Sunday Sharing: A Direct Line To God and a Password Tip

Happy Easter Everyone!

This week I have chosen two verses as my highlights of the week that both relate to prayer:

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you.  Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered.  (John 15:7 - Jesus speaking)

You will ask the Father in my name, and I won't have to ask Him for you.  (John 16:26 - Jesus speaking)

Isn't it wonderful that because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we can have a relationship with the God of the universe!  I don't know about you, but that just blows me away.  I love that I can talk to God in prayer anytime, anywhere and know that He will answer.  It's like having a direct line to God without being put on hold or dropped into voice mail.  He is always ready, willing and available to listen.

I would like to point out though, an important couple points that jump out at me in these verses.  The first is that Jesus tells me to "stay joined" (contemporary English version) to Him and let His teachings become a part of me.  The obvious question is, how exactly do I do that?  I think the key is to be willing to obey His Word and actually apply it in my life.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, praise the Lord, I can do that!  I have finally grown in my spiritual walk to actually get to the place where I look forward to reading the Bible some every day.  It does help me to jot down a verse that I especially find interesting and then choose a highlight for the week. By using different verses for my passwords, it helps me to keep them in my mind.  (see end of this post for example).

The second point from the next verse is to ask the Father in Jesus' name.  I know sometimes people pray, especially at public functions, when they do not do this.  There is power in the name of Jesus and we are told by Jesus himself to pray to God the Father in His name. 

Once again, it was difficult choosing just one highlight.  Other verses I considered choosing were John 17:3, John 18:4-6 and John 18:36.  I hope you read your Bible each day and develop a close personal relationship with God too.  Happy Easter as we all join together in celebrating Christ's death for us and His resurrection!

Password tip idea:

 Keeping in mind that a strong password is long but easy to remember, has numbers and letters, isn't a word found in the dictionary, here is an example of a strong password using a Bible verse:  ItbGcthateGen11 (Just use the first letter of the words, the first letter of the book where it's found or the abbreviation for the boo and the chapter and verse.  This example is Genesis 1:1 which says, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.  To make it even stronger, substitute a special character for the comma and/or period. 

So, what is your scripture highlight of the week?  (I'd love to know what you think of my password tip too!  Don't worry, I am not using this one for any of my passwords.)

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5 Friday Fragments (food, humor, heart attack, blogging, computer)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Alternative Cooking

I heard of a new way to make a grilled cheese sandwich: turn the toaster on its side, insert two slices of bread, one with cheese on it and put them together when it pops out. I haven't tried this yet because I would think the cheese would get all over the toaster when it melted, but I may have to update my video: Making a Grilled Cheese Sandwich Without a Stove.

Ambrosia

At my Sunday morning Bible study, I had a delicious treat called ambrosia and the best part is that it's easy enough for even me to make! Yes, I'm going to give it a try and will post about it. The main ingredient is whipped cream and all you do is mix in some pineapple chunks, pistachio pudding mix, marshmallows, chopped nuts, and some cherries if you like.

Heart Attack Symptoms for Women

This is a humorous video with an important message:

Find out how this video may have just saved a life at Go Red For Women.  The symptoms are shortness of breath, nausea, chest pressure, aches, dizziness, and jaw pain.  This video is probably how I would be.  We put off calling 9-1-1 because we think it's nothing and we'll be fine.

Feeling Guilty

I keep telling myself that I do not have to post something every day, but when I don't, I feel a bit guilty. Especially when I have ideas in my mind about things I could do. I just don't always have the time. I could have done a good post with Mama Kat's prompt about a ride in a limo, but just didn't get to it in time. Thursday morning I linked up an old post about an Easter memory from our "My Funny Dad, Harry" blog (Easter was Great Except For the Stupid Hats) and spent some time tweaking the layout. The gadget with the links across the top wasn't letting me delete the one that is no longer working--what a waste of time that was! Then I didn't have time to visit my usual blog buddies.

