Why Can't We Be Friends?

I have always loved going to zoos and wildlife parks. I love to look at the animals. My problem is that it does not seem like animals like me. I have been bitten and attacked by all sorts of animals.

The first occurrence of my bad luck came when I was about five years old. We were at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, which is a drive through wildlife park where you can feed the animals. When you enter the park they tell you that feeding the animals is at your own risk. They also tell you to drop the food onto the ground and do not feed the animals out of your hands. Well, I was feeding the animals out of my hands and it was all going great until we got to the zebras. In case you never knew, zebras bite, often, and one bit me right in the palm of my hand. To this day I am still frightened of zebras and their giant faces and teeth.

My fear of zebras is nothing compared to my fear of cheetahs. Most people probably think this is nuts, but I have a legitimate reason for my terror. We were visiting the zoo when I was around eight years old. I vividly remember that I was wearing a bright yellow shirt that day. The cheetahs enclosure could be seen from above as well as from a window at ground level. My family had walked down the stairs and was looking at the cheetah that was laying down a long way from the window and I had stopped at the top of the stairs to look at another animal. They had been watching it for a while when I walked down the stairs. When I reached the window the cheetah had seen me and run all the way across the enclosure and slammed into the glass window right where I was standing. I am pretty sure I cried or screamed or both. To this day I do not wear yellow shirts. I have bought yellow shirts a couple of times only to wear them and remember the cheetah. Those yellow shirts quickly got donated to the Salvation Army.

Then, there were several times I got bit by birds. Birds are mean and they hurt. Landa Park always has ducks and geese that people feed. When we would go to the park we occasionally fed them. The bad part comes when you quit feeding the geese or when they think you should start feeding them. They chase you down and will bite you. You may think getting bit by a goose is not painful, but it does not feel good. My other most hated bird is some kind of crowned something or another from Africa. I got bit by this bird at the zoo and it really, hurts. I won't lie and say that this was the birds fault. I was a dumb child who did not listen to my parents or obey the signs that told me not to put my fingers in the cages. So, I put my childish fingers in the cage to touch the beautiful crowned bird and instead of touching fluffy feathers, I got bit in the finger by a sharp beak.

The last bad animal encounter comes from my adult life. Let me just say I did not really learn my lesson from my past animal encounters. When I was pregnant with Little Bear, we went on a trip to Texas and went to Fossil Rim, another drive through wildlife place. I was feeding the addax and when I quit feeding one of them it made him angry. He somehow managed to get part of his horns IN THE CAR and was bashing me in the head with his horns and the top of his head. It was scary and painful. When he whacked me in the head, Popeye said I had a strange and confused look on my face. He asked if I was okay and I responded with something like, "Yeah, I guess so."  I was yelling at Popeye to "Go, Go" and he said something along the lines of "I can't his head is in the car," as I got whacked in the head again. I kept yelling and finally Popeye started driving. What felt like a long time later with a combination of Popeye driving and me shoving the mean antelope away we got away and I was safe again.

Since then, I really try to be more careful with wildlife. I have successfully taken Little Bear to a drive through wildlife ranch without any injuries. I don't stick my fingers through cages now. I don't feed birds. I roll the windows up when we get close to zebras. I don't wear yellow shirts. I hope my awful animal encounters are over.

The Great Rodent Escapades - A slightly gross, but funny story

Let me preface this story by saying, I hate wild rats and mice. I have a great fear and disgust for the nasty, disease carrying vermin. I come by it naturally; my mom hates them, too, and based on this story, my grandpa is not fond of them either..

When I was a high school freshman, my great-grandpa passed away. My family went down to stay with my grandparents to help clean and sort through stuff at my great-grandparent's house after my great-grandma had moved to a nursing home. My mom's side of the family lives in the country on a farm
so wildlife was always around, but I am happy to say we didn't always have face to face encounters with critters. This particular weekend we had more than normal.

For the first rodent story of the weekend, my cousin and I rode our bikes from my grandparent's house to my great-grandparent's house. The men had been cleaning and moving furniture all day. When we rode up into the driveway it was soaking wet and covered with nasty rat nest parts and dead rats. In their cleaning, they had found a huge rat nest and not knowing what to do they washed it out of the old piece of furniture with the water hose. They were everywhere. I was unprepared for that many rodents and thoroughly disgusted by the sight.

We were quick to leave and ride back to my grandparent's house. When we got to my grandparent's, I was tasked with emptying drawers in an old dresser so they could move it out and put a dresser from my great-grandparent's there. I went to work quickly, happy to have such an easy chore. That quickly changed when I opened the first drawer and took the towel or whatever off the top of the pile.


