Just had to pass this along!

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air,

they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say,
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "We're spending Christmas at God's house."
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."
Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

Apple Gatherer

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding...

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did.

The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?"

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride ... and he wondered. He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place."

The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him - only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Mister."

Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That's our destiny, is it not?

To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day .

You are the apple of His eye even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Please share this, {IF you feel led to do so}.

Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really need to be sharing what we know....Thanks.

"Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect.

It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections."

WOW!!!!

It's been awhile!!  I've been taking a very much needed break from the computer all together, I've even given up Facebook - WOOHOO!!!  Although I have found a new addiction, lol, C R O C H E T I N G!!  I've started a shawl & a throw but ran out of yarn so I won't be showing pics of them just yet :-)  I did make hats for everyone for Christmas - This is the one I made for the girls, sry didn't take a pic of the boys hats :-(



This is the new one I just made today!!


Sry about my appearance, it's a snowy, very cold, yucky day & I just was not in the mood to gussy up, lol!!!




Not much else going on around here - we are still "Empty Nesters" - WOO HOO!!!!!
Well I better run, that's all from the mtn. for now, take care & catch ya later.

God Bless,
Gretchen

Had to pass along, lol!!!!

While conducting some business at the Courthouse, I overheard a lady, 

who had been arrested for assaulting a
Mammogram Technician, say, "Your Honor, I'm guilty but.....there were extenuating circumstances!"

The female Judge said, sarcastically, "I'd certainly like to hear those extenuating circumstances."  
I did too soooo…… I listened as the lady told her story.

"Your Honor, I had a mammogram appointment, which I actually kept.
I was met by this perky little clipboard carrier smiling from ear to ear and she tilted her head to one side and crooned,
"Hi! I'm Belinda! All I need you to do is step into this room right here, strip to the waist, then slip on this gown.
Everything clear?"

I'm thinking, "Belinda, try decaf. This ain't rocket science."
Belinda then skipped away to prepare the chamber of horrors.

With the right side finished, Belinda flipped me (literally) to the left and said,
 "Hmmmm. Can you stand on your tippy toes and lean in a tad so we can get everything?"
"Fine" I answered.

I was freezing, bruised, and out of air, so why not use the remaining circulation in my legs and neck to finish me off?
My body was in a holding pattern that defied gravity (with my other breast wedged between those two 4 inch pieces of square glass)
when I heard and felt a zap!

Complete darkness, the power was off!

Belinda said, "Uh-oh, maintenance is working, bet they hit a snag." Then she headed for the door.

"Excuse me! You're not leaving me in this vise alone are you?" I shouted.

Belinda kept going and said, "Oh, you fussy puppy...the door's wide open so you'll have the emergency hall lights.
I'll be right back."

Before I could shout NOOOO! She disappeared.
And that's exactly how Bubba and Earl, "maintenance men Extraordinaire" found me...half-naked with part of me
dangling from the Jaws of Life and the other part smashed between glass!

After exchanging a polite Hi, how's it going type greeting, Bubba (or possibly Earl) asked, to my utter disbelief, if I knew the power was off.

Trying to disguise my hysteria, I replied with as much calmness as possible, "Uh, yes, I did but thanks anyway."

"OK, you take care now" Bubba replied and waved good-bye as though I'd been standing in the line at the grocery store.

Two hours later, Belinda breezes in wearing a sheepish grin.
Making no attempt to suppress her amusement, she said, "Oh I am sooo sorry!
The power came back on and I totally forgot about you!
And silly me, I went to lunch.
Are we upset?"

And that, Your Honor, is exactly how her head ended up between the clamps...."

The judge could hardly contain her laughter as she said "Case Dismissed".

When you stop laughing, FORWARD this and let the rest of our "sisters" laugh.

Make Do With What You Have!!

This is the craft project I worked on last week - Christmas Tree Garland   I finished last night watching Amazing Race, it's 12 ft. long!!!  In this pic it's only about 2 ft long, lol!!

A close up!

I used left over gingham material I had from the aprons we made last year.  I haven't decided if I want to tea stain it or not - I'll wait until I put it on the tree.  Next I'm working on a new tree skirt made from an old quilt I have will post pics when I get it done.

Today straightening the house & working on laundry, made a Black Forest Cheesecake (for me ) Hubby doesn't like cheesecake so I'm making a Freezer Chocolate Cream Pie for him, plus I have chili in the crockpot for supper.  Well that's all from the mtn. for now, take care & catch ya later.

God Bless,
Gretchen

Need to Understand!!

From ~ Bill Gates ~
This should be posted in every school or kid's bedroom. Love him or hate him , he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about eleven (11) things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: They called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were: So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
 
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. *This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. *Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one..

God Bless,

Gretchen

What a month!!!

 What a month I have had!!!  First my oven broke, I was preheating the oven to make biscuits for supper & heard several popping noises - the bottom heating element broke in 4 places, well there goes biscuits for supper!!  Hubby went the next day & got a new heating element & when I turned the oven on it threw the breaker.  I'm still without an oven, so after a couple of weeks hubby was wanting some biscuits (he was tired of sliced store bought bread, lol) so he bought me my first toaster oven!!  Still learning how to use it, lol.  The next thing to happen the cord on my Farberware open hearth electric grill broke, my sewing machine peddle went out & my vacuum belt broke, luckily hubby fixed them all at no cost   Then last week my coffeepots, yes plural - to be exact 3 (1 was a one cupper), went out UGH!!  Hubby hurried out of the house to work that morning especially when he found out I hadn't had my morning coffee yet!!  I improvised, I used the the part of the coffee pot that holds the filter & boiled some water on the stove & WAHLAA coffee, lol!!  Hubby stopped on his way home & bought me a new coffeepot, he said as he handed it to me - "GO MAKE YOU SOME COFFEE!"  Don't ya just love them, lol!!  A few days later as I was finishing up sewing the gifts we were giving out at our church's Ladies Bible Conference my iron caught my ironing board on fire!!  The cord had a cut in it, hubby said he could fix but when we were grocery shopping he told me to get a new iron, still have to get a new iron board cover but I'll make due for now, lol!!  I'm afraid to use any of my other appliances, ROFL!!

Here's some pics of the gifts we made for each lady that attended our church's Ladies Bible Conference, we made 150 of them.  There are several different kinds this is the one that I chose & have it hanging in my laundry room :-)

Well I better run, my house needs some much needed TLC & a need to make a special treat for my sweet hubby for putting up with everything these last few weeks.  That's all from the mtn. for now, take care & catch ya later.

God Bless,
Gretchen