New Computer

I got a new computer at work--they replace them every three years! My new monitor is huge! At home, I am still using the emachine PC that I got for my dad in 2006. I hesitate getting a new one because I dread reloading all the software and I don't even know if my anti-virus program would be transferable. I feel so ignorant when it comes to technology now.

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Used My Brookstone Gift Card on a Gtech AirRam

This is a follow-up post to "So Much For My Tunewriter" in which I was returning it for a Brookstone gift card.  When looking through Brookstone's catalog and online, I found this which I used my gift card on plus some of my Christmas money:

Our new Gtech AirRam Vacuum Cleaner

 It is cordless, only seven pounds, easy to empty, runs fairly quiet. 

Spunky is still checking it out and is pretty brave, but it wasn't on in this picture.  When the noise comes on, she runs away.

Spunky Doodle just gave it a close up inspection and seems to approve. 

It runs on a rechargeable battery and takes about 4 hours to fully charge; however, you can use it before it's fully charged if you want. It will run for about an hour on a full charge. We really like not having to worry about tripping over the cord.

Manny Boy couldn't care less, Spunky Doodle is the Inspector General around our house.

Easy to empty

It is easy to empty which is a good thing because it doesn't hold very much.  When I first tried it out, I just did our living room and our bedroom.  When I went to empty it to see how it worked, I was surprised that it was all full!  After all, Gerard does vacuum almost every day.  It makes two clumps which easily dump out when you turn it upside down.  The filters are inside the other part that comes off (Gerard is holding it in his left hand).  They need to be washed with soap and water and dried well once a month.

There is just a two-year warranty on this, but so far so good.  I like it because it's so little and light.  Our Tri-Star is clunky and pretty heavy.

What do you think of your vacuum cleaner?  Does anyone else have one of these and if so, do you like it?

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Aww Mondays/Monday Mischief: Abby's a Buckeye Fan

Go Bucks, and always make sure you get treats when having to pose for the camera!  Good luck training your humans!  Woof!  Woof!

It wasn't easy getting this picture because she kept moving but after several attempts, we finally got it.  I thought it would have made for a funny video so the next day we did it again, this time she actually cooperated well so sorry, it's not as funny the first time was.  But you'll at least see how well treat bribing training works.

Find more cute AWWW Monday posts and don't forget Monday Mischief and Camera Critters.

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Sunday Sharing: "I Give You Peace"

Continuing reading the gospel of John this week, the highlight of the week was yesterday because I had just discovered that I forgot to bring my purse home from work on Friday when I went for the check I wanted to cash!  This was upsetting because my checkbook was in it but also my bus tickets.  I needed a bus ticket for to get to work on Monday.  Now, I was upset not only because I forgot to bring it home, but that now I had to DRIVE to my work on a Saturday morning to retrieve my purse.  I really hate driving downtown because of the traffic, one-way streets, no left turn signs and bus lanes only.  It's a nightmare.

 So, I was very upset with myself and thinking when am I going to go?  We have our normal Saturday run around stuff and Abby's walk before visiting the nursing home but I knew the sooner I go and get it, the sooner I'll be able to enjoy my weekend.  But first, I had to get into the Word of God and look what verse I read:

I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give.  It isn't like the peace that this world can give.  So don't be worried or afraid. --John 14:27

Driving on the highway makes me nervous but I was in a hurry so decided to go that way.  At least early on a Saturday morning, there is not much traffic at all!  I got downtown pretty quick.  That was actually the easy part.  Downtown Cleveland is not a fun place to drive to because parking is so hard to find.  I thought surely, I'd be able to park on the street early on a Saturday morning and just run in and out quick but guess what . . . nope!  All the spots were taken, even by the parking meters, unless I wanted to chance parking in a tow away zone which I did not.  I ended up in our parking garage.  The automatic thing buzzed, a ticket popped out that I took, and up went the arm for me to go in.