What I found made me scream, which in turn made everyone come running. It was a little mouse, the fact that it was dead and petrified did not come to my attention at the time of the scream. My grandpa ran in. He saw the little mouse laying there and reached for the closest mouse killer, a wire coat hanger. Why on earth he picked a coat hanger I will never know, but he used that wire coat hanger to repeatedly whack the little mouse. Whack, whack, whack went the hanger and bounce, jump, flop went the little mouse. By this time we had acquired quite an audience and most of us were trying not to laugh at the sight of Grandpa repeatedly swatting the mouse with a flimsy metal hanger.

The poor mouse was not alive or jumping. It was dried up, fairly flat, and most definitely dead as a doornail, but the banging it was getting from the coat hanger made it "come to life". Finally, my grandpa quit smacking the old mouse and used something or another to scoop it's dehydrated and dried body into the trash.

Thankfully, those were the only rodents I encountered that weekend. While I am not a fan of rodents, especially wild ones, this is still a story that makes us laugh, especially my mom who cackles hysterically every single time this story is mentioned.

In Honor of My Mom's Birthday - A Funny Story

In honor of my mom's million and third birthday (she is really not very old, I just love to pick on her), I am going to share one of my favorite stories. I am sure she would rather me share about the time we went to Alaska and flew in a helicopter to land on a glacier, but that is not my story for today.

A long time ago, when I was in high school, we went to North Carolina. It was a sort of last minute trip. My dad was going for business and had been gone an awful lot so he took the family with him. While he worked, my mom, my brother, and I went to see the sights.

One of our trips was to some kind of zoo or animal refuge. It was a small place that took in retired circus animals and animals that had once been pets. They had a lot of bears, monkeys, and apes. When you paid you could get food to feed the animals. They didn't come up and take the food from your hand, you kind of had to throw it into the cage.

We walked up to a cage of some type of monkeys. It has been a long time and in my old age, I cannot remember what type they were. We stood there and fed them for a while.... and then, my mom got tired of feeding them. When she quit one of the monkeys was not happy with that and he spit.... Right on her.

My brother and I found this to be the funniest thing ever and were laughing hysterically. My mom threw him another piece of food and then started to turn away. When she did he spit again and hit his mark. And let me tell you something about monkey spit, it is not as much like people spit as you would think. It is horribly stinky, it is slimier, and it has visible particles of monkey food in it, and I won't lie, all of those things made it seem even funnier that my dear mother got spit on by a monkey and not just once. Sometimes I wish it was in the days of cell phones so we could have taken a video to save forever. It always makes me laugh. Since it was long before those days, I will just share the story for all to read.

Happy birthday, Mom! Hope you have a glorious day and do not get spit on by monkeys!

STEM vs Liberal Arts... or Little Bear vs Mama Bear

STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math....

STEM is the in thing for education these days. All we hear about is STEM this STEM that. Little Bear's elementary school is always posting pictures of STEM projects on Facebook. I see the Chevron STEM for girls commercial on TV all the time. I get that science, technology, engineering, and math are cool, or hard, or something... but what about the arts.

Little Bear loves STEM. He has loved it before I heard the term STEM. Before elementary school, he was already looking at how things work and why. He was noticing the difference between the way a rocking chair moved and the way the footstool moved. He was building with Legos and creating new things. He was building with Legos and following the instructions on his own at an early age. He has always loved building and creating new projects and simple machines.

In school Little Bear loves coding. His gifted and talented teacher says he is a whiz at it. His favorite subject is math. He enjoys his math homework. When he picks up a book, he often picks up a non-fiction book about science or technology before he chooses a fiction book.

I am proud of him for having interests and for doing well at the things he loves, but it breaks my heart a little to see the focus of school turning more and more towards STEM and away from literature and history. I have a bachelor's degree in history. I am a freelance writer, a stay-at-home-mom, and a blogger.


My child has no interest in writing and little interest in history or literature. Don't get me wrong, Little Bear loves a good story and even a good non-fiction book from time to time, but his first choice is almost always non-fiction. He wants to learn things not be transported through words to a magical place with wizards and elves, knights in shining armor, or monsters under the bed. He doesn't get wrapped up in a story like I do. He doesn't feel like the characters in his favorite books are friends or long lost family members.

