Friday, March 25, 2016

Happy Easter--He Is Risen!


 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice! --Philippians 4:4

Believers in Jesus should always be joyful regardless of our circumstances because Jesus lives and has paid for our salvation with his death on the cross for us!  There are hassles, strife, day-to-day problems, grief, war and terror attacks in this world; however, all these things are temporary.   

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  --Romans 8:18

We can take all our concerns and worries to God in prayer knowing that he loves us and cares for us and will give us peace.  (See Philippians 4:6-7 & Ps. 145:18)

I hope you will join me in celebrating Jesus resurrection this Sunday and can also say:

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
If not, but you do believe Jesus died for you and rose from the dead (Romans 10:9 & 10, 13) and would like to receive Jesus as your personal Savior and be forgiven, just pray to Jesus right now.  Simply thank him for his death and resurrection for you, ask for forgiveness for your sin and to be your Savior and Lord, letting him know you are willing to surrender your will to His.

I'm just going to end this post with my two favorite verses which are I Corinthians 15:57 & 58:
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 
I look forward to our Easter puppet presentation called "Nic at Night" based on John 3 for the children at 9:30 and 11:00 this Sunday at Parma Heights Baptist Church.

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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Puzzling Political Elections

I admit I am no authority by any means on politics, but the 2016 Republican Presidential campaigning and elections are puzzling to me.  Here is a list of things I don't get and would like some answers to or hear your thoughts on:
  • We have one nation, the United States of America, yet the election process differs from state to state!  Some have open primaries where anyone can go vote regardless of party.  I just realized this an am so shocked.  I think it is crazy that some have open primaries and others have closed.  I thought up until recently, that all primaries were closed.  Maybe just because I live in Ohio and that is how our primaries are done, I assumed it was done that way nationwide.  I personally think open primaries are outrageous! 
  • The whole delegate system rubs me the wrong way too.  I do not understand how the delegates are awarded to the candidates.  I get that in closed primaries, all delegates go to the winning candidate in that state; however, I do not get how they are split among the candidates in open primary states.
  • I am also baffled by the fact that Mr. Trump is the forerunner out of the Republican candidates so far.  It seems he just yells a lot and people vote for his toughness, confident attitude and like when he puts others down, even his fellow Republicans!   Why people think he will get things done simply because he is a good businessman is beyond me.   His behavior and talk do not seem very Presidential to me--is that why people vote for him? 
  • To make it even more confusing, some states have caucuses where the people actually meet and get in different groups to support the different candidates.  I'm not even sure how this works exactly, but I do know it was at one of these where Ted Cruz's campaign workers spread the word that Dr. Carson was dropping out when he really wasn't (at least not at that time).  I really liked watching some of the town hall meetings where there was just one candidate there answering questions from ordinary citizens as well as some from the host.
  • Finally, I enjoy watching the debates but do not understand whey the moderators do not give all the candidates a chance to answer the question.  They allow the candidates to break the rules over and over again that they all agreed to at the beginning.  If they interrupt someone, they should have a penalty called and get a time out.  If they talk during their timeout, they should be asked to leave the platform.  As it is now, it is a joke!  When they interrupt and insult each other, they get all the time they want.  If they talk too long and the buzzer sounds, they still go on as long as they like.  
  •  Furthermore, on the debates it seems as though the first question is always directed to Mr. Trump and it's not even always about the issues.  It's often about his response to what somebody said about him.  To me this just seems completely unfair to the other candidates and certainly does not set a good tone for sticking to the issues.

What do you think about the primary elections and the debates?  

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Monday, February 22, 2016

National Dog Walking Day


This is one of Abby's favorite days--National Dog Walking Day! Our do loves to go for walks in all kinds of weather and my husband is very good about picking up her poop. He always brings along an extra bag just in case because sometimes she poops more than once during her walk. What is very nasty though is when people do not pick up their dogs poop and leave it for others to step in, other animals to eat it or just being ugly to look at. It is especially inconsiderate to not clean it up when it's in someone's yard! You can go to dogscantflush.org to get a small free yard sign to remind your neighbors that they need to clean up after their dog, especially in your yard.  So be responsible and enjoy your dog walk and let others enjoy it too by picking up the poop.

Abby approves this message, Woof!  Woof!  By doing this, more people will enjoy dogs.
This way, dad.
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Saturday, February 20, 2016

Grass Shoveling


 My husband reminds me of the energizer bunny--always going, always moving.  I love that he does all the housework, washes our car, takes care of the yard, walks the dog several times a day regardless of the weather and but today he added a new activity.  He actually shoveled the snow off our grass and into the street!

It was his idea to take the video of him doing this--he was very pleased with himself.  He said, "I'd rather see all grass than that clump of snow.  Does anyone else do this?  The temperature is close to 58 degrees so far so I'm pretty sure it would have melted on it's own, but he didn't want to wait.

Good job, hubby!  Once again you make me laugh.

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Monday, February 15, 2016

My Happy Valentine's Day

Of course Manny had to get in the picture too!
I had a very happy Valentine's Day this year.  To most people, it probably doesn't seem like much but I love simple things.  I love chocolate covered cherries and that's what my husband got for me.  It's not about spending a lot of money, it's about understanding what I like and part of that is not wasting money.  We stocked up on some goodies, the big chocolate chip cookie (he is a "cookie monster") and a blueberry cake that cost only $4.00 at Giant Eagle.  We got each other a Valentine card and that started our day.  I liked the one I got from my husband because it made me laugh and had a cat and dog on the front.  My husband was very pleased with his too because although it was small (and cheap--free is good), I made little hearts on the inside with a reason for each one why I love him.

Then we had a really fun Sunday School class based on Daniel 1 when Daniel and his friends were taken into captivity in Babylon and put into a 3-yr. training program to work in the palace for the king.  Their names were changed to Babylonian names and they obeyed God by making a bargain with the guard to get to eat water and vegetables instead of the wine and food from the King's table.  We told the kids what all their names meant and then gave them new names for the day along with the meaning of those names (used www.meaning-of-names.com for this).  They enjoyed that (except for one girl who really didn't like her new name.)  Then for our review game, we let them choose between pick-up-stix and Bash.  To my surprise, the girls picked Bash and the boys chose pick up stix.   Of course we gave the kids some heart-shaped frosted brownies for a Valentine treat at the end. 

My husband asked if I'd like to go out to eat somewhere special but I like having pizza for my Sunday lunch and stuck with that.  To our surprise, our friend at our pizza place (Casamel's) gave us a box of blueberry cordials!  I didn't even know they existed but they are good too.  The cherry ones are still my favorite though.


In the afternoon we enjoyed watching the Republican debate together, a couple Hallmark movies (Everything Valentine and don't know the name of the other about attorney going to Wyoming), some Bruins hockey and reading.  Of course, we had extra time with our pets and Manny came and laid on me while I read GLASS SWORD by Victoria Aveyard and while I watched TV.  My husband finished Book 2 of the Harry Potter series, THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J. K. Rowling.

We had a wonderful, relaxing day together and just enjoyed each other's company with no stress.  I sure hope we have many more happy years together. 

I would say I am very low maintenance.  What about you?  

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