A few wrinkles....

My hands certainly didn't look like that 41+ years ago when husband offered the engagement ring to me. They were soft, supple, no age spots and certainly no wrinkles.

The diamond looks the same though. It will never change....well, I suppose it could change over the next thousand years but that hand will be long gone back into ye old dust from whence it came, by then.

It's a sobering thought, don't you think?

A co-worker and I were talking "wrinkles" the other day. We were both complaining a bit about how we have changed since we were young and what each other was doing to try and keep age at bay. We talked about anti-wrinkle creams and how I could get rid of liver spots and how she could get rid of her eye creases and me, my laugh lines.

We figured we aught to be lying on our backs as we sleep so gravity could smoothe out those lines because when we lie on our sides our faces scrunch up and "presto"....face lines over night, deeper than the Little Red River after it overflows it's banks.

I thought too, maybe it would help if I didn't laugh and smile so much. Dang. Why am I such a happy person anyway. But then I came to the conclusion that I'd rather be a happy old lady with wrinkles than an old lady that is afraid to smile for fear she may start to "look" her age.

My thinkin' is that I shall be proud to wear my lines and wrinkles because afterall, God has given me a life to live, and live it I have, which includes the good the bad and the ugly, and at the end of this life, whenever that may be, I hopefully will be able to say I was a person that was able to maybe make a few other people smile too...........with some lines to prove it.

Wrinkles.............I may look like a prune...........but I'm a happy prune. Oh....ya......

Long live "L'Oreal Advanced RevitaLift"!!!!!

(This has been a non-paid, non-political announcement)

We'll save "the joys of gaining weight after pregnancy, during menopause & any time after 50" for another enjoyable night.

Don't forget to sleep on your backs..........if you haven't gained so much weight that you can't....like me.............sigh..............

I took time....

Yes, tonight I was actually home. I saw this program on PBS "Live from Lincoln Centre in New York - Gil Shaham, Violinist....."....and I watched and listened and was amazed at this man's ability and talent. Such a gift.

A little bit of a bio about this fellow, if you didn't know already:

"Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel where at the age of 7 he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music and granted annual scholarships by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, while studying with Haim Taub in Jerusalem, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic. That same year he began his studies with Dorothy DeLay and Jens Ellerman at Aspen. In 1982, after taking first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition, he became a scholarship student at Juilliard, where he has worked with Ms. DeLay and Hyo Kang. He has also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony and their two children. "

Now that's what I call an evening of classic entertainment......and I could have been baking or cleaning or any number of really fun things. It's good to relax once in a while, to take time out and enjoy other people's gifts.:-)

Speaking of which, I'll have to get busy and start to buy some.............gifts that is...............34 days 'til Christmas.................:-)

I took a picture.....

One side of the glass wall, out in the shivering cold, covered in a blanket of fresh snow stood what once was a lovely green shrub just a few short months ago.

And lo and behold, on the other side of the glass wall stood a beautiful flowering Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon - in North America) looking lush and red, as if it were flaunting it's ability to languish in the warmth of the Forest Centre foyer. Can't you just see it tapping on the window to it's friend on the other side of the glass.....yooohooooo........too bad you can't be inside here with me, Sweetie.

Sometimes they just look much too lovely for their own good.

Money, honey.....

Yep, it's a dark day in the Kent home.

Got my biannual notice of where my pension stands....money wise.....and it's being swallowed up faster than the economic downturn can go south.

But who and what do I depend on? Nope, not my money, that's for sure. If I did, I'd be in more trouble than being chased up a tree by a rabid monkey.

I'll put my money on God..........not that I'm a betting person at all.....but I believe he provides me with whatever I need......not want........need.

So, I should be good to go.

Nostalgia.....

My Family....Dale, Mom and Dad

I was listening to a Christmas radio station at work today with all Christmas music. Some songs I really loved, others I wonder how they got to be in the "Christmas" category at all and still others brought back a flood of emotions and memories.

When I hear "O, Holy Night", I remember our friend Shelley Fullerton (Chamberlain) singing this song one Christmas Eve at our candle light service. She has a trained operatic voice and did the number great justice. It was a holy moment and one I will always remember. "......fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine, O night when Christ was born......."

Then there was "Now Shine a Thousand Candles Bright"....with Rev. Wendell Anderson directing our church choir as we sang the words softly and crisply and tenderly......"To every dark and anguished heart, send down your ray divine, and may the light of God's own love like Christmas candles shine." I think he must be directing some kind of choir in heaven now, too.....

When I hear "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" sung by Gene Autry, I think of when I was very small and still had the magic and wonder of Christmas in my whole being (ya, even more than I do today!!!). Mom would sing along with me when it came on the radio. ".......and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glowed........"

There was another song too that tugs at my heart. I enjoyed it when I was young too, but it didn't have much meaning until I was much older............ "I'll Be Home for Christmas". I enjoyed it when I was younger because I didn't have to think about someone I love NOT being home for Christmas.

But there was a Sunday in December of 1974 back in the old house on 6th street, with the "record player" playing Glenn Campbell's rendition of "I'll be home for Christmas".......if only in my dreams"..........and my dear mother lying on the living room couch trying to sing along with the record but only sobs came from her throat and a river of tears was washing over her face. She was wanting her son to come home for Christmas but he would never be coming home again....he had died 10 weeks before. I remember the song too, with each year that a member of my family would never be coming home for Christmas......a brother, a mom....a dad.....and now an aunt.

Christmas music. I love it.....but sometimes it's just not that easy to listen to.

A prayer for my friends....

It was 11 years ago this weekend that Pastor Randall showed up in our sanctuary to check things out to see and get a sense if this was where God was calling him to be and to leave Winnipeg. Turns out, it was. He ministered in love to us here for over ten years. It was better than we could possibly have imagined.

God once again called him.....this time to Wetaskiwin.

So, once again we search. There is a process to this searching out and seeking a new pastor for Gateway. It comes with hard work, dedication and a total reliance on God for his direction.

A Committee with people willing to involve themselves in this has been set. I will make it a priority to pray for them daily. Their responsibility is huge but with God leading them, it becomes a matter of having eyes to see and ears to hear.

I will pray for my friends - Dixie, Charlotte, Molly, Phil, Linea, Sharon, Virginia and Eric. May God give them a sense of clarity, and purpose and may the Holy Spirit direct them in all wisdom as they seek out the pastor of God's choosing.

Contentment....

"Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content." ~ I Timothy 6:6-8

Sometimes it's difficult being content. I want. I desire. I think others "owe" me something and when I don't get it, well, I become discontented.

Why is it not enough to enjoy the things that the day provides.

Why do I go searching and yearning for things that don't satisfy......and getting on a crabby face in the process.

May God forgive me for not appreciating the many blessings that come from the hand of God.

Paul was right when he wrote that letter to Timothy.......I come into the world with nothing and I leave the same way...........with nothing............so why not enjoy all I have been given - between birth and death?

If I don't, there's a pretty honkin' big sack full of probability, I'll turn out bitter....and I sure don't want that now, do I!