STEM is great. I am thrilled my son enjoys it and I pray he will always be better at math than I am. (I'm terrible at math, truly terrible.) I really wish there was more focus on literature, fiction, imagination, arts, and history in his school and in our modern world. I feel like the arts are being lost in our STEM-focused society.

Five Free and Cheap Places to Go in Northeast Florida

1.) Big Talbot Island State Park

Big Talbot Island State Park is a stunning park. It has beautiful hiking trails and also has stunning beaches. Much of the beach is covered by tree “graveyards”. These long dead trees have fallen on the beach making a hauntingly beautiful scenery. When we arrived at the park on a late morning the fog was an almost eerie sight. We walked for a while down the beach and climbed on the dead trees. We also found whelks, crustaceans, jellyfish, birds, and horseshoe crab skeletons.

Admission to the park is $3 per vehicle for day use. You can find more information on Big Talbot Island State Park here.   

2.) Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is found in Saint Augustine. This fort was built between 1672 and 1695. It was built by the Spanish and later used by the British, the United States, and the Confederate States. It is made of coquina that was found on Anastasia Island. The fort is now run by the National Park Service and regularly has re-enactments with cannons and muskets. The fort also provides incredible views of the water and boats coming and going through the channel.

Admission to the park is $10 per adult and free for children 15 and under. More information about Castillo de San Marcos can be found here.

3.) Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park

Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park is just a little ways south of Jacksonville, Florida. Camp Blanding is a military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard. Just outside of the base gates you can find the museum and memorial park. Inside the museum is an array of exhibits from World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. At one time this base served as a training station for the United States Army as well as a prisoner of war camp. The stories you can read in the museum are enlightening. Outside you can find many aircraft and army vehicles dating from World War I all the way to Desert Storm. The museum is run by volunteers, mostly veterans who have been stationed or trained here.

Admission is free, but they do accept donations. You can find more information about Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park here.

4.) Riverside Arts Market

Riverside Arts Market is a weekly event held on Saturdays from 10 am - 3 pm. This weekly event is a gathering of local artists, farmers, restaurants, and musicians. There are food trucks and booths galore. The artists sell paintings, photographs, signs, jewelry, and so much more. The farmers sell local and seasonal produce, honey, baked goods, and eggs. Each week there are different musicians. There are also themed markets geared towards different types of music, cultural groups, pets, and more. The market is pet-friendly and fun for the whole family. It is under a bridge along the river so the scenery is nice.

Admission to the market is free. Parking is somewhat difficult and you may have to walk a little ways to get to the market. You can find more information about the Riverside Arts Market, including booths and farmers, here.

5.) Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve Beach Access Points

I love the beach. There are a couple of things I look for when I look for a good beach. First, I want to go somewhere that is pretty clean. Second, I want to go somewhere that the water does not get too deep too quickly. Third, I want to go somewhere with a decent amount of shells and hopefully shark’s teeth. The beaches that have access from the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve have been among my favorite. These beach access points are between Jacksonville and Saint Augustine along A1A. They are not too crowded and I always find several shark’s teeth as well as a variety of shells.

Admission to these beaches is free. You can find more information about these beaches and the reserve here.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

We all have treasured memories and magical times from our youth. Some of my most magical memories are from Christmas Eve. It was a special day for our family. Growing up we never missed the family gathering at my grandparent's house to celebrate together on Christmas Eve.

My aunt, uncle, and cousin met up with my family at my grandparent's house each year on Christmas Eve. I don't remember a year that we missed Christmas Eve until I was grown up and moved far away from home.

These Christmas Eve celebrations were usually joyful occasions, but as we got to our teenage years there were some grouchy teenagers there, namely my brother and I.  Especially when Grandma forced us to bring our band instruments and play. My brother and my cousin were good and I was not, but Grandma did not care. We played Christmas carols and she was happy.

One of my favorite memories of Christmas Eve was how Grandpa would label our gifts from him as from Santa. We all knew his handwriting even as kids, but the joy these gifts from Santa brought were fun. I always treasure that he went this extra step to make our Christmas magical.

Grandpa always bought chocolate covered cherries for the ladies in the family. He would buy the cheap red Queen Anne's boxes you see in the stores. They are not fancy and now that I am an adult I am not that big of a fan, but it was his thing and we loved it. My dad has carried this tradition on since my Grandpa passed away. It still brings joy to my heart to see those red boxes of chocolate covered cherries sitting under the tree.

Each year on our way out the door, Grandpa would say, "Make sure you are watching for Santa on the way home. You might see Rudolph's nose or hear the sleigh bells." My brother and eye would keep our eyes peeled the whole way home looking for Santa Claus.

