Thank You Mr. President

I normally will not post things here that have to do with politics and such. But I was made aware of an idea that made sense to me. I was told a whole group of folks were posting their thanks to President Bush as he's leaving office. I believe this was to be done last week, but I only found out about it over the weekend. So I'm going to take this space to post why I thank President Bush for the job he's done. I didn't always agree with all his decisions, or the reasons behind his decisions. But to be very honest with you, you couldn't pay me enough to be President of this country....or any other country come to think of it. This man volunteered to serve his country..often at great cost to his privacy, his self esteem and his family life. Since the first day he took office, he's been vilified, demonized and hated simply for being himself. I don't understand this. This is a man who felt a calling to serve his country, to attempt to make this a better place for all of us, and a way to do what he felt Papa had told him to do. So I thank President Bush. I thank him for caring enough about this country to be willing to try to change things for the better. I thank him for keeping us safe since 9-11-01. I thank him for admitting to being a praying president. I thank him for trying to end the constant bickering and backbiting in Congress. I thank him for attempting to work together with people who refused to work with him for the most part. I thank him that he did what he felt was right simply because it was the right thing to do...no matter what the news casters said about him. I thank him for the strength of character that brought some dignity and class back to the office of the presidency. And I thank him for being a caring, compassionate man who was never ashamed to admit his faith in G-d. Like I said, I didn't agree with all he did, but I admire a man who knew this wouldn't be easy, was treated horribly from day 1 and yet never complained or whined. He just quietly went about doing what he could to make the world a better place. I believe he did make the world better. Ask the Aids victims he sent medicine to, or the Iraqi's that now have freedoms they've never known, or the women in Afghanistan who are now treated more like humans, or the Georgians who found a powerful friend when Russia was attacking them....I could go on. But I'll close with this....though many things have not gone the way President Bush (and I) would have liked them to go, he's not complained, whined or blamed anyone else. With all his "Bushisms" and funny sayings (that are so much the way we talk here in Texas), he brought class and dignity mixed with a little bit of character to Washington DC. And I'm proud he was my President for the last 8 years. I'm proud he's coming back home to Texas, and I wish all of Papa's blessings on him and his family for a job done honestly, to the best of his ability and done faithfully. Thank you President Bush. I believe history will show you were a great President! Shalom, Joie

I Will Provide....

This weekend, we got a personal love letter from Papa. This is just wild! But SO like Papa. My Dodi is a teacher/coach in the public school system. We get paid once a month. Now, getting used to one paycheck a month for both of us was tough....but when I quit teaching to homeschool Little Critter, getting only one paycheck a month and stretching it to last the month was a real trick! It took a several months before I no longer had to rob the savings account to make it to the next paycheck. But we'd stashed a pretty fair savings account in anticipation of the adjustment. Now, we're pretty good at it. But January is tough every year. No matter how much I try to save up for it, it's rough. See in December Dodi gets paid early due to holidays. So we go about 6 weeks between paychecks from December to January. I know this is a toughie, so I try hard to save extra all year to cover those extra couple weeks. We also go visit my in-laws over the holidays, plus you have the holidays themselves occuring during those 6 weeks. Well, this year, we had a couple expenditures that really weren't in our budget....and we ran out of money before we ran out of month....if you get my drift. So, I told Dodi, we couldn't take our one evening out until payday. Well, Saturday, Dodi had to work a power lifting meet at school. This isn't unusual...there's only so many coaches qualified to judge the meets and Dodi is qualified to judge power lifting as well as track, so often gets called to work them. No clue this was to be different. So Little Critter and I enjoyed our Shabbot together doing fun things we normally don't get to do. (Like staying in our pj's most the day....eating on the floor, playing games....just fun things an 8 year old boy enjoys doing) When Dodi returned home, he had a surprise for me. He called me into the bedroom and then handed me a wad of money. I looked at him with a shocked look on my face and he told me they'd paid him for working the meet! Now, he normally doesn't get paid for doing this. And the few times he did, it came on his next month's paycheck....never in cash!!!! So suddenly, instead of juggling the food in the pantry and freezer and hoping we had enough gas to last us to payday, we now had a cushion! Isn't Papa wonderful!?! He knew we had 2 bills needing paying this week, and not enough money to pay them until next week, so He made sure it was sent to us! I know He always provides for all our needs, but it never fails to amaze me that the Creator of the Universe who has the power to anything He wants to is so much in love with us that He notices our every need and provides it for us. As King David once said, "who am I that you notice me?!" It blows my mind to realize that Papa loves me so much He always takes the time to make sure I have what I need. Isn't that awesome?!?! You know dear friends, He loves you that much too. He wants to provide for all your needs also. I'll even bet that if you take the time to notice, He's been doing it all along....you just didn't see it. Take the time to look around you and see....I'm betting you'll see your own Love Letters from Papa. Shalom, Joie

