The Shack....

I've been listening to author of the book "The Shack", Paul Young on It's a New Day T.V. show.

He was speaking tonight about mutual submission and how we are to be "mutually" submissive one to another. Lots of good stuff on that. Gave me a great deal to think on. He also spoke about how when we are in spiritual messes, we do everything we can possibly do, to NOT acknowledge God as wanting the best for us and we continue in our quest to move away from him, holding powerfully on to our sin, before Christ takes the final hold of it in his hand and takes it away. Only then, do we see our freedom in Him and are able to live in that freedom.

Yes, we do hang on to our sin. It's a comfort to us....we think. We can lean on it and hold it close and it kind of just smothers us into some type of delusional false security. That is how the evil one works. It is when we let go of everything that we falsely trusted in, that we find Christ and his comfort and his truth. Looking back on our lives, we wonder how we managed to hold it all together for so long....kept the lid on that box of lies and deceit and falsehoods. When one little corner of that box begins to open, we try our hardest to not let that happen. We know it will make our neat, deceitful lives fall apart and everything in that box, which we have kept secret for so long, will come spilling out. We will be revealed. Horror of horrors. But that is how we begin our journey to health. Letting all the stuff out of that box of misery we have held so close for so long.

Yes, health, spiritual and physical health can only come when we acknowledge our mess to a God who knows all about it anyway, when we confess it and repent of it by saying we are sorry for how we have offended others, then our misery box can be made into a lovely book case, something useful and beautiful.

Lent is a time of repentance and confession.....offered to us as a way to become whole again, as a way back to Christ.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.

A day to celebrate....

We ate and celebrated "Old Bob K's" 65th birthday!!

Yesterday after our church service, we gathered downstairs to share a meal together.....just because. We had potluck. There is always so much more than enough for everyone.

It was great to be together and use that time of eating as a time of worshipping God too. I think that can be just as worshipful to God as sitting in the sanctuary and hearing the Word preached. Although, I must say, Marc spoke wonderfully well yesterday....reminding us in this season of Lent, how important it is to see ourselves clearly, sin and all, to recognize our need of God and to confess our misery to Him so that we can live in a better more fulfilling relationship with God and with others. If we don't, a barrier exists that limits us to all that a relationship could be.

So ya, we eat together at Gateway, we worship, and we attempt to recognize our own frailties. It's all a part of our faith growing.

I have a terribly long way to go, I'm afraid, but it seems yesterday was a day of confession for me, in more than one area of my life. I disappoint people. I'm not what I should be. There is a heap of room for change.

I shall see what this week brings......good, bad or worse.

Where a house once stood...

See that house there? I lived there from the time I was 4 until I was 7. It wasn't that house of course. When I lived there on that property on 26th Street West and the 100 block, across from where the Kinsmen Water Slide now stands, there stood a big, old, drafty two-storey house with no running water and an oil furnace. We moved there from the little house on 29th Street, when my mom was expecting my younger brother. We needed more room.

That old house hold many memories for me and that big spruce tree standing there, was there when I was little. It's branches used to brush up against the walls of the house making a swishing sound. My dad would hold my little brother in his arms and I would stand beside him looking up at the lovely green tree outside the living room window. The snow would cover it in winter and in the summer it's branches would give us morning shade. I loved that tree, I think because my dad loved it too, and whenever he would rock little Dale back and forth to get him to stop crying, he would stand by the window and look at that tree and sing to him. That comforted me too.

Then I remember in the summer I was playing outside in the front yard (no grass, just potatoes) and mom came running from inside the house and grabbed me by the arm and rushed me into the house. There had been an escape from the men's jail just down the street and two men were headed our way. My uncle worked at the jail and must have called mom to let her know. I remember staying inside for quite a time on that hot summer morning, when usually I'd be outside for most of the day.

I learned to skate when I lived in that house too. There was a girl named Sharon Matts who lived behind us. Her dad brought us her used skates for me to wear. They had dirty patches of rabbit fur around the ankles and were a bit scuffed but they were all I had. It was totally exciting. I remember putting on my ski pants, wool coat, hat, scarf and mitts and the skates. She had a little square patch of ice in her back yard where we could skate. But never skating before in my life, I was determined to have fun. Off I went walking on those skates in the snow, past our outhouse, over the back alley and into her yard. There I spent the first day skating on my ankles and being more horizontal than vertical. I walked home again on my ankles and I recall my feet being so cold I cried, they hurt so badly. But I got to skate....the fact they were used skates were of no importance whatsoever.