So tonight, love your family. Remember the good times. Make Christmas magical. Oh, and read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas".

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"  ~ Clement Clarke Moore 

O Christmas Tree

What kind of Christmas tree do you get? Growing up we always had a real tree. I love the smell, the feel, and the look of a real tree. I have fond memories of going to the Christmas tree farm and cutting our own tree. The joy of decorating the tree was glorious.

Thankfully, we have had several opportunities in Little Bear's lifetime to go cut down our own tree. When we lived farther north it was wonderful at Christmas time. The tree farms were like magic. Living here the soil is sandy and the very few tree farms are different. The type of trees is just not the same. They consider juniper's to be Christmas trees and some other strange varieties as Christmas trees.

I had my first fake tree as an adult. I was newly married to my first husband and he wanted a fake tree. Not gonna lie having a fake tree broke my heart a little.

Now, with Popeye, we have decorated fake trees more often than I would like, but sometimes it has been out of necessity. We have celebrated Christmas with extended family at Thanksgiving several times and put up the fake tree before tree farms were even opened. Then, there have been a couple of times that we have had an extremely early Christmas before deployments. A fake tree works for that and I still find joy in decorating it. Honestly, some of my most memorable Christmas decorating memories have been with fake trees.

First, there were several years my grandparents had a small fiber optic Christmas tree. This little tree was in style when they bought it. My grandparents thought it was so neat. The rest of us liked it the first couple of years and then the tree started making a high pitched noise. The noise was terrible. We mentioned it to my grandparents for a couple of years and they could never hear it. They finally agreed that it must be true since we all complained about it two Christmas seasons in a row. That was the last of the fiber optic tree.

This year and last year we had a small fake tree. We decorated well before Thanksgiving last year. Decorating that small fake tree as a family knowing we would not actually be celebrating gathered around it together on Christmas morning was a mix of sadness and joy on my part. The best part was in the several months we left the Christmas tree up Little Bear and I laughed about decorating with Popeye. We wore our Santa hats and decorated. We laughed and made memories.

This year we decorated that same little fake tree before Thanksgiving. We celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving with Popeye's parents. I won't let the fake tree stop me from joy at Christmas, but I won't lie and say I don't miss a real tree.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

I love salty and sweet snacks. Salty and Sweet is my favorite snack food category. When Popeye and I got married his sweet grandma sent me a recipe for a salty and sweet snack he loves. When I read the recipe I was thinking it sounded a little odd, but it isn't. It's really perfect.

Pretzels Before Being Microwaved

Salty and Sweet - Cinnamon and Sugar - Crunchy Salted Pretzel Nuggets.... What gets better than that? Basically nothing. One of the best things about it is that it is gastroparesis-friendly, or at least enough for my GP. The one problem with this snack is I always manage to eat too much of it!

This recipe is ridiculously easy.

Ingredients:

1 pound pretzel nuggets or whatever 1/3 cup sugar 1-2 tsp cinnamon 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix oil, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour over pretzels in a microwave safe bowl.
Stir until all the pretzels are coated with the sugar mixture. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir.
Microwave again for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir after each 30 seconds or 1 minute. They will probably need 5-6 minutes total in the microwave.

My Top 10 Favorite Places to Visit

I have been blessed in my life to travel across much of the United States. I have been to 36 of 50 states, not including the states I have only been to airports in. Many of the states I have been to were in my childhood, but they were still amazing and memorable. In my adult life, I have also been to some glorious places.

Out of all these great states, I have ten places I have most enjoyed visiting and have some of my fondest memories at.

1) The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, NM & CO

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is by far my favorite place. First, the historic steam train is super cool. Second, the landscape and scenery are gorgeous. The first time I was there I was in kindergarten and we saw the Indiana Jones train cars on the tracks. We visited the railroad almost every year after that until I graduated high school. I have been blessed to go back several times as an adult and love it just as much if not more now.

2) The Alamo & Missions, San Antonio, TX

The Alamo and the missions in San Antonio will always have a special place in my heart. First, they are an amazing part of Texas history. They have a sad story that is also filled with hope and joy. They are also a place of beauty and peace. I can wander these missions for hours or sit and enjoy the peace that I feel in these places.

3) Shenandoah National Park, VA

Shenandoah National Park has a special place in my heart. It is one of the first places we took Little Bear hiking. We also went camping there once and saw more bears than I had ever seen. We saw 11 bears on our trip including three bear cubs. It was amazing. Skyline Drive is an amazing drive through the mountains, whether it is spring, summer, winter, or fall.  