Pawpaw's Birthday

Well, 15 Jan is my father's birthday. As I arose this morning (entirely too early, thank you!) and began to get ready for the day ahead. I prepared the crockpot meal I had agreed to take to work for lunch today since temps were to be 40 or below for the high, making sure there was enough for Dodi to have for lunch also. Then prepared Little Critter's schoolwork for the day, woke him up and we both got dressed. We picked up Nana and took her to the beauty shop, did the shopping for Shabbot, took Nana home, groceries to our house, then up to the office to start work. (By this time, I felt I'd already worked 3/4 of the day and was ready for a nap!!!!)
Shortly after we got to the office, it dawned on me that this was my Daddy's birthday. He turned 76 years old today! How blessed I've been to have this man as my earthly father all these years! My Dad is a character! For those who don't know him, he's a real hoot. He can talk an eskimo into ice in the middle of winter! But he'd also give you the shirt off his back if he felt you could use it....even if you don't really need it. When I was a child (from about age 6-high school), Daddy was a clown. No, don't laugh, I mean he was a card carrying clown! It was his profession!!!! I got in SO much trouble in school when we had to write stories about what we did over school holidays or summer vacation. "Over Thanksgiving break, I helped feed the lions, tigers and bears. I rode the elephants and washed behind their ears...." Yep, several trips to the principal's office for an over active imagination, several phone calls to my parents who then verified I'd told the truth all the time. I have letters from the other clowns in the circus and pictures taken with them. We played backstage during circus performances and I never once (even after grown up) had to pay for a ticket to the circus until after I was 40 years old and took Little Critter to the circus. (And then only because we went to the only circus that came close to where we live and it's NOT the one Daddy worked in.)
So after Dodi and I got off work, we called Daddy and took him out to eat dinner at the resturaunt of his choice. He was so surprised (I'm not sure why, we do this regularly) and touched that we a)remembered his birthday (like I've ever forgotten it?!?!) and b)took the time to take him out to dinner. (Possibly an indication my younger sister who lives with he and Mom forgot to remember his birthday.) After we stuffed him with his choice of Chinese food, and took him home, it occured to me. Just as we wanted to bless my father just for being who he is and being such a wonderful father so too our Heavenly Father wants to bless us for being who we are and being His children. All it took to make Daddy's day and put a smile on his face was a card, a small gift (his favorite kind of licorice) and dinner. But Papa wants to give us much more than that....how incredible is that?! I can hardly wait to see what new gifts Papa will give to me....and I don't even have to wait till my birthday! May you find the gifts He sends you each day....His love letters to you. Shalom, Joie

New Law to take affect 2-10-09

Well, my friends. I apologize for my long absence from here. I am the office manager for a local H&R Block office and during tax season (which has begun here in the US) I work long hours as well as homeschooling, housekeeping and housewifeing (is that even a word?!?!) So posts may be less frequent for a couple of months....but it's only for a few months and then I go back to regular life again....or at least what we call normal in my little zoo. ;)

Anyway, I learned about a new law scheduled to take affect next month that is a disaster! I just wanted to alert you to it. This new law is called the CPSI (Consumer Product Safety Initiative) and was written to stop the lead in children's toys imported from China last year. But Congress wrote the law so that it includes: books, CDs, clothes, toys, jewelry and several other things for children age 12 and younger. It will ban the sale, resale, even gifting of such products unless tested (at a cost of $400 per item and up) for lead and phalates. It was also made retroactive so libraries will not be allowed to have books for kids on their shelves!!!! Now, how ridiculous is that?!?!? Please check out the following links and contact your congressional folks to correct this over correction to a simple problem. (The last I read about this, it's most likely going to cost the economy over 72 Million dollars of revenue daily!!!)
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/faq.html
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/74940-Congress-bans-kids-from-libraries/
http://kidsproducts.suite101.com/article.cfm/childrens_books_and_the_cpsia
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322
http://cfx.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080731/news_1n31toys.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html
You can also call and write your senators and ask them to consider the enormous implications of this law as it stands and have exemptions put in place for books, clothing and other items that obviously do not contain any or hardly any of these substances.Even the Wall Street Journal is blasting the implementation of this law....miracles never cease! Please help spread the word about this so Congress is forced into doing something to correct their over zealousness. Thanks.