I started school too, while living there in that little shack. Grade one. I had to walk from there to Queen Elizabeth school - 21 Street and 5th Avenue West. My older brother must have walked with me, I don't remember. I just remember it being a very long way...especially in the winter. But no one had two vehicles in those days. My mother didn't even drive! So no one knew any differently. Everyone walked.....even when one is 5 years old! I remember my route too. I walked right past the very house we now live in! Imagine. Fifty-six years later and here I am, right where I started. I remember the day the old water tower burned to the ground. We were walking home from school at lunch time (no lunches at school in those days) and I remember walking right past it with smoke coming out of the top of it....on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 22nd Street West, the southeast corner. To me, that was scary I think because I remember the sound of the fire engines coming and my mother was no where in sight!!!

Winters were wicked in that house. I remember my mother putting hot water bottles in our beds and we slept with sweaters over our pyjamas and socks on our feet. You could actually see little bits of the outside through the cracks in the walls. My little brother caught pneumonia there and the doctor had wanted him to be hospitalized but mother would have none of that. She nursed him back to health herself.

We had no running water there, so it would be the old Saturday night bath in the big wash basin mom used for rising the laundry after it was washed. Even with no running water, the house was spotless. I remember Christmases there with family and friends and everyone being happy and being fed - on the table set up in the living room. Nights were spent playing marbles on the living room rug or having my brothers train set up and running there, round and round on the tracks, the big steam engine followed by the coal car with other cars trailing behind with the caboose bringing up the rear.

Saturday nights everyone would gather in the living room to listen to Foster Hewitt announce the Leafs vs Canadiennes hockey games. "He shoots.....he SCORES!!!" Oh, ya...go Leafs!!! Funny how everyone did things together those days. No one had their own room really. We all gathered in the living room to play, sing, dance, listen to music or radio. No television in every room or computers we could sit in front of or video/wii games to take our individual time and attention. No. We did everything together as a family.

Every Sunday evening we would spend beside the big radio listening to "Hawaii Calls" with the sounds of the steel guitar and waves washing up on the beach with the evening breezes cooling all of us who sat and listened......"Aaaaalohaaaaa"...I remember them singing so beautifully...........and there was "Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show" too. Edgar was a ventriloquist and Charlie was the dummy. I remember laughing long and hard!

We moved out of that old creaky, leaky house October 31, 1954 to a brand new house on 6th Street East. It was demolished not long after we moved out of it and I'm not surprised. But my parents made it a home for us, a home with love and laughter and memories....memories to share with all of you.

Happy Earth Hour......hmmmmm....I'm not supposed to be using any electricity for this hour.

bye........

The weekend...

"So, what are you doing this weekend?", they asked me.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? You're going to sit and read the paper?", they exclaim.

"I mean, what are you really going to do?", they ask me for the second time.

"You mean that's it!!! Read the paper?", they exclaim once more in exasperation.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

I like that idea.....just sitting and relaxing and reading.

Most people I ask, say they're going to catch up on all the stuff they didn't have time to do during the week so that their weekend becomes busier than their weekday when they work at a job.

I don't know about you, but I neeeeed a weekend just to sit and relax, and to think about this and that and to talk to God about a few things that may be of interest to him....well, they are to me, so they will be to Him too.

Yep, call me a lazy whelp. Or you can call me ambition-less...or lazy...or old.....or any number of things that mean 'I don't feel up to using any more energy than I can handle'.

When you get to be goin' on 62, there are some things in this life that just aren't worth doin' and one of those is gettin' so busy and tired that I can't function properly any more. Those days are out the door. I'll just get me a book, or sit by the telly or just plain sit... and that will be my weekend. No scrubbin' and cleanin'. No shinin' and polishin'. No runin' here and shopin' there. No comin' in to work to finish up what was left from Friday. Nope. I'm beyond it now. I'm in the clear sailin' mode.....waitin' for hot weather, a boat and a fishin' rod. Now I can really have fun with that! (and see, I'm so lazy I didn't feel like putin' "g's" on any of my "ing" words.)

