Touche`

Language Lesson

A friend of mine is an officer in the naval reserve. A few weeks ago, He was attending a conference that included admirals in both the US and the French navies. At a cocktail reception, my friend found himself in a small group that included an admiral from each of the two navies. The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans only learned English. He then asked. "Why is it that we have to speak English in these conferences rather than you having to speak French?" Without even hesitating, the American admiral replied. "Maybe it's because we arranged it so that you didn't have to learn to speak German." The group became silent.

 

Now on a serious note, if you'd like to get involved in welcoming home some soldiers, go over to Christy's Thoughts and see what she has going on.  ;o)

WARNING!!!!!!

Please, please, please take notice!!!   I received two email today that said they were from AOL Billing.  Said I needed to update my payment method info or my account would be suspended.  I KNOW my info is good.  I KNOW there should be no problem.  Still, I clicked their link to see where it went.  It went to a page that looked like no AOL Billing page I have ever seen.  So I closed that window and contacted Billing directly.  They asked me for the address.  I told them.  They verified that my account info is fine, and that my account is current.  They asked me to send the emails in to TOS.  I did.  But I wanted to go further and warn my friends. 

Please, if you receive correspondence asking for credit card info or other personal information DON'T go to their pages or links.  Call AOL Billing or Go to Billing Live Chat for help.  What I received appears below:

Subj: An Important Message from AOL Billing  Date: 8/28/06 11:36:35 PM Central Daylight Time From: To: Sent from the Internet

Dear AOL Member,

We recently attempted to charge your account and your credit card issuer denied payment to our billingsystem.This usually occurs when billing information is out of date or billing address is incorrect.

In order to keep your service active you must visit AOL's Subscription Service Center.

Failure to update your records will result in account suspension. Please update your records on or before: August 29 , 2006.

Once you have updated your account records your AOL account service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your AOL records click on the following link: https://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp

Sincerly,

AOL Subscription Services

Sand & Stone

I think maybe I over did it last weekend with all the J-land partying.  No, seriously, I did have a lovely time.  I've just been busy with normal everyday stuff......working half days.  Helping Bug with homework in the evenings.  Cooking suppers.  Spending a little more time with hubby. 

So, now tonight, we have had an early supper.  Hubby is watching TV.  I'm relaxing.  The kids just took the 4-wheeler through the pipeline to their Uncle Benny's.  There is another cookout going on up there, with lots of  family.

I've come across several things as of  late that I'd like to share with you.  And I'm sitting here pondering, what it should be tonight.  I think a special e-mail I received from a friend of ours, Marylynn, who lives up the road in Fred, TX is the perfect thing. 

 SAND    &   STONE
 
TWO    FRIENDS    WERE    WALKING
THROUGH    THE    DESERT.
DURING    SOME    POINT    OF    THE
JOURNEY,    THEY    HAD    AN
ARGUMENT;    AND    ONE    FRIEND
SLAPPED    THE    OTHER    ONE
IN    THE    FACE.
THE    ONE    WHO    GOT    SLAPPED
WAS    HURT,    BUT    WITHOUT
SAYING    ANYTHING,
WROTE    IN    THE    SAND:

TODAY    MY    BEST    FRIEND
SLAPPED   ME    IN    THE    FACE.

THEY    KEPT    ON    WALKING,
UNTIL    THEY    FOUND    AN    OASIS,
WHERE    THEY    DECIDED
TO    TAKE    A   BATH .

THE    ONE    WHO    HAD    BEEN
SLAPPED    GOT    STUCK    IN    THE
MIRE    AND    STARTED    DROWNING,
BUT    THE    FRIEND    SAVED    HIM.

AFTER    HE    RECOVERED    FROM
THE    NEAR    DROWNING,
HE    WROTE    ON    A    STONE:

"TODAY    MY    BEST    FRIEND
SAVED    MY    LIFE ".