4) Echo Amphitheater, NM 

Echo Amphitheater is an interesting and beautiful rock formation found in New Mexico. It is a lovely spot stuck between the mountains and the High Desert. The landscape is stunning. So stunning in fact that many famous artists such as Georgia O'Keefe have used the scenery for inspiration for their work.

5) Cass Scenic Railroad, WV

The Cass Scenic Railroad is a really neat place in West Virginia. When Popeye came home from his first deployment. While the Cass will never take the place of the Cumbres and Toltec it is a truly beautiful railroad. It is in the middle of nowhere, which gives it a really nice relaxing atmosphere. The Cass Scenic Railroad and the wonderful bed and breakfast we stayed at made a perfect getaway after months apart.

6) Top of the Rock, NYC, NY 

When we visited New York City it was a really neat trip. We did a lot of cool stuff including seeing the Statue of Liberty, but I felt overwhelmed by the crowds everywhere. I was thrilled with the views from The Top of the Rock. Top of the Rock was amazing. We could see all of New York City from up there. It was a special moment in time that I will never forget. 

7) Yellowstone National Park 

Yellowstone National Park is a really stunning place. We went when I was in middle school. I don't think my family planned to go there on vacation, but we ended up there. It was one of the coolest vacations we ever went on. We saw wildlife galore, but even cooler than the wildlife are the geysers, springs, and mud pots. The bubbling ground is so interesting. The science and nature combined to make bubbling mud pots, water that has so much acid it can dissolve almost anything, and water that shoots through the crust of the earth rising high into the sky at regular intervals is a feat that only God could perfect. 

8) Colonial Williamsburg Williamsburg, VA 

Colonial Williamsburg is a beautiful historic area. It has more history than almost anywhere I have ever been. The Revolutionary War and Colonial history here give you opportunities to learn so many stories. Besides learning about all the history you can enjoy the stunning gardens. During Christmastime, the Colonial style decorations are interesting and have inspired lots of craft projects for me. 

9) Fort Washington National Park, Fort Washington, MD 

Fort Washington National Park can be found tucked away along the Potomac River just outside of Washington D.C. It is a quiet park with an amazing historic fort that served our country from 1809 until 1939. The historic fort has a beautiful view across the river. It is filled with historic batteries, cannons, and more history than most of us can imagine. When you walk down from the fort to the shores of the Potomac you can fish and find sea glass or river glass as the case may be.  

10) The Blue Ridge Parkway, NC and VA

The Blue Ridge Parkway is the first place Popeye and I went camping. It is also where we rode the first train together of our married life. We made several trips up and down parts of The Blue Ridge Parkway in the early years of our marriage. It will always be one of my favorite places. The Scenery is lovely.

A Boatload of Memories, More Laundry, and a House to Clean

Getting ready for company is always fun. You anticipate your guest's arrival for a while. In most cases, you try your absolute best to make everything look perfect. You look forward to friends or family coming to visit, but you dread the thought of extra scrubbing and dusting. It's the nature of the beast, I suppose.

I know I am not the only one that dreads the cleaning. I'm not going to lie, I am not the best housekeeper. I keep things sort of clean, but we have our own system for organization and sometimes it consists of a pile of papers here and a pile of books there. Other times
our system gets knocked over by Little Bear as he runs past. Then, we just have a mess.

When people come to visit our piles get picked up and put away. When Popeye is in charge of cleaning the piles just get moved and hidden. We move the furniture and vacuum underneath it. We scrub everything an extra time or two. I actually get out the duster and dust all the knick-knacks and picture frames.

When people arrive then the real fun begins. We hang out, we enjoy each others company. We eat good food. Life is good.

Then, our company leaves and we are left with a boatload of memories, more laundry, and a house to clean. Thank goodness the memories make it worth the cleaning and then some.

Shacke XL Duffel Bag

This duffel bag by Shacke is huge. When I read the listing to get the size and saw how big it is I thought, “Oh, neat. That’s pretty big.” In reality, I had no idea how big it would really be until it showed up and I started filling it up. It says the bag can hold 75 pounds and I do not doubt that it can.


Be warned if you fill it that full, it will be extremely heavy and awkward. My husband used this to carry stuff when he came home from an extended overseas trip. He filled it up with tons of stuff. It was heavy and horribly awkward to carry, but it held everything he needed it to and it could have held me. Although more would have made it nearly impossible to carry around. It has a shoulder strap and handles so you have the option of hand carrying it or putting it over your shoulder.


