Many hands make light work

This is definitely true

I have heard this saying all my life and I know it is true. I have my children (adults) and most of my grandchildren at my house and they are always jumping in to keep me from doing the dishes, setting the table, and other chores. They accomplish the work quickly and with little fussing which is great. I really appreciate it immensely.

A lot of people commented that having them here was going to be a burden for me, but I never thought o and I can definitely attest to the face that they are a blessing, not a burden.

I appreciate their help. They have also cooked, baked cookies and done a lot of chore which makes life more pleasant. My son and daughter are intent on making life easier for me and they are organizing, re-organizing and rebuilding areas in my house that have needed attention. The result has been easier access to tool, more light (actually a lot more light) and just overall better use of tools.

I am thankful Father for the fact that they are all getting along and seem to be enjoying each other’s company while actually getting work done too.

Psalm 127:3-5

Father, you have blessed me abundantly. Help me to share my blessings with others. Amen.

I forgot…

So much to do…

I forgot how much there is to do at Christmas time. Fortunately, my daughter is picking up a lot of my slack and I am getting a lot accomplished thanks to her. Plus there are so many meetings. Fitting them all in is a puzzle in and of itself, but I am managing.

One of my grandsons likes to watch movie, but he does not seem to be a fan of Christmas movies which are more to my liking, but so far, the ones he has picked have been good.

Today the kids at school will finish their project of giving the teachers a plate of goodies and since they have a timeline for leaving, that is good for me and means I can go home earlier. Hopefully, it also means we can deliver the plates ina timely fashion and that will be good as well.

Thanks to the help of my son and my daughter, we got the Family Reunion t shirts designed and ordered and hopefully they will arrive in time for us to get a photo of everyone all together.

I have also ironed out my CNA problems I think and that is wonderful news. The students have really been waiting since the COVID problem kept them from finished their clinicals so they can take the state exam.

All in all today is looking up even though there are lots of meetings to attend and listen to.

But thankfully, I can experience the wisdom and calmness of Jesus today and everyday and remind myself not to get in a tizzy. For this I am so thankful.

2 Timothy 1:7

Thank you Father for a spirit of calmness and trust. You are my refuge and my strength. AMen.

The alignment of eyes

Things I never knew….

I never knew that your eyes are supposed to be aligned It makes sense when I think of it, but it is certainly something I never realized.

The reason my vision is blurry in addition to the fact that I need new glasses which are coming, is that my eyes are not aligned. You are supposed to look out and your eyes converge on a point in the distance. One of my eyes looks out and sees the point. The other eye looks out and sees the point as higher and to the right a bit. They just don’t align. The glasses should help, but they won’t completely do the trick. Hopefully, it won’t be as blurry when I get my new glasses. Apparently this is something that sometimes happens when you have a cataract removed. The doctor said that when the other cataract gets worse and I get it removed, that might help as well.

I can cope with this. It helps to shut my left eye, but I know I shouldn’t go around with my eye shut all the time. And my pressure in that eye went up, but not a huge amount.

On the bright side it snowed last night an this morning and things aren’t nearly as dark as they were with the cloudy skies. I am sure it will brighten many faces today.

My daughter and three of her children arrive today so that will liven things up at my house considerably. It should be fun.

I am looking forward to them all being here by the end of next week It is kind of fun to have them come randomly.

Blesssings: I can add all these things to my list.

John 1;16

Father, thank you for continued blessings and your love. I am filled with your mercy and grace. Thank you. Amen.

The lost is found

Christmas decorating…

I had help from the kid across the street when I got my Christmas decorations out, but he couldn’t find some of the things I really wanted.

Last night my son found them. Hooray! I was really thankful. But I guess part of his success in looking was he know what I wanted and had some idea of the size and shape of the box.

Now I just need to get them up. I put up some of them last night, but today I will get them all in place. I also have two snow scenes I want to put up. One is really old…it belonged to my mother and is a treasure. The other one is must newer, but I will put it up as well.

All over town, there are more and more Christmas lights going up. It is really festive and at this time of year with the darkness it is very welcome.

I could start making a big thanksgiving list and this would be on it. Maybe I need to remember to add it to my blessings list at home.

Another blessing is being finished with my classes especially as my grandson needs to work on his classes and I think one of my grandsons who arrives tomorrow has work to do too.