Now, I realize that I have readers from other countries outside the US, (hugs, Ahavah!) so I apologize for not having much for you here today. But this is a BIG deal here in the States and I wanted to alert everyone I can to it. I will post again this week and find more love letters from my Beloved Papa! I have gotten several over the last couple of weeks, just didn't have the energy to post them. Hope to fix that this weekend....my last one off for a couple of months! So look for His love letters to you and know I pray for you my friends.
Shalom, Joie

Confirmations

Well, last entry I waxed enthusiastically about our owl....and how I felt it was a love letter from Papa. I believe I have confirmation that it was. We checked the next morning for droppings and/or the vomited remains of the owl's dinner. There were none! There's been no evidence of an owl spending the night in our tree. He was gone in the morning and we've not seen or heard him since. (We never did hear him at all.....he sat there quite as snow the whole time he was here.) So we believe that he was a visual reply to my request for Dodi to have wisdom.

Then yesterday, I was praying for me to listen for and follow Papa's voice while at work. A few minutes later, I stepped outside to let Little Critter do some running. I had on a white t-shirt and suddenly I have a honey bee on my shirt. Now, I'm allergic to bee stings, so naturally stood VERY still. But that silly bee would NOT leave me alone. The other girl at work came out for a smoke and Mr. Bee ignored her completely. Little Critter kept trying to attrack Mr. Bee to himself, but Mr. Bee ignored him. My boss came out for some fresh air and Mr. Bee ignored him also. For some reason, this bee was in love with my white t-shirt!!!! I wasn't afraid of getting stung (which is very unusual, knowing I swell up like road kill on a hot day after being stung, and require an ER visit with plenty of shots to keep me breathing, I'm usually VERY worried about being stung!) But I was extremely calm and relaxed about the whole thing. Perhaps this was another visual message from Papa, but I'm still trying to figure out what He was telling me. It being January, it's rare we see honey bees this time of year. The weather is confused.....Monday our high for the day was 38, Thursday it was 75. Tomorrow we'll cool back into the low 50's and Monday it's back into the 40's. So perhaps this was just a confused little bee looking for a flower to drink from. Perhaps this was a message from Papa about being sweeter to all I meet. Perhaps Papa wanted me to trust Him to take care of me regardless the circumstances. Perhaps it was a reminder that my tongue can be a painful stinger to people I care about. I'm not real sure about this one yet. But I feel certain Papa will make it clear to me in due time.

In the meantime, I wish a sweet day to each of my readers and friends. As we prepare for Shabbot here, may each of us be reminded to listen for and hear our Papa's voice so we can take the sting out of our tongues and be sweet enough to draw others to Him who loves them the most. Shalom, Joie

First watch Love Letter

Well, last night Papa sent me a love letter in the middle of the night. (what WAS He thinking?????) I'd stayed up entirely too late trying to get things ready for my return to full time work (only for tax season....I work full time for 4 months a year during tax season. Isn't life wonderful!?!) Anyway, after I got in bed, Dodi woke up and we did some pillow talk. Suddenly about 2:15am a small bird started chirping quite loudly outside our window. We both wondered what got this little bird all noisy, but didn't think much of it. Then about 2:30am as we're both drifting into sleep,I had my hand on Dodi's back and was silently praying for him. I asked Papa to give him wisdom and discernment for some decisions we feel we need to make soon, and wanted to be certain he heard Papa's wisdom for us. All of a sudden our dog went ballistic. She was barking and barking and whining and howling...sounds we'd never heard her make before. So Dodi got up to see what was going on. (I had 2 cats wrapped around my legs and was having trouble moving!) After several minutes, Dodi said "My goodness! It's an owl in the tree! A big owl!" Well, of course, I threw cats off the bed as I jumped out of bed to go take a look. He was correct, there was an owl. He appeared to be a 12-15 inch barn owl sitting on a tree branch! Now we live in the city (it's a small town really, but we're not out in the country! We're in town!) And as I was looking at him, the owl turned and looked directly at me. He was BEAUTIFUL!!!! So, being the goose I am, I decided we had to have pictures of this. Well, the double glass on our windows prevented my standing in the house and taking the pictures, so Dodi and I put on shoes and coats (it was in the low 30's outside with drizzle falling!) over our jammies and we traipsed outside to take pictures of this owl. The owl was not in the least bothered by us. Even the flash on my camera didn't seem to bother him. He sat there, serene, peaceful, looking at us like we were insane....Ok, it may have been insane to go racing outside in our pajamas in freezing temperatures to take pictures of an owl....your point is?! LOL!
After we spent about 20-30 minutes watching the owl and taking pictures and video of the owl, we came back inside. As we went back to bed, (about 3:15 am!!!) it occurred to me....I asked Papa to give Dodi wisdom and discernment and almost immediately after I said it, the dog started barking to alert us to the Owl's presence. While we were outside (and even at the window) the owl watched me intently, ignoring the dog and Dodi. Owls are considered wise creatures here in the States....WooHoo! Papa sent me a visible answer to my prayer! Now, some will say I stayed outside too long, or was having some kind of sleep deprivation related epiphany, or have some other kind of brain damage to link these two seemingly unrelated things together. But we've lived here almost 17 years and never seen an owl before. Why last night? Why immediately after I prayed for wisdom for my darling Dodi? And why in the world would such a large owl suddenly show up here.....outside his regular territory? Hmmmm. Looks to me like a love letter from my loving Heavenly Papa! Well, since I only had about a 3 1/2 hour nap last night due to all the excitement.....I think I'll close for now. I have to get up early for work in the morning. I pray you find a love letter from Papa yourself tomorrow....or maybe tonight! Shalom, joie

