Another Thankful Thursday

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I can't believe it's Thursday again! Last week crawled, this one has flown.

I started to write an entry about the things I'm thankful that I don't know about...I had only named two on my list: Hunger and Homelessness. I was depressing myself thinking about hungry mothers holding hungry infants with no home, so I'm backing up and rewriting.

I'm thankful for God's....

Mercy

Grace

Patience

Loving-kindness

His own Son, Jesus

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If you haven't checked out Robin's Yellow Brick Road, and the video she posted, please go do so....something definitely worth thinking about.

Thankful Thursday

Eighty some-odd years ago, my grandparents lost their firstborn daughter, Lucia Marie. I understand she died from a hemorrhage. A few years later their second child, my sweet aunt Maggie, was very sick, my grandfather promised God one hour of prayer every day if He wouldn’t take her, too. He didn’t, and to my knowledge, Grandpa always kept his promise. He was a gentle man who died when I was 15 years old at the ripe age of 85. I’m so thankful for the time he invested in prayer. I’m certain that I still, all these years later, reap the benefits of his prayers.

I’m thankful to be living in Alabama, surrounded by family who love me, a roof over my head, plenty to eat, and a job at a place I enjoy very much.
I’m thankful for Ole Boy. Over the years, I’ve realized how well we fit together.
I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for my praying mother and my faithful father; my sisters and brothers, and my daughter and grandchildren, and for my stepchildren. I’m thankful for my cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends. I am so blessed.

I’m thankful for the memories of the trips to Cherokee to see my grandmother, “Mama Franks,” and the picnics at the river with when she would sometimes tag along.”

I’m thankful for Peppy, even if he’s not the most loveable dog my family has ever seen. They just don’t know him!

I’m thankful for the people and events in my life that have shaped me into the person I am today.

Most of all, I’m thankful to God for His kindness and patience to me, and for loving me when I couldn’t manage to love myself…and for His placing me here, right here, where I am.

The Seven Year Annual Exam

I was reading Donna, The Dust Bunny Protector, and I was reminded of an incident last year:

During my first “yearly” medical exam in about seven years, I was told that I had reached that magical age. I needed a mammogram! I thought I could make an appointment and put that off a while, but NO. I was led immediately into a little room and the deed was done. It really wasn’t that bad. Not that I’d want to do it every day, but..you know…doable.

That started a whole series of events I’m not likely to forget, that ended with me undergoing a test at the hospital, sent there by the surgeon who saw me after the attack of the killer mammogram. All was well, but what a month that was last summer. Read on:

Within a week of the initial test, I was called and told to come back for another one. They’d found a “dense area” and needed to take a closer look. The mammogram, at that point, turned into something far more sinister than just a mere medical test. My friends, they took my poor defenseless boob, slammed it onto a vise grip and smashed it beyond reason until I was sure it would pop like the proverbial zit. (Yes, I am aware that zits are not proverbial.) But had it popped, I would have been the one that all mammograms, from that point on, was used for comparison purposes…and I was sure that was going to happen. Can’t you hear the techs talking:
“Don’t put any more pressure on that one, Bertha, you remember the Meg-Phenomenon!"
"Yes, Gertie, I heard! Hers popped like a zit."
“...and I heard she wouldn’t even clean it up.”

Ahh, the wonders of modern medicine and my imagination.

Foggy Color

Ole Boy and I went to The Great Smoky Mountains a few weeks ago. We stayed right on the strip in Gatlinburg a few days, and spent a the week just having a nice, relaxing vacation. We had dinner with family who live in nearby Morristown, and it was just extraordinarily nice to see them! I realized how much I’d missed them when I got to see them.

The color was not spectacular in Gatlinburg like it was two years ago when we went in October. We got up very early one morning and headed off to Cades Cove. It was very foggy, and again, the color wasn’t in full bloom, but I did get a few interesting shots….

This old mill was actually being used:

This is the only buck I think I’ve ever shot (taken a picture of, mind you!)…and he let me get pretty close. The deer in Cades Cove must be pretty used to people gawking at them. He hardly looked our way.

Some other "wild"life:

We went to the aquarium in G’burg. Unlike my very talented sister, Gina, I can’t always get good pictures, and I found that to be especially true with water shots.

We ate at Tony Roma’s with my cousins. We tried Bubba Gump’s for the first time, and the food is very good there. I’m sure we’ll go back some day. We also ate at one of my favorite places, The Old Mill Square, in Pigeon Forge. It was raining pretty hard (the only day it rained on us), so I didn’t get any pictures…but it’s very pretty. We didn’t go to Dollywood, because I am hoping to go back again in December to take in the Christmas shows.