I was alone in the parking garage and had to park on the 2nd level because all the first level were reserved spots.  I quickly went to my floor and got my purse which took me maybe 15 minutes round trip.  When I went to the elevator to return to the parking garage, I couldn't find the button to call for the elevator.  It looked like a fire alarm thing but then three men came who pressed the small button way at the bottom and the elevator came.  I rode up with them and followed them out. 

I stuck my ticket stub in the machine and was shocked to see parking there cost me $3.50 for just 15 minutes (or less)!  I had figured it would be $1 or 2 which I had that ready.  I used my credit card instead, the arm went up while I was trying to get my card put away and the window up, my seat belt back on (which I had taken off because it's too hard to reach out the window with it on) and switch back to drive and out I went.  I didn't know how long that arm would stay up so rushed as fast as I could because I didn't want to have to pay any more. Oops, guess what I forgot--my receipt.  I just hope my credit card number wasn't all on it.  Usually now receipts only show the last four digits--I hope that's true in this case.  I'm going to check online now and tomorrow just to make sure no strange charge is on it.

I got back home a little before 9 a.m. and the rest of our day went well.  

God did give me peace about this and I quit beating myself up about being so forgetful by the time I got home.  Even though paying $3.50 to park was aggravating to me, I realized there's nothing I could do about that, it's over and done so just let it go which is what I did. 

I thought it was pretty cool to be reminded of God's peace just when I needed it!

What would you say was your scripture highlight for the week?  I'd really love to hear it so please share in a comment.

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5 Friday Fraagments (blogs, March Madness, shopping)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Shopping

The bad news is when we went food shopping last week at our Giant Eagle, I was told they discontinued my salmon cakes because not enough people bought them! Boo hoo! They are delicious and I love to have them for either lunch or supper during the week. I am definitely calling customer service about this.

The good news is we bought a new lightweight cordless Gtech vacuum cleaner.  More on that this week.

 

Best St. Paddy's Day Post

At Lady B's Time for Tea, you can take a trip to Ireland with her--this is the best St. Paddy's Day post I saw!

New Blog Found

Through The Note Card party hop, I found another blog to follow and added it to my blogroll called "Grandma's Blessings" by Sylvia in Georgia. It's always fun to discover new blogs. That's one reason I like participating in different blog hops even though they are time-consuming. I actually was drawn to her blog by her picture and comment she left on Lady Linda's party post. See, sometimes it does pay off to leave a comment!

March Madness Basketball

Well, I'm not off to a very good start on my bracket after the first day. Did anyone pick Harvard? I wanted to, but a seed 14 beating a seed 3 just didn't seem likely and Harvard is not known for being good in sports. You just never know who's going to win, that's why they play the games. There were some blowouts but also some very close ones. It's always fun to make a bracket and join in with friends or co-workers in our case to see who can pick the most winners.

Spring?

Still getting snow here, does not look like spring at all yet!  This is what we woke up to this morning.

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Blogger Most Popular Post Gadget Mystery

When I updated my blog colors for spring, I decided to try out the popular post gadget offered by Blogger (located on the left sidebar) just to see if it shows the same ones that I do based on number of comments received (located on the right sidebar).  It does not.  So, that begs the question:  How does Blogger determine the most popular posts?  My next theory was to see if it is based on page views.

But alas, it's apparently not based on page views either because the post it showed with the lowest number of pageviews was "September is for Taking New Classes" which had 324 views.  However, 20 other posts that had more than this!

My all-time most popular post list based on number of pageviews would actually be this:

What's Your Old West Cowboy Name? (1,582)
We Entered the Cato-o-lympics (870)
Craft Time--Making a Baby Blanket Without Sewing (735)
A Sample Taste Makes Sale at GNC (655)
The Fat Stutter (647)
Canine Good Citizen--Congrats Abby!  (594)
Decorative Wooden Match Stick Crosses (544)
Salvaging the Computer Keyboard (524)
A Letter to Mom (524)
Shopping at Three Amish Stores (517)

(If you would like to read any of these, just use the search box above.)