So, when I say "enjoy your weekend", that's exactly what I mean. DON'T WORK!!! Live a little!

And leave all those "g's" behind! It'll get you singin'!!!

The cross...

It is the season of Lent and the cross looms before me, reminding me of the price One Man paid for me to be made whole....again.

Jesus....the Christ, Son of God, Savior, Redeemer, Forgiver of Sins....Man of Sorrows.

I was thinking about the cross and I began singing this well-loved hymn:

"When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died,

my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God,

all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an off'ring far too small;

love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."

Words: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Music arranged by Lowell Mason, 1792-1872

An old hymn....I'm sure it means as much to me today as it did to Mr. Watts as he penned the words, back in the 17th century.

I think he chose the word "survey" very well when wrote it in the first line. Survey takes into account not only the "seeing" of one particular thing, but everything around it too. It means many things like examination, scrutiny, assessment, appraisal and review. There is so much more to the cross than two planks nailed together to kill an innocent Man. It carries with it the story of God, the story of love and sacrifice and it also offers each of us great things that we don't deserve....like wholeness, and peace and an ability to look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we are okay, just the way we are.

So, I'll be thinking more on the cross in the days ahead and try not to run ahead to the joy of Easter. There is just too much sober thinking to be done first. It "demands my soul, my life, my all."

The signs are everywhere...

April will soon be upon us. You'd never know it by the weather, although I've been in a few whopping blizzards in April!!

April is cancer month. At work, we could buy daffodils if we wanted to. Brenda and I went canvassing in our office to see who wanted to support the cause and we raised a whole pile of cash for the Canadian Cancer Society.

There is an awful lot of fundraising going on for the Cancer Society and I am proud to be a part of it. As a member of the Forest Service "Studs and Peelers" ,we have pie days, luncheons, cookie days, pancake breakfasts and we again will host the Prince Albert Cancer Society Kickoff BBQ in April....not to mention my own personal fundraising campaign as a member of our team. We will again be walking the Harry Jerome Track the night of Friday, May 29 for the Cancer Society All-night Walk-a-thon. So between now and then, I will be looking for pledges as I walk the track.

Don't everyone come rushing now....one at a time. I'll thankfully take any and all pledges. You can let me know how much cash you can spare for the cause.

Anyway, the signs are all around us, that's for sure. Spring is coming....slowly, very slowly......

Very large, pointy weapons hang from our garage roof. I hate to knock them down as they're so beautiful. Remember when you were a kid grabbing those icicles and eating one all the way to school as your tongue stuck to it...... as did your mitts. Oh ya. Those were the good ole' days.

Have a wonderful evening where you are.....oh, and if you see Bob K. tomorrow, give him some Geritol or vitamins or Viagra.....he's turning 65!!!:-) Happy Birthday Bob, old fella.

Worth.....

Worth.

What are we worth?

Ten bucks?...a hundred.......million.......kazillion..........???

Ya, we aren't worth any of those numbers are we? We are worth so much more than that.

Worth. Value. Importance. Significance.

We sometimes attempt to put value on our existance, don't we. We say we have "X" number of friends, or we own "X" number of houses, or vehicles, we have "X" number of degrees, we make "X" amount of money. All these "X's" must put value on something!

No. They really don't. None of life's material things can take the value of one person. Nothing.

I value YOU because I know you, I know your heart, your motives, your thoughts, your longings.

I value YOU because you are a part of my life, a part that I have come to appreciate and love.

So, if I ever hear any of you say, "I'm worthless", I won't believe you. You are not worth-less...you are worth-more......more than anything this world can offer or place a dollar value on.

Your life to me, is important. So, if your life is important to me, how much more worthwhile is your life to the One who knew you before I did, the One who said you were worth dying for....... and he has already done that for you.....and me. Me, on the other hand, well, I'm not sure I could die for you...but maybe I could.

John 15:13 (New International Version)
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

I'm going to think on that during this Lenten Season. Jesus gave all he had...his very life, just and only for YOU.......so he obviously thought you were of enormous value..........

Signs of change?

I think an icicle is a sure sign of impending spring. The above picture was taken in February but even so, when the earth begins its transition on it's axis to being closer to the sun, everything changes. It has to. That's just the result of the earth's continuing rotation and tilt. We expect things to change because of that fact.

