Kindness Clusters

It never ceases to amaze me how good God is to me. It seems like when all the chips are down, and I am about ready to throw in the towel something really good happens. It seems like they happen in clusters. I call them kindness clusters. In one week all these good things happened.

1. Sheryl took me to see Wicked and out to dinner. We had great and deep spiritual conversation . We talked about life and death. She shared her Buddhist views and I shared my Christian views. On the light side, we talked about a getting dumped by someone you think you love.

2. I got a free hair cut, shampoo and hairstyle tonight at a new day spa. Thanks MK, your a doll! It was really fun talking to you while you cut my hair. MK just got married in July. She reminded me of the time when she and her first husband were breaking up. That must of been at least 8 years ago. MK said how she was in duress one night when she stopped by. I fed her soup, crackers and jello. I had to laugh, it is not much of a meal. But for MK it was just what she needed.

3. It snowed here. Yes, I took it personally. It brought joy into my life.

4. Comments on my blog - via email, phone call or post.

5. I won a raffle prize at the union's Christmas party.

I am always surprised when God moves. I am very grateful for this kindness cluster. Thank you for making it all worth it.

FYI HOT WATER

Just wanted to let you know I had a HOT SHOWER this morning! It was FANTASTIC!

Water Heater

On Thursday morning, I noticed my shower water was getting colder and colder instead of warmer and warmer. I jumped in really quick and took a fast shower. When I got home from work, my gig a low told me the water heater was out. He has had no work and he did not see any work in the future. Buying a new water heater would put a real strain on the budget. So he was going to try to fix it. On friday I took a cold shower before work. In the meantime the weather went from 70 degrees to a snow day. On saturday the shower was freezing cold, so I though it would be best to washed my hair in the kitchen sink.

I had to heat the water in the tea pot and pour the water into a cup and pour it onto my head. Trying to get the shampoo out was very inconvenient to say the least. Saturday was a very busy day, I felt satisfied to feel clean despite taking a shower so cold it made me gasp for air.

On Saturday night my gig a low said he was going to go buy the part he needed to fix the hot water heater on Sunday. So I would have to deal with not having hot water one more day. Ok - I can deal with it one more day.

Sunday was a very exciting day because Sheryl invited me to go see Wicked the musical. So I called my dad and asked him if I could take a shower at his house. On Sunday morning I went over to my dad's house and took a very warm shower. It felt so good. It is a well known fact that my dad is a miser. It is the family joke. I didn't care. I stayed in the shower and steamed up all the mirrors! It was grand. It was a sure bet that my dad was cauculting the cost of heating the water and how much water had been used. Did I let those worrisome thoughts get in my way? No. I stayed in that shower for a long time. The joy of hot water. Sheryl and I had a marvelous time and I was sparkling clean. I new when I got home the hot water heater would be fixed.

Wrong. No hot water heater. My sensors told me to delete the paragraph I just wrote. So I did. I am sorry you will not be able to read it. I guess it is better that way. It was disappointing news to hear I would not be taking a hot shower on Monday.

Monday I splashed freezing cold water on myself and did a do over with the tea pot and shampoo. I had a great day in the snow with the students.

This morning I was so depressed. I could not bare another cold shower. I had a bath in a pan on the stove. I dragged all day at work. I could not get my act together. The students said are we going swimming tomorrow? Not a chance, I was sick of being in cold water. I hope it rains or snows tomorrow so the students are not to disappointed.

When I got home from work today I saw the handy man's truck in the driveway. I prayed for good news. It was. He had got the part and the hot water heater was heating. I wanted to do a little jig. I get to take a hot shower tomorrow. I can't hardily wait!

SNOW

Can you believe it? It snowed here. I think the last time we had snow in low- lying areas (not mountain tops) was back in 1998. When I got to work we asked the class if they have ever seen snow. 3/4 of them had not. So we went to the snow, it was down the street a couple of miles.

Just by chance I had my camera in the car. I don't know who was more excited me or the students. The students were so fun to watch, they make snow balls and the staff showed the students how to have a snow ball fight. The students have never heard the crunch crunch of walking in snow. They had never seen a snow man. It was great. I know for those of you who live in the snow are going to laugh at our snow. You are going to say that is just a heavy frost. For our class (and me) it really was a winter wonder land.

I love when my "inner child" is able to come out and play. I was able to forget about all my problems just for a little while. I even heard Malinda laughing today. I was happy about that because she has a plate full of problems herself. Miss Sunshine and Mr. Medic had big smiles on their faces. My teacher who once lived in Alaska seemed to enjoy watching the students. Here are some snow photos. The amazing thing was these photos where taking around 10:00 in the morning. The snow had stuck. It was so amazing there were news people all over the place. So I took a photo of Eric Thomas from ABC channel 7 news. I love the humming bird photo.

