Accepting God's Help

     That seems like such a silly title, but we all know that accepting help from anyone is not an easy thing to do.

            As kids, we have all done the "me do it" phase. Some of us never come out of that stage. We want to do it all. We want all the credit. No one else helped us cook the dinner, do the job or clean the entire house.

            When we are older or sick and need help to do the mundane things in life: walk, cook, or clean, we take it with a grain of salt, until we realize that without help we can do none of these things, then we say thank you. Sometimes begrudingly, but thank you.

             I have a sweet niece who is struggling with a health problem. She has had complete strangers pray for her and then ask, " Do you have faith? Are you feeling better?" I have a problem with that, because faith really has nothing to do with getting better.

              We sometimes think that if we do not naturally get better, read that without doctors, we do not have enough faith that God will do it, therefore, we need to work on our faith.

                I have news for you. 

                Do you all remember the old story of the man in the flood? No, not Noah.

                The one where the waters are getting deeper and the neighbors say, " Come on with us and be safe."

               He replies, " No, God's gonna take care of me."

                Well, he has to move to the second floor of his house and a boat comes by and asks him to come with them.

                He says," No, thanks. God's gonna take care of me."

                He is now on the roof top and a helicopter comes by and says,
" Hop on board."

                He says, "No, thanks, God's gonna take care of me."

                Well, the next scene is Heaven.

               The old man says, " I thought You were going to take care of me. I drowned."

                 God says," I sent you nieghbors, a boat and a helicopter, what else did you need.?"

               To me, the moral of the story is: God uses everyone to help us. Including doctors and hospitals. They are not perfect, but we live in a fallen world and they are as close as we get.

               So if you need an operation, do it. God will bring you through it. And you will live either here or in heaven.

Hard Work

     Yesterday, for the first time since surgery, I went out to my  brother's farm, and worked in the house. My husband had had to replace some of the floor, due to termites. In the process, he had to do some plastering on the walls and sanding, so there was clean-up to be done.

           It felt great to be able to work and feel tired afterward.

           I stretched, climbed and reached and nothing fell out and no bumps appeared. Guess I am well on my way to normal. Wonderful.

           We are getting ready for a visit from said brother. He lives in California and hasn't been back for a while, so wanted to show off all that we have done to the house on the farm.

          Today we are working on our house getting it company ready. Why do we not keep it company ready all the time? Well, we could have company anytime and it would look okay, but somehow, I like leaving my newspaper on the floor by my chair and my nail clippers on my table beside my chair. However, I think  that no one else likes to see it.

          We have added a small addition to our bedroom to accommadate a shower and larger bedroom. It is only six feet, but really nice. My hubby is finishing the outside siding and painting the wood that we are not siding.

         We had decided to not put siding on the front of the house and just get paint to match the siding and paint it. The wood is in good condition and we like it, so, are painting.a

    We went to everyone's favorite place, Wal-Mart, and had the paint matched to the siding.

     Now, if you have never had paint made to match something, you really have not had the ultimate in fun.

     They put the siding under the scanner that puts it in the computer and the computer then tells them what colors and how much to use to make it match.

      They will then color the base, shake and put a dab on the outside to show you the color. They will also put some on your siding to show how it matches.

       We weren't sure it matched. The man who made it was. A person walking by was sure.

        We brought it home and today hubby started to paint. The wall he is painting is right against a wall with the siding on it.

         We still don't think it matches. Spent a half hour deciding what to do.

         We paint.

         He calls me out to look.

         I'm tellin' ya, the more he paints the more it matches.

          Ah, well, we will enjoy the new look.

          Have a great day.

        

What Fun

      My first week of fast travel on the web has been fun.
     
      Unless you came to the 'net from a slow speed, you just don't quite know how it feels to, now, be going 100mph as opposed to 55 mph. I have to tell you that my ol' sinful self still goes, "Come on, can't you go faster?" and not appreciate the blessing of going fast.

      I know that some of you are saying it could be my computer, but still, I am going FAST.

      It is so cool to just flash from page to page rather than have enough time to go get a cup of whatever in the kitchen and still have to wait for the finish of the page to load.

       I do have to watch myself though. I could get addicted to playing games and blog reading. It is just the  cats pajamas.

       I went to the Wheel of Fortune site the other day and I think it was two hours later that I emerged. I love Wheel of Fortune and love playing it, but other things do have to get done. You know, laundry, dinner, vaccuumming, and other mundane things. Like letting your husband know that he is still important to you.

       I now have a home page that I can change when I want to. My other server wouldn't let me have anything but them for the homepage. This is a nice choice to be able to make.

       I know those of you who have grown up with a computer in the fast lane and have had these choices think I am being a bit silly, but I feel so blessed to have these things.

      When you see that cloud of dust in front of you on the 'net, it will be mine.

      Have fun.

Connected

     I am connected to the fast lane. Yeah. Hope I can hang on.
 