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my friends. We're back from visiting the in laws and happily getting ready for Shabbot. We had a delightful time with Dodi's side of the family although allergies attacked Little Critter and I. It was almost funny as we'd go into stores or resturaunts and folks would give us a wide berth....thinking we were contagious. I didn't blame them, it sounded like we both had either TB or the plague!!!! But we're glad to be back home in our own little beds, surrounded by our own pollen (which we've adapted to quite nicely thank you!) and being loved by our little pets. I pray each of you had a blessed and happy holiday season also.
My love letter came from Papa came as we were at my in laws. It's a bit bittersweet. As we were up there, the differences between our way of doing things and the way the rest of the in laws do things is starting to become glaringly obvious. Little Critter has been taught to show respect for others especially his elders. He's punished when he doesn't. The children at in laws are not taught that. We dictate when, what and where we eat, what we do (taking Little Critter's opinions and preferences into mind also) and what we watch when we watch TV. There, the kids tell the adults such things. We study Torah (Bible) daily....there they depend on the church to teach the kids. It's puzzling to me. Why would people so depend on others to do their job and then lament when kids turn out rude, illiterate and slovenly? Hmm. Then Papa told me, it's because we've come so far from Torah. The Torah tells parents to teach their children morning, noon and night, when you wake, when you lay down, as you walk down the road, and as you return to your homes. We're to use everything we can to point our children to the Father. But many parents today don't do that. I'm sad for them. Yes, because we homeschool I have few breaks from being with Little Critter, and there's days I'd like to wring his little scrawny neck!!!! But in reality, when I do have a break from him, I miss him. He has a warped sense of humor (wonder where that came from?! LOL!), a delightful way of looking at things from outside the box, and a tender little heart that he tries hard to hide from others. He's at that awkward age when he's trying so hard to be a young man, but still wants to be Momma's baby boy and that in itself provides plenty of moments of hilarity. Those who leave the teaching of their kids to others miss out on so much...the fun, the laughter, the wonderful ah ha's when something difficult is understood, the closeness and the squirmy, dirty little boy hugs. Sigh. Most of all, they miss the delight of seeing the teachings of the Father take root and bloom in their children's lives. And the Bible tells us it will only become worse as we race toward the end of this age. I wish all could spend so much time with their kids and see what wonderful awesome creations they are. Well, I suppose all I can do is pray for them, ask Papa to open the eyes of their hearts. This is NOT a wish that all would homeschool. That takes a significant amount of sacrifice and more patience than I knew I had. But I know my parents sent us to public schools, but also took time to teach us of Father during our family times together. It can be done....it should be done.....it's really a delight to do. I pray each of you take the time to really get to know your kids and grandkids. Learn to delight in them and teach them of Papa. He loves them more than we do. And He desires that we teach them about Him. Their lives depend on us doing our jobs....their eternal lives depend on it. May I be more dedicated to teaching not only Little Critter, but also all the children we influence more about Papa in this new year. Be blessed, and Shabbot Shalom, Joie