THE    FRIEND    WHO    HAD    SLAPPED
AND    SAVED    HIS    BEST    FRIEND
ASKED    HIM,    "AFTER    I    HURT    YOU,
YOU    WROTE    IN    THE    SAND    AND    NOW,
YOU    WRITE    ON    A    STONE,    WHY?"

THE   FRIEND    REPLIED
"WHEN    SOMEONE    HURTS    US
WE    SHOULD    WRITE    IT    DOWN
IN    SAND    WHERE    WINDS    OF
FORGIVENESS    CAN    ERASE    IT AWAY.
BUT,    WHEN    SOMEONE    DOES
SOMETHING    GOOD    FOR    US,
WE    MUST    ENGRAVE    IT    IN    STONE
WHERE    NO    WIND
CAN    EVER    ERASE    IT."

LEARN    TO    WRITE
YOUR    HURTS    IN
THE    SAND    AND    TO
CARVE    YOUR
BENEFITS    IN    STONE.

"Vengeance is mine." saith the Lord.  We demonstrate the mercy of our Lord Jesus the most when we forgive.  I can honestly sit here and tell you, that with His help and through His strength, I have managed to forgive any and everyone who has ever wronged me.  It wasn't always easy.  It was often times a slow process.  It often took seeing where they were coming from, from God's point of view, to reach it.  Does that mean I never get mad?.....absolutely not!  Does that mean that I necessarily will turn my back and a blind eye to others and their motives and agenda?   No, I reserve the right to be cautious and weary.  But it does mean I am free of the tiresome burden of carrying a grudge.  Each day can really be a new day. 

The only thing that does pain me in this, is that some who have wronged me in the past have never asked my forgiveness.  So, I have the gift ready to give, but can't.  Others have, and I've given it, but they seem not to be able to accept or understand it.  Maybe they just haven't reached the point of forgiving themselves.  My prayer is that they can.  So they can move on.  So they can heal as I have.

In closing, I have not forgotten the Devotions on Marriage.  I hope you haven't either.  Some of you may have went on without me.  And that's fine.  But, today, I am picking up where I left off with the 12th Devotion on Marriage.  It is my plan to assemble them all together in a journal of their own when we reach the end.  I'll post a link to it when I get that accomplished.

Any of you who have been with me for some time know that I used to close every entry with a Word from the Word.  We explored our language and speech, going through the Bible with my concordance.  I want to start this again, and I am open for subjects.  I chose speech before, because it is my battle I fight daily.  What are your battles?  Where are your interests?  Let me know, and I'll try to use that for a topic. 

Time Zones

I've been by Donna's. The UK bunch are already celebrating.  I crashed in long enough to say "Howdy!"  I have real life company here at home.  Our turn starts at 8:00pm Eastern.  I'm posting a chart for the time zone challenged.  If you live in a place that doesn't  conform to the norm, your clock may have something different.  Can't wait!!

Place:   Special Interests - Journals Cafe

TIME
9:00 PM Atlantic
8:00 PM Eastern
7:00 PM Central
6:00 PM Mountain
5:00 PM Pacific

 

Yheeee Hhaaawww!!

        

I am so thrilled right now!!  I took a chance that is old, slow, machine I am stuck with would actually do what I wanted today and I FINALLY got to post this graphic from Donna I've wanted to use so badly.

Looking forward to tonight.  I'll be there with bells on!!  Hope to see you all there. 

I know there are many parties and things planned for afterward, but if any of you don't have something planned yet you are welcome to come back to Caneyhead with me.  Pete's gonna have a fire going, the shop fan running out under the big oak tree to cool us.  There will be tables set up for 42, horse shoes and washers.  Bubba will be the DJ, spinning swamp gold CD's on the system in his truck.  Country style ribs cooked over the fire.  Hope you can make it!  Might want to bring a change of clothes just in case we all get crazy and decide to go muddin' down the pipeline.  Welcome to my life.  ;o)

Getting Ready to Celebrate!!