What is in a Name

In the bible and in other cultures parents named their children for a reason. Not just because the name was on the top 10 name list that year. A baby born on the Mayflower was named Oceanus. His name had a relevant to the voyage. As for me my name did not have any significance. I was not named after a loved one in the family, my folks did not give me my name for any "religious" reasons. My parents named me what they did because they liked the name.

Now that I have this blog, I can changes peoples name or leave them as they are. I like having that kind of control. Not only that Hospital commandment #3 is very important to me. I like it when someone's name has purpose or a meaning.

Sheryl means - dear one

Phoebe - bright

Malinda - sweet

My sweet Friend - amiable- friend

I am going to change my dear friends name to Jeremiaha. You might think I spelled it wrong. Let me tell you it is not a mistake. I want it that way. Why you ask? Because I can. I am the boss of my blog, so I can do what I want with no explanation.

A Sad Day -GM's Birthday

Today was GM's Birthday. She and my dad got married when I was 14 years old. One year after my first mother died. Our relationship was rough for many years. I did not want another mother. I thought me and my dad would be fine. I did not need a "woman's influence" as my dad would say. When I was 29 years old I became a Christen I realized I needed to repair my damaged relationship with GM. I could look back and see how in her own way, she was a strong, independent woman. I asked her (and my dad for what it's worth) to forgive me for being literarily a terror. An unholy one at that. I asked her to stop talking about all the bad things I had ever done and to forgive me. She did. She never brought how rotten I was again. I learned to love and respect her. I admired GM as woman of strength. She was a head of her time. GM called me her "little country girl" I found that to be a great complement.

December 3, 2004, we gathered at Dad and GM's house to celebrate her birthday, and to put up Christmas decorations. She asked me to set up the Nativity because I was the "only one who knew where the pieces went." I was ecstatic that she gave me that honor. Although I knew (and she knew other family members knew how to set up the Nativity)

Her back was aching and she was planning on having surgery. The family was worried that she was not going to fair so well after a lengthy surgery.

We had a great celebration. It was fun putting up the stocking joking about who was going to get the coal and putting up the fake christmas tree. We sang Happy Birthday . But everyone in the family forgot their camera.

We all went home, dad and GM went to bed. I got a call early the next morning that GM was dead. I needed to get over to the house right away. I thought I was hearing things. How can she be dead? We just had her birthday party. How could this be?

She was still in bed in the same position she went to sleep in when I got there. She looked so peaceful. Our Grandma must of come to get her in her sleep. I stayed with her until the mortuary came and zipped her up in the body bag.

We had no photos of GM's last birthday. We didn't get to say goodbye and I love you.

The Christmas tree still had all her birthday presents under it, the stocking were hanging with care and the Nativity still had all the pieces in the right place. But our heart where broken and Christmas would never be the same again.

A letter From Phoebe

I got this letter today from Phoebe. It made me cry. So I thought I would pass it on to you.

Hiya...God impressed upon me yesterday to call your dad and just ask up front if he had ever given his life to Christ and if no to talk to him about doing just that.

So I called him today and said I had heard the news about the heart etc., and he told me all the details etc. I told him I really liked his upbeat spirit about the whole situation as it had to be devastating news. He said the doctor changed some meds today and there is something the can give him once off chemo.

I told him I had two friends who recently had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and they were doing much better since on the meds. Told him since his last treatment of chemo was end of December he could look forward to a new start in 2010.

THEN i said I dont know if you know about my son Jeff but he died in 2006 and the one thing that helps me on my days of missing him is that he is in heaven with God and I will see him again one day.

have you ever given your life to Christ? Have you ever prayed to ask him into your life? Well, no I haven't. I said well, he'd love to hear from you and say hi. LOL He said say hi huh .. I said yes, and tell you that he loves you and wants you in heaven and considering that you have all these health issues you might want to commit today.

He said my daughter talks to me about this and I have been thinking about it. I said well,,, maybe today .. this afternoon.. is the day to actually move on that commitment and just sit and talk to God. Ask Him to come into your life and thank Him for dying for you so that one day you too can spend eternity in the kingdom of God. I then added that it would also be a great gift for (me) to know that one day she would be with her dad again.

He said he would be thinking about this again this afternoon...so no commitment yet, but I am praying today is the day of his salvation. to God be the glory!!!

love you sistah