Beautiful Words Beautiful Cards

I have mentioned many times in my blog about how very thankful and appreciative I was for so many caring friends and family who sent me cards while I was recuperating from my bilateral mastectomy and on into the realms of chemo and radiation.  I read each and every one of the cards and most often shed tears over the beautiful kind words.

Since God has brought me through the dark valleys of surgery and treatment, I have been reciprocating the card sending and get such a blessing as I send cards to others.  It is my belief that our society has gotten too far away from the 'old ways' of communication like sending letters and cards.  I want it to some of the 'old ways' to come back.  I want to make people feel as special as they really and encourage folks.

Recently I was blessed when I received several free cards from Dayspring.  Cards have always blessed my life as in the words from one of the Daysping cards reads ... Blessed are the givers ... and grateful are the receivers.  God's blessing makes life rich.  Proverbs 10:22   Dayspring was kind enough to share their cards with me so that I can continue to share with others.  And recently I was able to share three of the precious birthday cards that I had received from Dayspring.  I pray my sweet friends were as blessed to receive them as I was to give them.

If you are in need of some encouraging words, please visit (in)courage and bookmark it for future reference.  I am always encouraged when I visit this site.

COMING SATURDAY:  September 15, 2011 was the date of my breast cancer diagnosis.  Visit my blog for a recap of the year behind me.  Share the many blessings through my breast cancer journey.

Blessed and praying blessings for all.

genam44@charter.net

How Do We Look to God?

This past week when I was getting ready for work, I stood up and when I looked back at my lined up makeup, I thought ... Wow, that looks like a lot of stuff to make me look good ... well at least presentable.  Being of the OCD type, everything has to be lined up as I use it.  When I'm sitting there in front of that mirror, it doesn't seem like much but when I stood up and looked back, it did.  I was shocked in a sorts.  While I take time to 'fix myself up' everyday because I want to look good, I think about how God sees me.  He doesn't care if I use all this stuff on my face or that some of my eyelashes are falling out again, He cares what my heart is dressed in.  Is it dressed in the love and compassion for Him that He cares about?
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  He loves me just the way I am and He will always love me no matter what.  He could care less if I put all this stuff on my face ... however, I know others appreciate it.  <smile>  I'm thankful today and everyday that He loves me just the way I am.

This past week was really busy ... good week I would say.  I took my volunteer paperwork to The Center and will be volunteering at special events until I can retire in three years.  I look forward to this new adventure of volunteering and the good news is ... the next two events are on my Fridays off.  What a blessing and answered prayers.

This morning I am attending the Catch the Vision class at Gateway Church to become a member.  I have prayed about this for a while and I'm excited to say that a few weeks ago, God led me to the decision to join this church.  I feel connected here and I feel the power of God in the services.  If you are looking for a church in the DFW area, please try Gateway.  If you are not in the area, visit www.gatewaypeople.com and check out the sermons.  Pastor Robert Morris is an awesome preacher who is as down to earth as they come.  Thankful this morning for this decision to join.

The Texas heat may be heading south and I cannot be more happy.  This summer has been another grueling summer of HOT HEAT... of course it is Texas.  It was 70 degrees on my patio at 5:00am this morning and there was water on the patio ... light shower I guess.  Again so thankful for this cooler weather.

Remember a while back when I ask for prayers for my friend, Mandy, who was in a bad car accident when someone ran a red light and hit her?  Mandy continues to need our prayers.  I went to see her at the hospital yesterday after to work and had an opportunity to chat with her hubby.  Mandy has had seven surgeries since the accident one month ago and really needs our prayers.  It will be a long recovery for our sweet friend and I ask that you remember her daily in your prayers.




Today I will leave you with some of the cutest grandbabies ever.

Above:  Braxton enjoying Labor Day at the lake.

Above:  Brooklyn is all smiles these days.

Above:  Madelyn with Grammy's sunglasses driving Grammy's car  in the hot garage.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  

Blessed and praying blessings for you today.  

genam44@charter.net

My long four day weekend is coming to a close.  I have had a great time being off.  Was a little under the weather for a couple days which wasn't too much fun but I think that was due to being tired.  I hope you have had a wonderful and safe holiday.

I would like to announce .... I AM DONE WITH THIS HEAT!!!  OK, I feel much better now.  When I get in the sun for only 30 seconds, my skin feels like a zillion needles are sticking me ... and it's just when I am in the sun.  I can be hot in body temperature and it doesn't affect me that way ... it's just the sun.  I guess it's the chemo that is causing this.

That's about it for now today, I don't need to bore you with step by step weekend plans, however, I will share a few pictures below:

Above:  Braxton loves the camera.