Leave it to me.  Wait until almost the very last minute!  But I managed to stop by Dillard's today and I found just the thing to wear!  Of course it is something I would have worn 20 years ago, not now.  But I'm taking liberty with imagination and cyber space.  So bear with me and play along.

Here's the Jessica McClintock dress I'll be wearing:

  Of course, like any good Texas girl, I'll have the double-strand pearls Daddy gave to Mama on with it.  And I know some of you think all we ever wear are boots for foot attire.  (And others know this redneck runs around barefoot unless forced to do otherwise.)  But I'll be sporting these sexy shoes for our grand night: 

                                                 

Yes, I do remember how to walk in them!  So you know I'll be stylin'.

Wondering what all the fuss is about?  AOL Journals are about to celebrate their 3rd year!  Of course, I have only been around for a little over one year myself.  But I'm proud and happy to be a part of this wonderful community!

When I first became a high tech redneck with a pc I tried groups.  Groups were friendly enough.  But I craved a broader base of folks to interact with.  So I tried message boards.  Now that was an experience!  Some talked all around me, like I wasn't there.  Others seemed to have members who's main aim in life was to argue and fight with as many people as possible. And some just broke my heart.  So many people who said they were Christians, but apparently had never opened the Bible.  So, I tried some posting and blogging at a spot that shall remain nameless.  But the traffic was dismal, and no one ever left a comment. 

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon AOL Journals, purely by accident.  The first one I ever read was Jackie's Small Town Life.  I liked the friendship I saw in the repartee there.  Tried setting up a journal of my own.  But it was still clunky and awkward.  I gave up.  But not forever.  My heart kept telling me that I was supposed to be sharing.  Sharing primarily with women.  Primarily with Christian women, wives and mothers.  So, Life and Faith in Caneyhead was born. 

I received a warm welcome right off the bat!  Everyone willing to share, encourage and pass along tips and tricks.  I found J-land was a neighborhood.  And many of my neighbors have become my friends.  Just as real to me as any anywhere.  I've been inspired, encouraged and entertained in their pages.  I have been blessed to reciprocate occasionally.  With humor.  Hopefully with warmth.  Snippets of my life.  What, if any, wisdom I have garnered these 45 (soon to be 46) years.  Even able to record a little history in the making when Rita passed our way. 

I have been privileged to meet folks from near and far.  Places I know I'll never visit physically.  It's a journey I am glad I begun, and one I plan to continue. 

Happy Birthday, J-land!  God bless you and all others who pass this way.  Sit down and put your feet up, if you can stay a while.  We'll make coffee and swat mosquitos.  Hope to see many of you at the big Gala on Sunday!  

 

A Somewhat Revealing Entry

From the Palace to Triumph

 

It was the late 70's, early 80's.  On the heels of the Urban Cowboy craze.  John Travolta; Spurger, TX and Gilley's club in Pasadena.  (Incidentally, I live just about 30 miles from Spurger, Tx ... and Travolta pronounced it wrong in the movie.)

 

The Palace was the first large and fancy dance hall in Beaumont, TX.  There were large one's before (Lady Longleggs) but none that were fancy.  One half of downstairs was a large restaurant, the other half a nightclub/disco....yet the DJ spun almost entirely country music.  The upstairs had an auditorium where you could hear some of your favorites in rather small live concerts.  The other part of the upstairs was a second level of the restaurant that ringed the first level.  You could sit upstairs and look down on everyone dining below. 

 

I was a regular.  In my Levi's, western shirts, brown felt cowboy hat and Justin boots.  Brown hair in curls to perfectly frame the edge of my hat.  Ate in the restaurant a time or two.  Attended several of the concerts upstairs, including Conway Twitty and John Connaly.  But mostly, I frequented the disco.  

