Psalm 146:3

"Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save." Psalm 146:3 NIV

I was watching the Nightly News on Sunday. I think it was ABC. They had a segment about how many churches that day had prayed for Mr. Obama as he prepared to take the Oath of Office on Tuesday.

They mentioned Psalm 146:3 at the end of the segment. I was stunned, overjoyed, pleased, still am, but stunned.

Three Alarm Clocks

I don't know about you, but i have three alarm clocks to make sure i make it up in the morning. The first two are on the same clock and sit on the shelf above my pillow. I set the first alarm for ten minutes before i'm supposed to get up and the second alarm for five minutes before. However, usually, when the first one goes off, i turn them both off. The third alarm is battery operated and sits on my dresser across the room from my bed. I'm sure you get the picture.

Two weeks ago I began to realize that Buddy was waking me up before my first alarm would go off. Initially i thought i had lots of time between his attempts to wake me up and my first alarm. But oh no. He'd wake me up about five minutes before it would go off. You might think, k, he's just used to your schedule. Except that some days i'd set the alarms for 10:30am and sometimes for 9:30am. Friday morning i even set it for 8:30am and he still did it. go figure.

I think it's interesting, but i still want my five additional minutes of sleep. lol.

Happy New Year - some advice... forgive

My word of encouragement and advice for this new year is forgive.

A friend suggested a while back that when i have been offended to pray the following: "I forgive __________ . I release ______________ . I release God's blessing on _____________."

I don't normally like rote prayers. But i find if i sincerely pray this for someone and don't cringe by the end of it, then I'm free. If i cringe, i pray it again until i don't anymore.

God's blessing be on all of you throughout 2009.

Christmas - Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

Today is Christmas. It's been a tough week or two for most of the US, including my neighborhood because of how bad or maybe that should be how odd the weather's been. Snow, lots of the snow. Rain and therefore ice. We are currently at 14 degrees F and yet Friday it's supposed to be in the low 40s. My head is spinning. I don't mind a thaw, but i'd prefer it last at least a week, not twelve hours at a time.

I drive 25 miles to and from work. Last night i drove about 30 mph the whole way. I prayed a lot too, reminding myself and God that it was up to Him to get me home safely. He graciously did.

Walking the dogs in this kind of weather provides quite a few challenges as well. I have good boots and last year even purchased the terrific STABILicers (cleats) from www.32north.com. But sometimes, even that isn't enough. Last year i fell four times i think, two of the times were in my own driveway. lol. The other two times were within a quarter mile of each other on the same walk. Both were on ice like glass... nothing helps on that stuff except having ice skates. The second time i fell that day, Buddy, trying to be helpful, stood on my chest and licked my face. I just laughed.

I didn't do much for Christmas. I put lights up outside, but I never did get my Christmas tree set up. I gave the dogs some special food today, but i didn't get any of the pets gifts. I did wish them all a Merry Christmas, which probably sounds a bit odd, unless you have pets. I did go to two Christmas concerts. One was the Messiah put on by the local music society. The other was a Boars Head Festival. It was the first time that i attended one. It was beautiful.

I pray you all have a wonderful 2009!

Charlie the cat, update

Charlie the cat hadn't been feeling well for a while. Jennie and i agreed to take him to the vet on Sat Dec 20th. Unfortunately, Charlie didn't make it. Jennie called me about 1:30am Saturday to tell me he was gone. sigh. Even tho' Jennie has had Charlie for the last two years, it still hurts to lose a pet. sigh.

It's still autumn but you wouldn't know it

Monday Dec 8th we had a winter storm that lasted til 1am Wednesday morning. How do i know that's when it ended? Because the weather forecast said it would end then and i was outside on Wednesday at 1 am watching the sky clear as i shoveled snow. Working 2nd shift provides an interesting perspective on life and the world sometimes.

We received about ten inches of snow over the course of the storm. Sixty miles south of us had rain rather than snow. It was an odd storm system. I suspect that the ice storm that the Northeast was hit with yesterday and today is our storm after it moved east.

Wednesday after sunrise, k it was really close to noon, but since it was after i'd woken for the day, it's still "morning" for me... I took these pictures while i walked the dogs. I hope you enjoy them.

Yeah, we really do drive through 10 inches of snow before the plows go through. Life has to continue. The kids did get two days off of school tho'.


I think it's funny that the snow stuck to the tops of the berries on this tree.





My friend in Arizona told me on Tuesday that it was raining and 40 there and said, i bet you want to be in Phoenix. I told her, i've never liked 40 and rain, so no, actually, i'd take this over that any day. No, i don't like driving on the slushy, slick roads, but still...

Car Maintenance Update

It's been two weeks since the mechanic said he had resolved the oil leak in my car. I checked my oil and lo and behold, it hadn't dropped even a millimeter. PtL!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am that this issue is resolved.