I think it's the same with our lives. When God comes and shines his Light on us and we begin our turn and rotation towards Him, we change. We become something different. Something new. We cannot help ourselves. It is the result of the Light and that inner something (Spirit) that turns us towards that light, that we begin our transformation.

Heading into the last third of life (Lord willing), I've begun to think more on things that will be of value, those things I have left here, when I've completed that last third of life. Things I will have left behind for others - good or bad. I need that transformation to take place. I want it to take place. Then, when life has been wholly lived, I will be able to go from here at peace, knowing that the Light continues to shine on those I love, on those who love me.....and even on those I don't particularly love.

The signs of change.

May I always be facing your Light, God, so change and newness will continue to be evident in me.

In absence of a daughter....

I had a "date" with someone else's daughter.

We, each of us, tackled a "dinner for one" at Vu's restaurant. I ate almost all of mine.:-(

Dixie took the rest of hers home.

Then we watched "Mamma Mia" at her place, complete with comments about Colin Firth's musical abilities and Stellan Skarsgard's bare butt, not to mention all the positive comments about Pierce Brosnan. We both figured Brosnan got a bum deal from the press about his singing. We figured he sounded quite good, but we needed to remember not to watch him sing the songs as he looked a bit tense, shall we say. Great movie. Super movie. Entertainment extravaganza!

Then we watched a video cassette of a "LipSync" concert put on by Dixie and Marc before they were married. It was quite the show. I shall never look at that fellow the same way again.

My only comment, after regaining my composure from laughing was that that man of hers must REALLY love her a great deal and that I couldn't imagine asking Ken to dress up in his suit and shirt and tie (colors matching my 70's long dress) and have us each hold a red candle (as a microphone) and together, lip sync some old tunes by Aaron Nevil. Oh ya, I do believe that fellow loves her a whole lot.

We ate her home-made cookies, some mixed nuts, Nibs and Starbursts and washed it down with Coke.

It was a grand evening and I loved being with Dixie. But you know, it just made me miss my daughter ever-so-much......

Now to bed. I'm helping to lead the worhship singing in church tomorrow where lip sync-ing is frowned upon.

Today was different...

I could smell and feel and hear minute particles of summer.....way off in the wafting waves of a whirling March wind.

She is sneaking in bit by bit.

I tried hard to capture her essence today but alas, she eluded me. Like the temptress she is, she left nothing but muck on my shoes and a dirty, shameless vehicle.

Oh well. I shall wait for more of her lovely soft blue sky.

I shall also wait for Mr. Sun to strike deeply and mercilessly at the 3 foot snow banks and turn the greys and browns of winter to shades of green again.

Ahhhhh........sigh........the changing of the seasons.......they're forcasting snow for tomorrow.:-(

In anticipation of spring...

Exotic Hybiscus in bloom
The beginnings of a Giant Saguaro Cactus

Some kind of bloomin' plant...unusual eh?

A lipstick plant....my kind of color:-)

A variagated orchid (of some type)

Hybiscus ready for love....

African Violet shimmering in the sunlight.

Delicately pale, pink violet

A deeper shade of pink....

To get the full glorious beauty of these plants, click on the pictures and sit in wonder....

God left his finger prints on each petal and every hue. I sat in amazement at the creativity He has offered us....for the taking. I could have taken pictures all day long....but alas, there was work to be done!

Happy Spring my friends!!

**Special thanks to Gigi and Carole for allowing me access to their plants.:-)

What's in a name?

My mother - Jennet Patricia Cantelo. March 18, 1917 - January 19, 1989.

Today, she would have been 92.

Here she is (above) on probably the happiest day of her life, January 31, 1942, the day she married my dad - Philip Benson. In August, 7 months later, dad was on a ship to England then on to France, Holland and Germany before coming home in August, 1945 (and it wasn't the scenic tour!). Besides a wife, he had a 2 and a half year old son, Philip Garry, waiting for him when he returned.

Two years after his return from death and misery and destruction and war, Patricia Sharon-Ann (that's me!) came into their family. Five years later their third child, Frederick Dale (1952-1974), was born.

And that was our family. Three kids and a mom and a dad......and always a cat in the home for a pet!

