Thankful Thoughts #5 --- Always

I've been reminded this week that even in hard and confusing times, there is always something to be thankful for. I found this picture by complete accident....when I needed it the most. While doing a google search for something completely unrelated, I found this random picture in the middle of the other images. I saved the picture and exited out of the screen. Just out of curiosity, I went back and did that exact same search......the picture wasn't there the second time.....

Thank You God! You always know when I need a word of encouragement!

Lets Get Together.......

Although it was for a sad reason, My cousins and I enjoyed being able to spend so much time together last week. Since then, we have been able to get together and hang out a little more than normal. I know Grandma Rosina is smiling down at us from heaven.....she loved when we all spent time together. One of the best parts is that our 'long lost' 2nd cousin, Larae, came back into contact with us! I have enjoyed having her back in my life!

While together we were able to 'reproduce' a picture that was taken over 10 years ago in Grandma's back yard.

Other than Skyler and Damara being switched, the picture was exactly the same. (sorry about the quality of the first picture....its just a cropped version of the bulletin boards at Grandma's viewing)

(Left to Right)

Me, Wray, Damara, Skyler, and Larae

Many Years Later......

(Left to Right)

Me, Wray, Skyler, Damara, and Larae

My Grandma.....and My Pap

My heart hurts.

There is a void, a hole that can never be filled again. In my short 20 years, I have never lost someone as close to me as Grandma Rosina.

How does one recover from something like this? I watch my Pap coming and going on his own...arriving at his house to find him eating lunch alone with grandma's home-made CD playing in the background.

I watch him standing by her casket, tears streaming down his face; I can't recall a time that I have ever seen him cry.

I know grandma is in a place that she never wants to leave again, she is happy. She can hear out of both ears.....she never has to worry about being cold, taking an extra pair of gloves along.

But what about Pap? His constant friend, companion, lover, soul mate........is no longer at his side.

Is there anything to say to him?

"It will be ok Pap. We're here for you"

Nothing we can say to him will ever heal the hurt in his heart.

Grandma is dancing on streets of Gold, while my Pap is hurting.

I love you Pap!

My Grandparents on their 25th Wedding Anniversary

October 1986

A Westinghouse

Maybe this is on the slightly silly side, but I thought I would share this joke with you anyway! Enjoy :-)





A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves.

"What are you doing in there?" She asked

The rabbit replied: "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?",

To which the lady replied "Yes."

"Well," the rabbit said, "I'm westing."

The Last Supper

During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread,

broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

"Take, eat.This is my body."
Taking the cup and thanking

God, he gave it to them:

"Drink this, all of you.
This is my blood,God's new covenant poured

out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.
I'll not be drinking wine from this cup

again until that new day when I'll drink

with you in the kingdom of my Father.”

This is Next

I just discovered that Joshua Harris will be having a Next conference in Baltimore, MD later next month (May 23rd-26th.) This is similar to the New Attitude conferences he did several years ago, for anyone who is familiar with those. I've ordered some info packets, which I expect in the mail sometime next week. I'll hopefully be planning to get a group together, but I'll post more about that when I have more details. The conference is geared towards college students and young married couples, ages 18-29, but anyone is welcome to come. All the registration and cost info is on the website thisisnext.org Check it out and be thinking about it. Baltimore really isn't that far, and it sounds like its going to be an amazing 4 days!

Thankful Thoughts #4 --- Spare Keys and A Big Brother

I was running some errands for work and talking to Wray on my phone while I was driving. Just as I was pulling in my parking spot at work our conversation ended with him telling me he was getting ready to leave the house. ( Mom and Dad were both gone for the day )

I hung up the phone, turned off the car, and got out with my phone and keys in hand.

"This is goofy", I thought, "I don't need to carry in my phone and keys, I'm just dropping stuff off and coming right back out."

Now, I normally lock my doors when I go into work, just out of good habit. So I threw my phone and keys on my front seat, and (out of habit) locked my door. As if in slow motion, I slammed the car door shut just as I was thinking " Oh darn, I'm locking my keys in my car!"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was too late. The deed had already been done, and there was no way of reversing the fact that I was locked out of my car standing in the parking lot at work.

"Easy enough to fix," I thought. "I'll just call Wray real quick before he leaves and ask him to bring me my spare key." So I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone....."oh yeah, I locked my phone in there too!" Figuring that Wray was probably walking out the door at that very second, I ran across the parking lot, flew through the door, across the room, and slid over to the phone. ( Getting some very strange looks from my co-workers, might I add) I dialed the house phone, but nobody picked up. "Darn, he already left!"

So I went to dial Wrays number...and my mind went blank! "Ah noodles! What is Wrays number?" I usually just use the phone book on my cell phone, so I hadn't actually dialed it for a while. After a few failed attempts, I finally remembered all the numbers in the correct order :-)

Thankfully, Wray was only at the end of our drive way, so he went back inside and got my key for me. When he pulled into the parking lot he just rolled down his window, held out the key, and rolled his eyes as if to say, "What a weirdo".