 

I never even discovered I could dance until after I was out of high school and of legal age. (18 back then in Texas)  But I learned I had a knack for it.  Two-step, cotton-eyed Joe, shottish,  waltz, jitterbug.  I became a regular when I got back from a two year stint at college.  I'd go all by myself many times.  Often no cover on girls.  Walk in, look over the crowd, pick out the fellows I planned to make eye contact with, order a drink and have a seat.  Usually not seated too long.  I'd stay and close it down.  Sometimes go with others for breakfast somewhere, sometimes just go home.  Suppose I was a good enough patron to get invited to their private Christmas party two years in a row.  For the employees.  I think the bartenders and bouncers got to pick which patrons to invite.  

 

I had fun.  Lots of fun.  I drank.  Sometimes I was loud.  Sometimes too loose.  Occasionally downright drunk.  Met plenty of guys in my adventures there.  But none ever panned out to be relationship material.  Often cried when I was alone, as I seemed so alone.  Sort of like Johnny Lee's song about "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places, Looking for love in too many faces."  

 

Time marches on, I met my Pete.  Settled down.  Had Bubba.  Lost my desire to drink or be nursing a hangover.  Desired to be a Mama like Mama was. Tienamin  Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stormin' Norman chasing Saddam out of  Kuwait.  All theses things got me to thinking and pondering more and more on the truths I was raised with.  Constant feelings of unhappiness, anger, sadness.  I was out of control towards everyone around me.  I picked up the worn copy of The Living Bible my mom had bought me for my 16th birthday.  Started reading through a few underlined passages.  Wondered how I had forgotten them.  Started reading the whole thing.  Couldn't read it fast enough.  Couldn't put it down.  Read.  See how far off course I was.  Cry.  Pray.  Repent.  On and on.  Bubba was almost three.  And I knew, my place was back in church.  

 

I was a lost sheep.  Jesus called to me through the words I read and the desire to read them.  He restored me to the flock through the prayers and tears.  I had gone from the "Sugar high" of fun and revelry to the "Bread" of life more abundant.  Peace within.  Joy without stimulation.  

 

I don't know just how long the Palace operated.  It started going downhill.  Times changed and a new craze came along.  The building had been vacant and for sale for some time.

 

But now it is a place of triumph.  For that is what it is called, Triumph Church.  Can't no one tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!  This congregation bought that building and did the same thing that God did with me.  They rearranged the inside.  They threw out what was useless to them.  They built new things within those same old walls.  The basic structure is the same.  But the design, intent and purpose is evident in the building.  Somewhere to worship God.  A place to bring glory to Him.  A testimony to what He did and can do.

 

Yeah, somewhere in that building you might find a small piece of something original.  Just as I am still me.  But you see something very different now there, than you saw 25 years ago.  Just like me.    

 

Barbara

Hit the Nail on the Head!!

Well friends, Cammie has done it again.  Hit the nail on the head!  No beating around the bush!  Please read her brief but powerful entry at JESUS,JESUS,JESUS!!! 

Why do we have such a hard time learning this valuable lesson?  Why do we seem to forget it over and over? 

I first learned it in my late teens & early twenties, when I lost my father, my middle sister and then my mother in a span of less than 6 years.  And in some ways it did change me for life.  Positive ways.  Treasuring people and events. 

Yet, still I lost much of the lesson.  I re-learned it when Jesus first called me back to Himself at the age of 32.  Then over time, I let a lot of it slip away.

Got a refresher when we first moved up to Caneyhead, 8 1/2 years ago.  We had no frills and such.  Spent a lot of time outside around a fire each evening....just the three of us then.  Hardly ever a TV on.  No where to all sit comfortably to watch it. 

And then in the aftermath of Rita, the same points driven home again.  Yes, times were very rough then, but each day was all of us together.  Neighbors that never visit, made their way as they came back into town to talk and compare stories.  We amused ourselves with the simplest things.

AND in all these times there was the time to "Be still and know that I AM God."