All of us kids were called by our second name. It was unusual, but mom was called by her second name too, so they must have thought it seemed fitting to follow along with the tradition. It was OK by me.....except in school, at the beginning of the year, when all the teachers called me Patricia, I would get exceedingly embarrassed at the thought of having to speak up in class to tell them I was called by my second name. How wretched THAT was!!!

But I was named after my mother, now a great source of pride for me. I enjoy my first name...now! When one is younger, one doesn't really appreciate the special identity one has been given. Yes, I am my mother's daughter in name and in Irish temperament. Perhaps not quite as fiesty, but a flicker of that temper can appear in me, nonetheless.

Patricia means princess. Some folks at work call me the "Duchess of Kent", so maybe there's something to that.:-) Ah well, royal princess blood or not, I was a princess to my parents!

And my older brother was named after my dad and my younger brother after my dad's oldest brother. See. Names within a family unit. They mean something. They offer up something to carry on down the line of folks to come. Some names I know, are a little heavier to carry than others but they still have meaning.

I enjoy hearing about people's names....their origin, their meaning and how they fit into their family unit.

The angel Gabriel told Mary to name her son "Jesus", and she did.

I wonder, if that task had been left solely to Mary, what she would have called him....a bit of a silly question of course, but sometimes when we have the responsibility of naming our children, we certainly can come up will some dillies!

I still like the name "Patricia"... and a "Happy Birthday" to my dear mom! Now she was a real princess!

A day for the Saint...

Lauralea's Celtic Cross to remember the dear Saint Patrick today.

I trust your day was as lovely as the green meadows of Mourne.

And may ya' be in heaven a half n' hour before the devil knows yer' dead!

Kiss a pig and dance a jig.

Enjoy yer' St. Paddy's evening n' all.

A few more pics....

Linea with her Birthday Badge.
Host Leo, on hosting duty.

A few of the guests enjoying the entertainment.

Kimbal Seibert playing the steel guitar.

Roger, Sandy and Charlie in conversation.

More guests.

Masa and Grace

Great-grandma, Sharon D. and Kieran

Thought you may enjoy a few more pictures from the Birthday Bash Saturday evening.

It's good being in a home where there is a lot of happiness and fun.

Those Lanoie's know how to show hospitality. It is a gracious gift they possess.

Now.....the treadmill awaits these tired bones.:-(

Glimpses of a folksy party...

"Book Readers"at the Party: Front: Tracy & Linea

Back L-R: Virginia, me, Alecia, Loretta, Grace

Dixie listening intently...

Grace and Zack...and cousin Kieran


Phil and Marc - the 'scholars'

Patrick, Amanda, baby Kimia and her mom, Michelle

Grandpa Leo and Gradma Linea with Zack

Family & Friends gathered to say

Happy Birthday

Family and friends...

Dale Nikkel and Kimbal Siebert -

the evenings entertainment in the Lanoie home

It was a superb party!

Much talking, laughing, singing and great entertainment by Mr. Nikkel and Mr. Siebert.

A house concert. Well, I'd never been to one ,but sure would like to go to one again. It could even be the same entertainers. Most excellent!

We all whisked the girl properly into her 6th decade. I think she'll enjoy it here. I am, at least.

God is good. Many of us met once again this morning at church to rehash and talk about the evening past.

Think I'm due for a nap.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Finally.....

This beautiful woman has joined forces with me to give more clout to the decade of the 60's.

Finally. The first female friend to come along with me. Yes, I have other friends in other decades but Linea is the only one in the 60's. And we're not talking the 1960's either.....although those were good times!

So, Happy Birthday, Linea.

Sixty. Six-tee. 60. Yep. It's all the same and of course, it's just another number.

I'm asking God to wind things up a bit for you, Linea, with extra energy, insight, wisdom and patience. You may just need it.;-)

Thinking....

Ever just sat and thought about the people you love....I mean, really thought about them.

Sometimes I sit and wonder about my children and the ones they also love, and of course, my dear granddaughter, Brittney.

In my head are conversations going on.....and no, I'm not psychotic.

God and I chat away all day long. Well, I chat anyway. Sometimes I get a sense of peace when I'm telling him about one particular person. Other times I get quite anxious about another, so I chat about that one just a little longer. I tell God the things I'm thinking and remind him of how important these dear ones are to me. I know he cares for them even more than I do, so I just let him get a hold of those thoughts and ask him to keep them there with him....to let him do his work in those thoughts and to work in those lives I've talked to him about.