I could just post this list with links like I did for my list based on most comments, but I really like how the gadget shows a thumbnail and a snippet from the post.  It has three options:  all-time, the last 30 days, the last 7 days so I thought perhaps, the all-time was just too big a range to handle properly.  Therefore, I tried again, choosing the 30-day time frame.  This didn't work either even choosing to list just five instead of ten.  It showed posts that were much older than 30 days so finally I chose the last option of just 7 days.  Guess what, it showed two from the last seven days but still included one from a long time ago.   I give up!  It would be a great gadget if it worked right!

So, any ideas on how this gadget determines the most popular posts?  I would really like to know!


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Note Card Party: Wildlife in Winter (Part 2)

Joining in the note card party today with my second round of wildlife saying farewell to winter: 

I had a hard time coming up with some of these captions.  Can you do better?  Feel free to give me your ideas in the comments and visit more note card parties or join in yourself just by posting four pictures that have appeared on your blog that you think would make good note cards.

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What Kind of Meal Do You Get For 25 Cents?

For Cleveland's Foodbank Harvest For Hunger campaign, the donation slips they have at Giant Eagle say $1 provides 4 meals! I cannot imagine what those meals would be like. How can you have a meal for just 25 cents? Even a candy bar costs more than that! Does anyone know??? I am just curious. I know they get food from food pantries, but even so. It just seems unbelievable to me.

I found out this week that Dollar Bank will match donations to Harvest for Hunger that are made at their bank through the end of March. You may also mail a check or money order to:

Dollar Bank Harvest for Hunger
1301 E. 9th Street - 10th Floor
Cleveland, OH 44114

What kind of meal do you think you could make for 25 cents?

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Aww Monday: Abby's Visit With George

Visiting at the Nursing Home

During our nursing home visit with our dog, Abby, we met George.  He is 92 years old but looks great!  I thought he was in his 70s.  He still drives and hopes to go home soon.  In talking with him, it was like the conversations I used to have with my dad about his fear of running out of money.  The nursing home cost him $140 a day and for long term stays, it cost $6,000 a month!  He hated the thought of his money all being spent on a nursing home.  George specifically requested for Abby visit him when he saw on the calendar of events that she would be coming..  He told us he loved dogs and had always wanted one but was never able to have one.  He is a bit hard of hearing so doesn't like to watch TV and is so bored that he sleeps a lot because the days are so long.  Our visit with Abby really brightened his day and he immediately perks up when he sees her.

I never knew anyone in their 90s until I met George (my dad lived to be 89).  His mind is still clear but is worried about losing his license because then he won't be able to do his own grocery shopping and doesn't really have anyone to do it for him.  Boy, did that bring back memories of how we used to do my dad's grocery shopping and how grateful he was.  I never minded doing it for him but he often told me he didn't know what he'd do without me. 

My mom and dad were both adamant about not ever wanting to live in a nursing home and I am glad that we were able to manage without either of them having to be in one.  I'm sure none of the people who are in there ever wanted that for their future either, but some seem to cope better than others.

We have met lots of people that without Abby, we never would have met.  Not only do we brighten their day with our visit, but we are blessed by them too.  Visiting a nursing home is not at all what I thought it would be.  It's like visiting with friends when we go now that we've been doing it for six months.

I like visiting people and breaking up their day, people love giving me treats!  Woof!  Woof!

(If you enjoyed this post, I'm sure you'd enjoy the book I wrote in memory of my dad about our family, his determination to live on his own and the struggle of being his primary caregiver: My Funny Dad, Harry available on Amazon (Kindle version or paperback) and Barnes Noble.)

See More Awww...Mondays or join in!

Joining in with Bozo's Pet Pride at Pets Forever.