Above:  Special Braxton and Grammy time on Saturday night.
  He let me be in the picture
with him.

Above:  Wild hair ... bed head

Above:  Cowgirl Madelyn with her
Dora pjs and boots that Uncle CoCo gave her.  

Blessed and praying blessings for you.


genam44@charter.net

How Do You Take Your Mornings?

Psalm 118:24  This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.  

The title of this post is a spin-off of ... how do you take your coffee or tea?  I take my coffee with too much Coffee Mate and I take my tea with no additives most of the time.










But the question this morning is ... How do you take your mornings?   Let's just say that I'm not a Garfield, the cat, that's for sure.   I look at mornings as a new day, a new opportunity to make a difference, a new opportunity to share a smile or offer a needed ear for someone who needs to talk.  When I get up in the morning, I'm ready to go.  I love mornings ... OK, so you're saying ... she's weird ... I'm saying ... I'm not.  I wake up talking ... first to my awesome Lord and then to anyone who will listen to me.  <smile>  I am not chatty Cathy or anything (well maybe just a little) ... I just wake up and I'm ready for the day.  I don't need a hour or two to get out of my sleepy time funk ... it's a new day so I say ... let's get this party started.

When I got married, I married a Garfield. <smile>  I did not know this at the time and much to my surprise he didn't bounce out of bed like I did and start talking.  Quite the opposite actually.  He needed his 'quiet time' plus a stack of chocolate chip cookies and glass of milk while he read the paper first.  I had to learn this ... the hard way.  <laughing>  After I learned that he was not a chatter in the mornings, I learned to talk to myself and most of the time, I answered myself.  <laughing even more>  He taught me that not everyone is the way I am and I'm thankful for that lesson.  I do not know if he still needs his quiet time in the morning or his cookies and milk ... but I know I haven't changed ... one bit.  I would love to hear how you take your mornings ... leave me a comment or send me an email.

Have you ever watched a small child interact with others or play alone?  Their innocence to me is so touching and has often brought tears to my eyes as I watch my grand babies play. (My girls would probably tell you that I think grass growing is touching and that I shed a tear over that ... they're right <smile>).   As I've watched Braxton and  Madelyn play with the toys they have ... the many toys they have ... it makes my heart smile.  Each in their own little world playing out their little lives as they now know it.  

Let me tell you  that I have been taking lessons from my youngest daughter who is the ultimate money saver.  She has an incredible talent for planning out their meals for the week, making a grocery list and buying only what is on the list.  Her grocery list is also categorized by the aisles in her Kroger that she shops.  Recently her and hubby were running a little short on time and I was at their house keeping the babies so I told them to go ahead and go grocery shopping while I was there.  When they got to the store, she was able to tear the list down the middle because it was organized by aisles from one side of the store to the other, they both grabbed a cart and met in the middle of the store, each with their listed items.  So ... I decided I needed to plan our meals, make a list and buy only what's on the list (OK, so I might pick up a couple of things off the list) but for the most part, I am sticking to my list.  It's really unbelievable how much money I'm saving as well as changing from Walmart to Kroger where I get discounts of my gas.  It is .10 per gallon for every $100 you spend.

Last Sunday I think I shared that I had the croak pot going with red beans.  Honestly ya'll they were the best red beans I've ever eaten.  We had them Sunday night for dinner with cornbread.  I put them on the menu for Tuesday nights dinner with meatloaf and frozen potato wedges (Kroger brand). Weekdays I get home about 4:00pm in the afternoon and get dinner going so that when Alicia and Madelyn get home about 5:00ish, dinner is ready and when they are ready to eat, it's all done.  I made up a new recipe for meatloaf and it's divine.  Meatloaf in a loaf takes longer to cook so I decided that I would make meatloaf muffins.  Around my family, everyone loves the end pieces of meatloaf because it usually has the little crusty crunchy that forms from being thinner on the end so with muffins, everyone gets an 'end piece".  Meatloaf muffins also cooks much quicker than a meatloaf.  I only filled the muffin tins up to the top of the tin because of the grease in the meat and I didn't want it spilling over in the oven because we all know that cleaning an oven ... stinks!  <laughing>   Here's a picture of the meatloaf muffins.  I do not put ketchup on my meatloaf any longer until we eat.  That way if someone doesn't want ketchup then they don't have to have it.