I had an eye appointment for glasses and the doctor told me I will never be able to see completely clearly as my eyes are not aligned. I had no idea this was the problem, but he thinks the new glasses will help. I hope so. I cope by shutting my eye, but I am not sure that is the best thing to do. It will be about three weeks before the glasses arrive and then I will find out. Here’s hoping…..

Thanksgivings….blessings always

Thank you Father for your many blessings and for the joy they give. You are filled with love and I am truly blessed. Amen.

Yay!!! My classes are complete

Thanksfully….

My online classes are complete with the turning in of my research paper last night. I thought I had a completed a week ago, but the prof never sent the rubric. When I finally received it, I realized I needed some major changes and rewriting and it took a little bit of time to accomplish that. I also had to get it proofread and then make changes before I posted it. Now I just have to wait for the grade. I have no idea how fast that will come about. But I am definitely happy to be through. I enjoyed the classes and definitely learned a lot, but there is something to being done after 15 weeks so I will rejoice in not having any work to do for at least the next few weeks. Oh, sure, I have work to do for the college and high school, but that is not the same.

I am expecting an email today about the college and there will definitely be work involved, but I should be able to do that fairly quickly I think. Maybe I am wrong, but I won’t know until I get the email.

It is great having two persons in my family here. They were a big help in cleaning up after the bazaar Saturday and I was very thankful. I am also thankful that despite COVID and lots of rules, the bazaar was a success and a blessing. I have some ideas for the Spring and I’ll have to wait and see what the COVID situation is.

Now that I don’t have school work I can concentrate on Christmas and the Family Reunion and all I want to do to be ready for everyone. I also want to make cookies and breads to give away. I’d better get busy.

Through it all I want to concentrate on my blessings. I have a small book where I list them every day. I just want that list to grow and for me to become more aware of what they are.

James 1:17

Father, thank you for blessing me so abundantly. Every time I think of you I think of all the blessings I enjoy. My list grows daily. Help me to never forget how much you love and bless me and help me to share those blessings with others. Amen.

First arrivals

Today…

The first arrivals for our Christmas Family Reunion come today at noon. I am excited to see my son and his son. It will be a blessing to have them here.

I know this grandson and other grandchildren have college work and finals to do. My oldest granddaughter has work and hopefully I will be finished with my courses. I have two finals and one research paper to turn in by Sunday and I will be through. I have been studying for the final I am going to take today and then I will study for the next one. I think it will be easier because there is no time limit and you can use the book extensively. Today’s final is timed and you can use the book, but the professor said to study the old quizzes so that is what I have done. I hope for a great result.

In general I don’t like quizzes or exams. I can see why students don’t like them either. If your grades comes down to one test and you don’t do well, but you did well overall, it is disappointing. Not everyone is a great test taker. Some kids are really terrible at it so I completely understand.

It is a clear day so far despite the warning that it is supposed to be snowing. But I just looked at the forecast and says cloudy so who knows what the day will bring. I tend to look and then just wait to see what develops.

I think my paper is in the final stages and just needs a final good proofreading. My friend has agreed to do that for me and then I can turn it in unless there is a major revision.

But for now I am going to focus on the exam and picking up my son and grandson at noon from the airport.

I am thankful for the many blessings in my life and for being able to trust God for whatever comes.

Thank you Jesus for your love, your blessings, for your guidance and wisdom, for your gifts. I am in awe of you and I am so thankful and blessed. Help me to be a radiant light for your kingdom. Amen.

Being thankful

I am ready …

I talked to a kid at school on Monday and he said he didn’t have anything to be thankful for. Everything I suggested like a roof over his head, food, he told me it would all be taken away soon. I had spoken to his mother not long ago and I found that statement hard to believe. So I questioned him further. He thought maybe his mother would not remove these thing from him, but surely his dad would and if his dad insisted, his mother would go along with him.

I am not sure how true these statements are and if the kid really believes them, but he was definitely not thankful for anything.

I find that sad. I have so much to be thankful for and I would imagine that most kids would have at least one thing to be thankful for, but maybe not. It is surprising. No one in our school is homeless or living on the streets or in a shelter. Our school gives free food. I would think they might have something to be thankful for. but maybe not.

I am thankful for smiles, for hellos, for kids who do their work, for kids who come to school and wear their masks. I am thankful for a warm buiding, for a warm house, for my family, for friends, for those who help me–the list is endless. But I can’t quit thinking about those who have nothing to be thankful for. How sad.