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Sunday Sharing: Plotting Against Jesus

Once again I read many interesting things this week in John 9-11, including the first time in history that someone ever gave sight to someone born blind, the analogy of Jesus being our good shepherd, Jesus declaring that He is the Son of God, the raising of Lazarus from the dead to prove it and the Jewish leaders' plot to kill Jesus!  Whew!  It sure is hard to come up with just one highlight for the week out of all that, but here it is:

(45) Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did [raised Lazarus from the dead], put their faith in Him.  (46) But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. (47) Then the chief priests and the Pharisees' called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.  "What are we accomplishing?"  they asked.  "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs."  (48) If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." 

 (49) Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year spoke up, "You know nothing at all!  (50) You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."  (51) He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, (52) and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one."  (53) So from that day on they plotted to take his life.  Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews.  (emphasis added)

--John 11:45-54 (NIV)

I always thought the Jewish leaders were jealous of Jesus because many people were putting their faith in Him and he was gaining a lot of followers and the people would listen to Jesus rather than them, but it was really more than this.  In my Contemporary English version, the footnote to this passage explained that they were afraid Jesus was getting a lot of followers to rebel against the Romans and then the Roman army would come and destroy their temple and their nation.  When Caiaphas talked about Jesus dying to save their nation, little did he know that he was prophesying about Jesus' death in order to save all people.  When I read verses 50-52, I thought of I Peter 3:18 which says:  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:   

The fact that God would leave His glorious heaven to become flesh and die a cruel undeserved death on the cross so I can be forgiven and spend eternity in heaven with God forever is just mind boggling and so amazing!  Amazing love, How Can It Be, that thou, my God should die for me!


Please share a highlight from your scripture reading this week in a comment or feel free to comment on this post.  Reminder:  The third segment of "The Bible" mini-series is on the History channel tonight at 8 p.m. EST.  I'm enjoying it! 

(other Sunday Sharing posts from the Gospel of John):
 The First Speed Boat
A Personal God
He Knows My Thoughts

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7 Friday Fragments (charities, dogs, fitness, TV, Google, Sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Diabetes Research

You can now help fund Diabetes Research for free just by clicking on The Diabetes Site which is a new tab on the animal rescue site (among others). They also added a tab for Greater Good-your click will help send two girls to school for a year. The whole website has been redesigned and works faster now. Check it out!

Dog Age

Dog age translated to people years is not as simple as 1 dog year = 7 people years according to the Dog Owner's Manual published by Quirk Books posted at Dogster because the size of the dog also factors into it. According to their chart, Abby is 8 in dog years but 54 in people years.

Good Shape

When we had to evacuate our building at work this week, I learned I was in better shape than I thought. I wasn't winded, my knees, legs and hips all worked well without any pain and no stiffness or pain the next day either after walking down 29 flights of stairs! (For more details, see my post: Your Attention Please.)

The Biggest Loser

I am so happy to see Danni in the final 3 because she started out so badly and changed dramatically. She really looks good now and has a great attitude too. She stuck with Jiliian all the way through and developed a bond of friendship with her. For several weeks, she was the only one on her team and kept having big enough losses to beat the other two teams. She was also good in the challenges and I'm pulling for her! The audience can vote this week for the third finalist between Jackson and Joe and nbc.com (I voted for Joe.)

The Bible Mini Series

This week in "The Bible" mini series on the History channel, it was quite an exciting week with the prophets and kings and battles against the Philistines. I think my favorite scene was the battle of Jericho. I liked the actor who played King David but didn't like that Nathan didn't tell David the parable when confronting him about his sin with Bathsheba like it's recorded in the scripture. I liked David's reaction to the parable. What did you think of it?

Google Reader

Thanks to a couple of my Facebook friends, I just saw that the Google Reader RSS feed will be gone as of July 1! Although I do not use this a lot, I do use it some and have it available on my blog. This is what bugs me about technology--it's constantly changing! I already feel like I'm behind the times again, not having a tablet, iphone or even a clue as to how either works or how to use one. Guess there are alternatives according to "8 Google Reader Alternatives That Will Ease Your RSS Pain."   In Transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly, it says if you give Feedly a try before July 1, "you'll be able to migrate seamlesly."  I remember a time when this news would not have bothered me one little bit!

