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Goal Accomplished

So you know that goal I set back for myself, way back when? To get caught up on all of our scrapbooks by Christmas? Well I was really good in the beginning, thinking I could get it done way before my goal date. Well I slacked off after I got burned out in the beginning. I realized a few days ago I wasn't going to make it and that really bothered me. I am the type of person that when they say they are going to do something, I am going to do. So I have scrap-booked 53 pages in three days. I have been busted my tail to make my goal. I have done it! Today I finished up and am now all caught up to date. YEAH!!!

The Car Don't Start Itself

So this morning I walked out to start my car, while I was getting ready, so it would be warm when I got in the car. Well the car was already started. So then I thought my husband must have been up and was being nice. So I go to turn off the car and take his keys out of it and it is burning in the car and his keys are even hot. Then my thought was, when did he start the car, it had to have been more than an hour ago. So I get to work and a few hours later Cody calls. I asked him when he started the car this morning. He said he didn't know what I was talking about. I told him when I went to go start the car this morning it was already started. Then his memory was jogged. He had come home last night from work at 10:15pm and pushed the garage door button to go up, he noticed a flier attached to it, so he hurried and jumped out to grab it before it went up with the door. Well then he must have forgotten about the car and just walked into the garage and into the house, closing the garage door behind him out of habit. He left our car idling for 8 hours. HOLY COW!! Is this going to do anything to my car, I sure hope not. I had filled the gas up in the car yesterday and when I got in the car it was almost 3/4 full. So it used up a little more than 1/4 tank by it idling for 8 hours. The headlights were even turned off. I am glad to still have my car and that no one stole it.

Christmas Shopping

So yesterday I finished most of my Christmas shopping. I have to get a stocking stuffer and I already know what I am getting. I will go get those today. It wasnt too bad doing all the shopping with the girls with me. I gave them each a ball to play with while we were in the store and they were happy. Usually they end up eating a whole bag of little cookies, while shopping, to keep them quiet. When we went to go check out I handed the clerk the balls and said I wasnt purchasing these, she looked at me funny and that when we pulled out the animal crackers for the girls. I ended up wrapping all the gift yesterday, yeah, because if you know me things have to be done now. I can let anything sit or else it drives me crazy.
Speaking of sitting, I found a sweater in my closet that needs to be sewn. It had a hole in the sleeve, on the stiching, that needed to be fixed. I decided to take a stab at it. Mind you I had to do it all by hand, because I do not own a sewing machine. I have never been so good with sewing. But I have to say I am proud of myself. I turned the sleeve inside out and went at it. it is fixed and works and you cant tell at all. I am actually wearing that sweater as I type this. I probably will not pick up sewing or go buy a machine, but I can sew a little hole and a button.

Tags Tags and more Tags

20 Things I am thankful for:
1. My kids-who knows where I would be without them
2. My husband-
3. My extended family
4. The atonement
5. The church
6. My friends
7. My Job
8. The time I get with my husband
9. My house
10. Little things
11. My trials-for making me stronger and giving me character and blessings
12. My ward split
13. That I have food to eat
14. Technology
15. Pictures of my memories
16. My car
17. My medical benefits
18. Music
19. Noel- who sits in sacrament meeting with me
20. The people willing to read this


Christmas Tags
1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? gift bag- all the way- save paper and save the earth!
2. When do you put the tree up? The day after Thanksgiving
3. When do you take the tree down?After New Years
4. Eggnog? I LOVE IT!
5. Favorite gift received as a child? My Red Scooter
6. Hardest person to buy for?? Myself
7. Easiest person to buy for? Cody
8. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I honestly don't know
11. Favorite Christmas movie? Miracle on 34th Street - the new one
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? whenever I have extra money
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Uh- maybe?
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? divinity
15. Lights on the tree? Of course- we always use white lights.
16. Favorite Christmas song? Forgotten Carols & Oh Holy Night
17. Least favorite Christmas song? I don't know
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Just travel to Parents houses
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Of course- Dasher, Dancer and Prancer and Vixon, Comet, Cupid and Donner and Blitzen and Rudolph of course!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Tinker Bell
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We have a Christmas party with my family on Christmas Eve and so the kids get a present there. The rest is in Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? spending $$$
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Disney
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Ham and pumpkin pie
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To feel the Spirit of Christ. I really don't care about presents for Christmas. I already received the best present for Christmas, Christ!

ANOTHER TAG!These are a few of my favorite things…..
Five favorite treats during the holidays:
1. Divinity
2. Sugar Cookies
3. Egg Nog
4. Truffles
5. Toffee

Five favorite Christmas movies:
1. Miracle on 34th Street ( the new one)
2. All the old Christmas cartoons on TV
3. Home Alone 1 and 2
4. Muppet Christmas Carol
5. Christmas Vacation

Five Traditions during the holidays:
1. Go to Layton Park on Christmas to see the lights
2. Christmas Eve party with my family Nativity
3. Going to the In-Laws for Christmas Day
4. Three present rule-to represent the wisemens gifts to Jesus
5. Sleep in

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MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Duffin Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Duffin Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Holiday Thorns

Thorns..... Thank You, Lord

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind.

Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a “minor” automobile accident stole her joy.

This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss. Troubles had multiplied. Her husband’s company “threatened” to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What’s worse, Sandra’s friend suggested that Sandra’s grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. “She has no idea what I’m feeling,” thought Sandra with a shudder.

“Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?” she wondered. “For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child’s?”

“Good afternoon, can I help you?” Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk.

“I.....I need an arrangement,” stammered Sandra.

“For Thanksgiving? I’m convinced that flowers tell stories,” she continued. “Are you looking for something that conveys ‘gratitude’ this Thanksgiving?”

“Not exactly!” Sandra blurted out. “In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.” Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, “I have the perfect arrangement for you.”

Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer, “Hi, Barbara, let me get your order.” She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses- except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers.

“Do you want these in a box?” asked the clerk. Sandra watched, was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. “Yes, please,” Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. “You’d think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn’t be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again,” she said, as she gently tapped her chest.

Sandra stammered, “Ah, that lady just left with, uh.. .She left with No flowers!”

“That’s right, said the clerk.” I cut off the flowers. That’s the ‘Special.’ I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do today,” explained the clerk. “She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery.”

“That same year I had lost my husband,” continued the clerk. “For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel.”

“So what did you do?” asked Sandra.

“I learned to be thankful for thorns,” answered the clerk quietly. “I’ve always thanked God for the good things in my life and I never questioned Him why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, “Why? Why me?!” It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the ‘flowers’ of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God’s comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we’re afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others.”

Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. “I guess the truth is I don’t want comfort. I’ve lost a baby and I’m angry with God.”

Just then someone else walked in the shop.

“Hey, Phil!” the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man. “My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement...twelve thorny, long-stemmed—stems!” laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

“Those are for your wife?” asked Sandra incredulously. “Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?”

“Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced,” Phil replied. “After 40 years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord’s grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem. The Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from “thorny” times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific “problem” and give thanks for what that problem taught us.”

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, “I highly recommend the Special!”

“I don’t know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life.” Sandra said to the clerk. “It’s all too...fresh.”

“Well,” the clerk replied carefully, “my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God’s providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don’t resent the thorns.”

Tears rolled down Sandra’s cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. “I’ll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please,” she managed to choke out.

“I hoped you would,” said the clerk gently. “I’ll have them ready in a minute.”

“Thank you. What do I owe you?”

“Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year’s arrangement is always on me.” The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. “I’ll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first.”

It read: “My God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant.”

Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns. God Bless all of you. Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you. “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God.”