathing.This week has been trips for more tests and dr visits with no new info. I have depended on him the last 3 years to most everything since I can only stand about 8 minutes without terrible pain. Now he can't breathe and I can't walk or stand. We are a great couple.
We went grocery shopping this morning. Usually I ride in power chair but Wal-mart has new chairs and you can't take them out to the car( I don't understand how it helps to have them if you can't get what you bought to your car) so we had to find a new place to shop. Al usually leans on a grocery cart while I go in power chair but today we both needed one so went to Krogers. They have their chairs inside and in a tight place so it is almost impossible to get one out or put back when you finish. We got a few things and made it to car. Then we went to Aldi and they have no power chairs so we managed to grab a few things but by the time we got to the car we had decided that if Drs can't figure out what the problem is we will have to stop shopping and try to get some one else to do it for us. Someone who rather not have to be bothered.
It is hard to give up doing things you have done for years but growing older requires this. Our minds say we can but our body says no you can't.
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