Now I need to find a way to help them and I’m not sure what that is, but I’ll keep thinking. And I’ll take ideas for sure.

Ephesians 5:20

Father thank you for all the things in my life for which I can be thankful. Help me to help those who are not thankful and see nothing to be thankful for. I love you. Amen.

I made a discovery today

I should have made it earlier

I often don’t do some of my daily tasks once I get home. I tell myself that I am tired. So I tend todo other tasks like knitting a Christmas present, sewing, or working on school work. What I skip is cleaning, and some cooking.

When I looked at this pattern, I realized that I don’t do the chores that I dislike, but I have plenty of energy for the ones I do like. Ah ha. I should have known it wasn’t really being tired that was keeping me from my chores. It was my likes and dislikes.

So I should do what I have always done in the past–do the chores you dislike first and then do the ones you really like. you will have the gy for both groups. I plan to give this a try tonight when I get home and see if it is true for me. I suspect it is.

There is one other cohice. I could get up earlier and get them done before I do go to school. I always have energy in the morning and that way they would be done before I got home. Maybe I’ll try that too.

At any rate, I have a couple of answers to pursue and try to find the one best suited to me. Results to come.

Proverbs 16:3

I am thankful for the ideas you give me in response to my questions. I am thankful that I can try them out and find the best one for me and my situation.. I love you lord.. Thank you for always providing help. Aen.

An early Christmas present

So nice…..

My friend gave me an early Christmas present….a subscription to Hallmark movies.

I have always loved watching Hallmark Christmas movies, but I cancelled my cable subscription several years ago as I only watched the food channel and not very regularly. It was costly so I decided to end it. However, that ended my Hallmark movie watching too.

It is interesting to me how much faster some chores go when you have a movie running in the background. I finished decorating my house (pretty much), I did some baking and I started knitting a Christmas present. OK, so knitting and movie watching do not go hand in hand. I discovered this the hard way and had to start my project all over. But I did discover a solution. Listen to the movie and the sound track while you knit and follow the complicated directions. Do not look at the movie. This works. It is like listening to the radio long ago as a kid. The dialogue carries the plot and what happens. I can look up once in a while, but I have to be very careful. If I was knitting something that just repeated I could watch the movie too, but one with lots of directions is definitely a no go.

At any rate, I am very thankful and have already enjoyed several movies, looking and listening.

Gifts are a wonderful thing. I love to find gifts that are just right for people. That doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s wonderful. Maybe the key is to spend more time thinking and looking.

Giving is such a special blessing and we can look to Jesus who gave us such wonderful gifts. I am so thankful for those gifts and for the joy they give.

Proverbs 11:24-25

Thank you for your generous gifts, Lord. Help me to be a faithful and generous giver to all. Thank you for the opportunity to give. Help me to be faithful in giving. Amen.

Pie day

Bring a pie and trade it

Today is pie day at school. I did not bring a pie because I didn’t want a whole pie to take home, plus pie is not my favorite. However, someone brought a spinach pie. Now I would have loved to trade for that. I should have brought one.

When I think about Thanksgiving dinner and dessert, I am not a big fan of pie or cake or cookies. I guess I would lean toward ice cream, but even that is not necessary at the end of the meal. I would just as soon have more cranberry relish (my mother’s recipe of course).

She made cranberry relish with fresh cranberries, sugar and an orange or part of one depending on how many cranberries you have. Just put it in the food processor and let it grind up. You will have a mashed concoction that to me is the epitome of Thanksgiving dinner. You have to have it to go with the turkey. We never had cranberry sauce from a can, jellied or whole. We always just had it crushed. Of course we did not have food processors when I was a child. I am sure my mother would have loved using one, and I can’t remember how we got those berries brushed and ground up, probably with the hand grinder we had. I just remember the end result. I plan to make myself some this year even though I will be at home alone. It will make the meal more Thanksgiving like.

I am excited about the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope to work on my gift projects. Maybe I will finish them. I also hope to start decorating for Christmas, at least a little. It will be a wonderful time and I will put on Christmas music and sing along as I work.

Of course it won’t be complete without my blessings list. I will get out the journal I have been using daily for blessings and list as many as I can think of.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Thank you Father for your abundant blessings in my life. Thank you for wonderful memories. Thank you for time to prepare for Christmas. Thank you for thanksgiving and the time to remember and take stock in my life. You are wonderful and I am blessed immeasurably. I love you. Amen.