UPDATE 3/16/13:
I just realized, I don't ever use Google reader.  I use the Blogger reader (thought it was the same thing but it's not).  Yea!  I noticed there was a link on the right of my feeds that says "view in Google reader."  That's when I finally got a clue that I don't use Google reader.  Ha, ha.

Sports

I'm really liking the additions the Browns and Indians have made to their teams. I'm actually excited about the Indians this year, so far! The College Basketball March Madness tournament bracket is announced Sunday. Still deciding if I want to enter one at work or not. It's like throwing away $10, but it's fun being in it the first couple days.

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Wordless Wednesday and Feline Friday

Spunky Doodle as a Kitten

Wordless Wednesday hop at In Him We Live and Move etc. and more at Snoopys Dog Blog.  
Also linked to Feline Friday on Friday (all you do is post a picture of a feline!

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Your Attention Please!

When we hear those words at work, it's usually nothing, but yesterday was different. The message following those words was this: "A fire in the building has been reported. Please stand by while we investigate."

Okay, usually after about 30 seconds they come back on telling us the matter has been investigated and it is all clear. However, yesterday, they kept repeating the above message and each time, we are thinking, we need to get out of here! I am on the 29th floor of our building, and it takes awhile to walk down all those stairs. I think my boss was going to the elevator at this point while he could still use it to get out. This message, telling us to "stand by" kept repeating over and over for at least five minutes. We are thinking, what? We are supposed to just stand here and wait while our building is burning? I began packing up my things in my bag and put on my coat. I grabbed my purse and library book and shoved them into my bag.

Then we heard, "leave immediately" followed by the stand by message. But once I heard the leave part, I was out of there! I moved quickly to the stairs and went down as fast as I could. The next message told Everyone to leave the building immediately. I was on my way down and got all the way to the 22nd floor before seeing any other people ahead of me. The flights are split in half with a landing so you are pretty much going in circles on the way down. I was going so fast, I was beginning to get a little dizzy so I slowed down some. I was happy my legs and knees were working so well!

Then the lower floors started coming too and my descent was slowed considerably. Thoughts of 9/11 came to my mind and the book, Thunder Dog. I wished I had brought my camera thinking this could make a good blog post (yes, I did). I was optimistic that I would get out and wondered where my attorneys were. I felt some relief when I got to floor 17 and realized I was over halfway down and my legs were still doing well. I was grateful I wasn't still on floor 33 because that saved me four flights of stairs. I kept thinking on the way down, lets go. It was kind of scary that our building might actually burn down.

After about 15 minutes, I finally reached the bottom and the security guard told us it was a false alarm and we could all use the elevators to go back up. The lobby was mobbed with people, I did spot one of my attorneys and a few of my co-workers, but some had gone outside. I was happy to get back to my desk and know that everything was okay. I emailed all my attorneys to let them know they could come back in case they had actually left the building and hadn't heard that it was a false alarm.

This certainly helped the morning go by and I actually shook me up a little bit. Then it was time for break! I am relieved that my legs are not sore this morning like they were when we had a fire drill while I was on floor 33 years ago.

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Monday Mischief: Cat Helps Dog Get Treats

Ooh, look what I found--a bag of treats!

I'm hungry, this is just what I want!

Oh no, these are dog food treats, not for me!

Later, Karen finds these on the floor. 

Watch this video to see what happens next:

Sometimes it's good to have a cat friend, Woof!  Woof!

(During the making of this video, I got four treats!  It took mom a few tries to get the camera situated right.)

Joining in with Monday Mischief, Camera Critters,  Aww Mondays and Cats on Tuesday; how about you?