Meatloaf Recipe by Me...
Package of ground meat (I use 80/20 myself)
Package of dry onion soup mix (use the store brand, it's cheaper)
Handful + shredded carrots diced up
Handful + diced onion
Kroger brand Garlic Bread crumps - eyeball these ... remember this is the binder
Plain bread crumps - eyeball these ... they are binders too
1 egg   --- this is the reason you need the bread crumps <smile>
Celery salt ... I don't measure, I just sprinkle

Preheat oven to your desired cooking temperature ... mine is usually about 350 or 400 if I'm a hurry.  Put the diced carrots and onions in a microwaveable bowl with a pat of butter.  Stick them in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes so they soften.  While they are softening, put the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and wait for the carrots and onions to soften and get your muffin tin out.  When the carrots/onions are ready, add them to the meat mixture and put on rubber gloves (I don't like touching meat) and mix it all together.  Put the meatloaf mixture in the muffin tin and put in the oven.  It does not take long at all to cook meatloaf muffins.

Now you're probably saying CARROTS in meatloaf.  Well I figure if you're having meatloaf, red beans and potato wedges, you need a different type of non-starchy vegetable besides you can't taste them and I had two bags of them (bought before the grocery list started).  I do this some anyway ... add some vegetable to a recipe that doesn't call for it but what the heck ... I'm cooking it and I can cook it anyway I want.  Be creative with your cooking.  By the way, I'm not much of a follow the recipe or measure kinda gal when I'm cooking ole southern dishes.  Little of this and little of that does it for me.




Today is my day off ... three loads of laundry down and a couple loads to go.  Tootie is at the groomer.  Good start to the day I would say.  Breakfast is calling my name now so I better go answer.










           Be like a sponge today and every day ....    

...   Soak up God's word.










Blessings!   Let's pray for each other ...
genam44@charter.net

Blessings!

I am attaching the link to the youtube for the song ... Blessings .. by Laura Story.  This song blesses my heart every time I hear it.   Please listen as you read this post.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSVqHcdhXQ

The story behind the song ... by Laura Story

The album that I did three to four years ago happened right after my husband went through surgery for a brain tumor. So a lot of the ideas that I was writing about then were just very fresh, about how do we worship in the midst of trials. So fast forwarding a few years later, a lot of things have changed. A lot of things have gotten better with his health, and a lot of things have not. We pray for God to bless us, but what does it look like when I spend four or so years praying for healing for my husband that never comes? I feel like we’ve kind of gotten to a place of having to make a choice. Are we going to judge God based on our circumstances that we don’t understand, or are we going to choose to judge our circumstances based on what we know to be true about God? Not that I choose the right thing every day, but I’m learning that every morning when I wake up to choose to trust God.

And that’s what “Blessings” is about. It’s just considering that maybe the blessing is actually found in the absence of the thing that I’m praying for. No one wants a brain tumor, and no one wants a severed marriage and these things that we pray that God will reconcile. But even though this situation is definitely nothing that we ever would have asked for or prayed for, there has been a depth of intimacy with the Lord that I’m not sure I would have known apart from such a hard road that we’ve walked. And in the end, if I’ve learned to cling to that old rugged cross all the more, I truly can say that I’m a blessed person.

People have often ask me how I was able to find blessings in the valleys of darkness during my cancer.  They often said ... I couldn't be as upbeat as you are.  My belief that finding blessings in even the worst situations comes through our faith in God.  Leaving our problems, concerns, hurts or whatever with Him can provide us with a calm like no other.  The painful reality was that I had cancer and how thankful I am that I was able to reconcile that reality with God's love.  He didn't give me the cancer ... and how thankful I am that He was there walking with me.

Matthew 11:28-30 says ... "Come to me, all who are burden and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light".   

I hope your week is going well ... mine is.  I look forward to the long weekend.  I don't need spectacular plans because I'm here and I'm alive and I'm healthy.

Blessings!

genam44@charter.net

A Memory Found ...

Much to my surprise this morning, I rounded the corner coming out of the kitchen to the den and this was who was standing there ...  not that she's not standing there all the time but she had found her purple hat that she wore last winter when I was wearing hats and didn't have any hair.  Oh my goodness, yes, the bald memories filled my mind and then a big smile took over as I reached up and touched my beautiful short dark hair that has begun growing.

Add caption

January 2012 ... The Hat Girls ...

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God ... 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Watch how Pastor Robert Morris explains being BORN AGAIN very clearly. Such a praise yesterday during the 4:00pm service to watch people stand up and go to the front and accept Jesus. It was a God filled service.  Take a few minutes to listen ... you will be glad you did.  

http://gatewaypeople.com/sermons    And a special song for all those who lead me to Christ, many have gone on to live with the Lord but their love and devotion was endless ... I am a life that was changed ....  Thank you for giving to the Lord.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrdJ2V3r7Y   

Blessed and praising God for the changes ... praying blessings for you today.  

genam44@charter.net

Storms...Grace...Thankfulness...Grandbabies ...