When the bag arrived at my house, my son and I tested it to make sure it was what my husband needed. He was gone and did not have enough bags to get everything home so I had to order him a bag and ship it to him in a care package. Little Bear and I fit 3 huge pillows in it and had room left over . It is really a huge bag. You could hold more than enough stuff for one trip. Little Bear also tried it out and asked if I could mail him in it since he fit. 


One of my favorite features besides its giant size is that this bag folds up into a nice neat square for storage. The zipper goes all the way around so it does not come unfolded. When it is folded up the handles tuck in and you don’t have to worry about it hanging down or getting caught on anything.

You can buy the Shacke XL duffel bag here. 

Birds

I hate birds. I have always hated birds. I don't know if it stems from watching parts of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" as a child or if it comes from being bitten by several birds at the zoo and chased by geese at the park, and dive bombed by seagulls at the beach. Either way, I really do not like birds.

My Grandma always loved birds. She had bird feeders and bird houses. She had hummingbird feeders she kept full all the time. She had little bird decorations and Christmas ornaments. She loved her birds.

When she moved into the assisted living apartment she did not have anywhere to hang a bird house or bird feeder. Sometimes she would buy bird food when she rode the bus to Walmart. She would put the bird seed out on the little balcony porch she had. Then, one day she quit buying bird seed.

She started getting bread and rolls from her apartment and putting them out on the little porch for the birds to eat. She would always get doves that would come and eat her bread. They seemed to keep all the other birds away. She still enjoyed the doves and any other birds she saw.

All through the years, Grandma would tell me stories about her birds. Before the assisted living place, she had constant complaints about squirrels getting into the bird feeders. Then, there were the complaints about the birds being picky and only eating certain types of seeds, like sunflower seeds. In my life, I never appreciated her love for birds.

The last couple of years, I have finally started to find an appreciation for birds. I am by no means a birder or even a real lover of birds. I have begun to enjoy seeing the wide variety of birds that comes through our yard each year. I have also begun to appreciate taking pictures of birds. Some birds have a majestic and stately look, others have beautiful and vibrant coloring, then there are strange looking birds and even elegant birds. I never expected to grow to like birds, but I do. I still would like to keep them at a distance. I have no intention of getting bitten by birds ever again.

5 of My Favorite Verses

1) Psalms 9:1 

I love this verse and its beautiful reminder to give thanks to the Lord.

 2) Jeremiah 29:11 

I love the promise in this verse that God has plans for me, not to harm me.

3) Matthew 11:28

I love everything about this verse. When I feel weary and overworked I always come back to this verse and remember to turn to Him.

4) Philippians 4:6 

Be anxious for nothing.... A really hard thing to master, but this verse holds truths I need to learn and store away in my heart to remember in my times or anxiety and need. 

5) Hebrews 6:19

I memorized this verse during our most recent deployment. I repeated it often and had it on my mirror as a reminder of God's promises and the hope He brings us. 

Thanksgiving Blessings

Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.
~Count Your Blessings Johnson Oatman, Jr.

Some of my favorite blessings

Thanksgiving is a day that we have set aside to count our blessings. We tend to celebrate this day with friends, family, and other loved ones. Being a military wife we have had some interesting Thanksgiving celebrations. 

Last year Little Bear and I celebrated Thanksgiving by ourselves. We had finger foods and watched Christmas movies all day. It was a nice relaxing day. We spent it together thinking of Popeye and talking about how grateful we are to have him out protecting our country and our freedoms. 

Several years, Little Bear and I have gone "home" to visit family while Popeye was gone. A couple of years ago we were blessed to meet my niece for the first time and celebrate Thanksgiving at my brother's house. The blessing of Thanksgiving with family is always nice. 

We have also had years that Popeye was home. Some of these Thanksgivings, we celebrated as a family of three. Others we hosted Thanksgiving for relatives. One year we hosted some friends from Popeye's work that could not go home for Thanksgiving. 

Little Bear's First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to remember all the good things in life. God has blessed my family so much. He has given us the blessing of love. Popeye and I have a wonderful marriage. Little Bear is a joy to us and our family. He is such a happy kid and always makes us laugh. We have love of our family both near and far. 

God has blessed us with faith. We have hope even in the hard times God will bless us and watch over us. God has given us a wonderful church family. They encourage us and pray for us. 

God has blessed us with health. Even with gastroparesis, things could be so much worse. I am thankful that God has given me the energy and health to enjoy life and enjoy family. 

Today and everyday be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving with Skype

Grandparent's for Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34