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Sunday Sharing: The First Speed Boat

There are several accounts recorded in the Bible about Jesus and boats, but this is my favorite! In John 6:16-21, Jesus actually walks on the water towards the boat that is three or four miles from shore, terrifying the disciples who were in the boat. But then in the second part of verse 21, it says:

...suddenly the boat reached the shore where they were headed. (Contemporary English Version)

I find this very interesting because usually it seems like God takes His good old time in bringing things to pass but in this instance, He must have been in a hurry. Jesus did a lot of very cool things when He lived on earth as a man and I think this is one of them. Wouldn't it be nice to hop in your car and immediately be transported to your destination? If Jesus were here in the flesh in our time, I wonder what cool things He would do in this day and age. This is just one example that I think would be really neat since I'm not big on traveling. It's not that I wouldn't like to go see other places, it's the actual traveling part that turns me off.

Interesting Read

In the book, The Shack by William P. Young, it includes a part where Jesus and the guy in the story walk on the water which was one of our favorite parts of the book.

This week I read John 6-8 and although tempted to pick several "highlights" for the post because there is just so much good stuff in these chapters, I decided to go with just one and keep this post short in the hopes that more would read it. I'd love to hear some feedback on what you think of my Sunday Sharing posts as well as one of your scripture highlights of the week.

Just a reminder, 8 p.m. EST, History Channel shows the second part of "The Bible" mini-series.  My favorite scene last week was when the Israelites were between the Red Sea and the Egyptians who were coming after them and then God made a path through the sea.  If you watched it, what was your favorite scene from last week?

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Friday Fragments (games, celebrities, kindness, Books)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

New Game

Last Friday the ladies at church had a game night and I played a game I never heard of before: Mexican Train Dominoes. It isn't hard but was fun because we had six people playing. I liked that the winner got to hit the button on the gadget to sound the train whistle. It was loud! (I would have taken a picture but didn't bring my camera with me.)

Tom Brady

Gerard's favorite QB--Tom Brady

I was surprised to learn that Tom Brady, the Patriots' Quarterback, makes less money than his wife does who is a model. (He makes a LOT of money!) It's nice to see a pro athlete who isn't all about money and greedy for more. In fact, when offered a bigger salary, he told the Patriots organization he had enough. Interesting.

Kindness

Who buys girl scout cookies just to give them away? An attorney at work stopped by my desk before work and gave me two boxes of girl scout cookies--thin mints and tag-a-longs! He also gave some to the secretary next to me just because he's a nice guy. I'm glad I ordered less this year! I kept the thin mints at work and gave the tag-alongs to my husband. It was a nice surprise!

February Favorites

Gerard's favorite read for February was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes about caring for a paraplegic and Karen's was In Need of A Good Wife by Kelly O'Connor McNees about Mail-order brides.

Book Giveaway

We are giving away Mighty Inspiration--Love Letters From God by blogger, Barbara Bernard Miller of "Mighty Inspiration" over at our other blog to the first U.S. commenter who says they would like to have it.Click the title link to see our review at Grab A Book From Our Stack and leave a comment if you'd like it.  (UPDATED:  Congrats to Rebecca Jo from Knit By His Hand who was the first to comment.  Will mail this book to her on Monday.)

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Random Acts of Kindness

Who buys Girl Scout cookies to give away?  At work one of the attorneys surprised me with a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies this week.  I kept the thin mints and work and brought the tag-a-longs home for my hubby.  He gave his secretary some boxes too!  I'm glad I cut back on my cookie buying this year since I got free ones anyway. 

I received an email from my Women of Wonder group asking for donations for a family who is friends with one of our members.  Their house burned and they lost everything!  That is so sad and my heart goes out to them.  Tonight I sacrificed watching "Survivor" (DVR) and instead spent all evening packing up towels, glasses, bowls, bedding, and some kitchen gadgets to donate.  We have so much stuff that we never use.  Glad we had some bubble wrap and packing material on hand. 

See Gerard, those boxes I saved up came in handy!

Have you been the recipient of a random act of kindness lately or have you done one?  Please tell us about it in a comment.

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