I often wonder that is perhaps what makes life seem to go by so quickly. I think it might have something to do with it. It is true that when we're busy with things, time seems to fly by. The same holds true that when our minds are full and thinking (praying), time disappears. So, whether we're busy with the physical trials of life and getting from one day to the next or whether we're busy with emotional and spiritual things, the more active we are either way, time appears to go by very quickly. (And yes, we can do both at the same time - physical and spiritual things happening at once).

Time seems to go more slowly when we are in some kind of pain, I think. Mental or physical pain can debilitate us and we concentrate on that pain moment by moment until the best thing to relieve it is either sleep or some kind of pain killer. Most of us have been there, I'm sure. I have.

Guess I just need to remember that God walks with me, in every circumstance of life and on in to death. It's really good to get to know God well, because it is his life (spirit) that gets to walk with us into the next life. No one on earth is able to do that. No friend. No family member. No one.

So, I shall continue to get to know Christ more, to rely more fully on his friendship, to trust him more completely. It will be good to have one Friend to lead me into eternity.

That's how I think about it anyway. I'm no theological scholar, so all these thoughts could most likely get thrown out of the first day of any seminary class. But that's OK.

Jack....

Yep....that's what I'm day dreamin' of

Not just hearts and flowers and love

But a sky full of blue

And a lake...not a slough

Where God looks down and smiles from above.

The fish will be jumpin' and splashin'

In such an exhuberent fashion,

Not too sure which hook

But it says in that book

When he gets in the boat, I'm to bash him.

It's really no place for the squeemish

When we have to grab hold of that poor fish

I call husband to land him

To dehook and brand him

As big Jack...then filet....then my dish!

The Green....ta' be sure......

Waskesiu golf course......+30C

Tonight

-30°C

Last night it was -37C

If you keep the picture above in the front and centre of your brain, you may just make it through this cold snap.

Personally, I'm counting on it.....

It's nice to have something to look forward to, whatever that something may be. It could be something as simple as a day on the plus side of zero....or it could be just going to visit someone you love.

Me, I'm looking forward to green..........the wearin' of it, that is. And a grand, green day it will be!

I'm happy when you're happy.....

Linea and Virginia
Tracy

These are some of my good friends. I call them "good" because they are just that..good women who have so very much to offer their families (home and church), their community and me, as an individual.

I'm singling these three out because they have exciting news and they are all very happy.

First of all, Linea. She wrote her first mid-term in Greek and received a 95.5% for her hard work and dedicated effort. I've been waiting to hear the results of her exam.....waiting with her. She does have her degree in Dentistry and has been very successful in her profession - both in Africa, where she began her career with her husband Leo and also here in Prince Albert. Recently, she has been accepted into North Park Theological Seminary and as she begins this new venture in life, she will also enter a new decade (in years) on Saturday. She looks reeeeeeally good too, doesn't she!! So, that is one friends good news this week.

Virginia, a recently retired nurse, is one woman to look up to. She's confident and funny. She's trustworthy and compassionate. She and her husband Bob have two children, and we have been privileged to watch Curtis and Whitney grow into adulthood. Their eldest, Curtis, has asked his lovely lady friend, Candice, to marry him. Of course the mother of the groom is ecstatic and enthusiastic and quite animated about this whole event. And in the course of our friendship together, it makes me very happy to watch her being happy about this too. That's another one of my friends good news this week.

Tracy, is what I call a "fashion hair designer", (working out of her home), because anyone who can do anything with my head of hair must be very creative (which she truly is), and very patient (another marvelous quality she carries with her). She and her husband Brian also have, for several years, housed mentally disabled young men in their home and have done it so very well. Talk about patience...and compassion. These two are tremendous care givers and I give them credit for their servant hearts. They also have two children and the eldest, Regan has been asked by her man friend, James, to marry him. This is another friend who is an excited, overjoyed and delighted mother of the bride-to-be. It was so much fun watching her tell the whole story....and it made me smile and be happy for all of them.

It is good to see friends happy. I feel their joy and count it as a blessing from God.

Yes, I can say to my friends, "I'm happy........ when you're happy!!"