The color was much prettier in Cherokee, but as you can see, it was also much foggier.



On the way home, we stopped at the Ocoee River and Dam, and it was just beautiful.

Spam....you can't get this in tin...

I've noticed that Spam is hitting my (junk) email a lot more since I came to Blogger. Now, I'm getting spam from my own email address! Is this happening to anyone else? I can't too well report myself as Spam, can I?

I wonder how it's working...have I been hijacked and they are using my name to send to a lot of people, or are they just using my name to send to me because I would more than likely open it? I don't think my password has been compromised, but I feel kinda....compromised, you know?

Six Things and Graphics

I am the Queen of the last minute! I've waited until the last minute to get all my online classwork done, and the system went down for "updates" about two hours ago. They don't expect it to be up until tomorrow. My "A" is now in peril, and I'm....not happy.

We have approximately 17,894,882 walnuts in my back yard. I was picking some of them up and more were falling all around me. One of them sucker-punched me on the back of the neck, and I'm now back in the house and don't plan to pick up the remaining 1,7894,779 walnuts left out there.

So, I got tagged on the "Six Things" going around B-Land and I was trying to be crafty (as in artsy, not sly), so I made a little dooey. I think you can yave to click on it to make it readable. I can't bring myself to tag six others.... oh, and Gina...I owe ya.





If clicking doesn't work, trust me, it's not that exciting! I have yet to figure out 1) how to make graphics, and 2) how to post them.

We went to Gatlingburg a few weeks ago, and the color was no where near peak. I didn't get many good pictures at all. On the way home, we stopped at the Ocoee Dam, and it was really pretty there. I just may post some pictures later tonight, as I can't be studying...grrrrr!

Laters Taters!

My Last Political Entry…for a while!

A young black girl wore a T-shirt into my office yesterday with “Obama” on the front, and “My President is Black” on the back. I was going to vent my frustration and comment about how foolish it was to vote for the shade of skin. But then, I saw a clip of Sherri Shepherd of “The View,” (a show I have NEVER watched) sharing a story, in a broken voice, of telling her son that Barak Obama had been elected president. She talked about when she told her family she wanted to be a comedian and an actress, and was told to find a job at the post office, because “they won’t let people like us do that." Her opinion was that “people of color” always had limitations placed on them, and now she could tell her son that he had “no limitations.” From this view point, I suppose I could understand the pride a little better…even though I know it’s just wrong to vote a person into the highest office of our land because of the way he or she looks, or their color, or their gender.

The stakes were high, and I believe Christian America failed to do the Godly thing. Was it deception or ignorance? I just don't know. However, I’ve said several times that America would be a different country today if all the people who were belly-achin’ about President Bush had been praying for him. Christians have a responsibility to pray for their leaders. Therefore, I will start NOW to be careful to not voice complaints about the U.S. presidential selection, but to pray for my president. God is not surprised, nor is He caught off guard by America’s choice. It is He Who has allowed Barak Obama to be put in this position, and I will endeavor to show the respect that the title deserves.

I’m just sayin’ and that’s enuff said...

It’s time to get back to happy, funny entries.

An Unhealthy Comparison

I hadn't known him long, and I saw the warning signs before I married him.

I heard, but I wouldn’t listen; I saw, but I ignored. My dad told me several times, “I want to talk to you before you marry him.” But I never gave him a chance to give me his words of wisdom.

My friends didn’t like him. My best friend tried to tell me to get rid of him. I just thought she didn’t “get it.”

I married him on a Tuesday. He beat me up the following Friday. By then, though, it wasn’t so easy to just walk away. No, now I was legally bound to him. I did leave, but I went back. And he beat me up again. And again. He pushed me, choked me, slapped me, kept me up all night yelling at me…I then knew I really should have listened to the voices of reason and wisdom.

Yes, the red flags were waving, but I walked right past them into the courthouse and married the man. It was a legal process and several years of recovery before I was able to put that behind me.

Somehow, it all just reminds me of Obama’s relationship with America. The red flags are boldly waving and folks are looking right past them and walking into the voting booths.

Christians, you are children of the most high God. Heed the warning signs. Stop the path to certain destruction. Do I think that Obama will be in office come January, and America destroyed by February? Certainly not. He’ll just be another hammer continually driving the nails in America's proverbial coffin. And just who do you think will be the nails he’ll be driving down?