When you have something go awry in your life ... let's call it a storm (the graphic above is the best I could find) ... how do you handle it?  If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know the many storms that I have faced and hopefully saw in my writings that I wanted to find the good in the storm.  Sometimes finding that good is challenging but if you really try, you will see the good.  Most of the time we will never know 'why' that storm passed over our life but if we endure we will get through it.

Storms wage battles in our heart, in our souls and many times in our lives.  The many storms I have endured during the last ten months could have at times been categorized as a 'Cat 4 or 5' (weather service term).  I made my decision early on in my diagnosis that I wanted to handle these Cat 4 or 5 storms with grace.  I believed there was nothing I could not get through because God would provide me the grace I needed and desperately desired.

2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  "  Therefore I will boast more all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  

I weathered the cancer, chemo, radiation and side affects storms because I believed that God would equip me with everything I needed.  I praised Him while the storms were upon me.  He was and is  there with me and I know and recognize that and He is here with all of us every second of every day, all we have to do is call on Him.  I cry out and He hears my cries and He answers me.

Psalms 37:14 The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them, He delivers them from all their troubles.  

A few storms that stopped over my place this week ... It rained early part of the week and my allergies kicked up.  I cannot figure out how in the world allergies kick up when it rains.  I thought the rain would drown all the allergens.  Then my sinus' got in gear.  After much prayer and OTC meds and antibiotics that I had, I began feeling better by Thursday.  Thank you Father.

Thursday evening we loaded up in my Highlander and when I started it  the little red battery light came on.  I told my daughter to get the manual out and the caption beside the battery icon said something like ... DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR.  Great ... just great ... we needed bathroom tissue aka toilet paper and I was determined to get to our new Family Dollar store and get some Northern Bathroom Tissue.  On the way I called my mechanic ... he said ... DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR, your alternator has probably gone out ... I said ... well what does that mean?  He said ... you are running your car strictly on your battery and there is nothing charging your battery so when your battery goes dead, you will be stranded.  Great ... just great.  I turned the radio and a/c off (much to my passengers dismay).  I left the car running while I ran in to get the bathroom tissue.  The young lady in front of me at the check out stand obviously did not know there was a car sitting in the parking lot that could die and we would be stranded ... as she slowly dug a penny out of the bottom of her little tiny purse.  I don't carry coin change due to the weight of it and my lymph node removal (that's another post) or I would have found a penny and said ... HERE!  I got back in the car and prayed ... Father, please please let us make it home.  We made it home and I thanked Him as I parked my car.  I called some friends to borrow one of their extra cars, went and got it. My mechanic came on Friday afternoon about 4:45, towed my car way across town to his shop, replaced the alternator and towed it back to me by 7:45pm.  He is awesome.  He charged me HALF of what a shop was going to charge me.  UNBELIEVABLE.

My praises came for the rain ... we need it so bad.  I cannot sit here and tell you that I praised God for the allergies, sinus, or car issues nor can I say that I praise Him for this migraine I woke up with at 2:00am this morning BUT I can tell you that I praise Him for feeling better from the allergies and sinus, for my car being fixed and it not costing an arm and a leg and that my headache is easing up this morning.  I think many times we ask God for help and then forget to thank Him.  If someone does something for us and is standing in front of us, we always say ... Thank you.  Just because God is not physically standing in front of us ... we need to remember to thank Him.  He likes to hear from us ... no matter what ... with our request for help or our praises singing His name ... He wants us to talk to Him.

Psalms 35:28  My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.

Praising God contradicts what life looks like to us sometimes ...
Praising Him overcomes doubt ... who doesn't need that?  I sure do!
Praising Him overcomes sin ... 
Praising Him overcomes sorrow ...
Praising Him overcomes pain ...
Praising Him overcomes our own disbelief ...  

Praising God is not like putting our money in a candy machine ... we put the money in and in turn the handle and we get a 'goody' out.  Praising Him is our recognition that we have already received all that He wanted to give us and we are thankful.

And now on to my grand babies ...
Mathew 19:14 ... Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these".  

This summer has been a 'stay in the house' summer.  With all the West Nile reported, it is scarey to try to take your kiddos outside.  Last night everyone had had enough ... we donned mosquito spray and headed to the local park.  What a blessing the time outside was ... so much so ... both of the older babies cried when we had to leave.  Praise the Lord, as far as we could tell, no one got bitten by a mosquito.

As I close this morning, I thank God for all He has provided me, for healing me and loving me even when I know I'm unlovable.  I feel His smiles when I talk to Him and His arms around me as He comforts me.
Psalms 100:4  Enter His gates with thankfulness and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

Blessed and praying blessings for you today.

genam44@charter.net


NOTE:  Coming soon and new look for my blog ... I think.