           I cannot tell you how it feels to go zipping from one website to the other in the time it used to take me get from typing the address to the word "connecting" and had to watch the little circle spin until connected.
           When I got the router on Friday, I was really excited and wanted to get connected right away, but had to wait until the day they had assigned me. Today.
           I probably wore my welcome out with the techies. I had to call and check on the time. Call and check on how to install the router.
            Call and find out how to connect to the internet, as I don't have a shortcut to explorer. I will soon.
            Anyway, I can now run the big kids.
            It is fun and I have visited several sites and just watched as it went really fast and smoothly.
       Thank you for reading and have a great day.

Research

     I have spent the day researching, well, actually two days, internet servers. I have been on the internet for over six years now by dial-up.
I figured to be the last of the dinosaurs in this respect. Simply could not free up the money to switch to dsl.
     Things have happened to make this possible and may I just say that research is not my strong suit.
      In fact, I hate it. I get all the numbers gathered together and then have to explain it to my husband and compare what we are spending to what we think we can spend and then make a decision.
      The people were nice that I talked to. Really wanted to help. Really wanted my money. I had one ask me if she could sign me up right now and start the service. I said, no, thank you. Just looking around.
      These people are worse than retail clothing associates. They want the money. They want their money to increase. I understand that, but when you are on a fixed income that hasn't increased in two years, you get really picky about how you spend your money.
        Finally made the decision. The lady told me what all the package included and what equipment would be needed. It would be sent and would include router,cables for this and that and instructions. Thank goodness. Instructions.
        Next question: can I follow instructions and find all the approiate spots to plug in all the cables and then hit the right button.
        Can you tell that I am stressing a bit over this? I will try not to go into a spin over the next few days waiting for the package. I promise I will let God take care of it. If I leave Him alone and listen to the still, small voice, I will have peace over this.
         Really.
         Really I will.
         Stay tuned for the next installment of " As the Network Links."

         Til next time, have a blessed day.

Labor Day

     It is Labor Day the end of the holiday week-end. Somehow it seems a little sad the reason for the week-end is at the end of it and not really celebrated.
   Here in tourist country, everyone is packing up and going home, back to the ordinary and, sometimes, mundane of their lives.
     School is starting from some, has been in session for others for a while, and still others won't be in session for a week or so.
     The fall always feels like new beginnings or renewal of old friendships at school and work.
     here in the land of the tourist, we see people in the fall that have not been here since last fall.  I know, I know, it really isn't fall until September 23 on my calendar, but Labor Day is the end of vacation talk, the beginning of football and leaf raking. I also know that some of them were here for Christmas in the Ozarks, which is really in the fall, so not here since last fall.
     We have a lot of realy cool stuff that goes on here in the area. I am not going to go  into that and sound like a Branson booster, but if you have time on your hands come see.
     Some of us were talking the other day about how we, who live here, don't get or take an opportunity to enjoy what a lot of you travel a long way to enjoy. It is that old thing of having to do your life here.
     There are doctor appoinments, work schedules, school schedules, and family times to work in there. We do get out some and enjoy and when we do, we go WOW that is why people come here. It is truly beautiful.
      I am going to enjoy the coolness of the early day and watch the thermometer rise and summer make a last visit over the next few days.
     Y'all have a great day. Come visit.

Young Skin

     I find that inside my head, I am still twenty something.
     It is a long way from the age my outside is, but still it keeps me thinking and acting young. Now, not childish, child like. Therefore, I find myself doing things that, when I was twenty-somthing, wasn't a problem. Like a facial mask.
     A few months ago, my charming daughter was visiting and gave me some skin products, which I appreciated.
     Among the products was a facial mask for cleansing and restoring skin to youthfulness.
     The next time I was alone, trust me you do not want to do this in front of family, perhaps girlfriends, but not family. They will never let you forget it.
      Anyway, husband was gone, and by this time so was daughter, back to her home hubby and daughter.
      I decided that it was the perfect time to do a manicure, prehaps even try the new product.
      I  did the manicure. I had so much success at that, I decided to try the facial.
      It had been years since I had tried this kind of thing, I thought that it would be like riding a bicycle, you know, once you do it you never forget how.I have never ridden a bike. That, however, didn't stop me.
      Anyway, read the instructions. Yep, thought it would be a good idea, so did it and followed said instructions. Washed my face and prepared to put on the mask.
      Daughter had said it was like egg whites. It was. A little gooier, but egg whites.
      I put them on, a little thicker in places and thinner in others, thereby, having some dry before others. I had to wait until all were dry. Just peel off it says, after drying.
      Right.
      I had started on the thicker spots, but they were not dry. I then started on the thin ones. They were dry, and I had some success with them coming right off, as i was peeling, I looked in the mirror......my hand was six inches from my face and the mask was still in place.
      Never knew that your face went rubbery when you got older. I will NOT say "Old".
      Well, I got the fingers of the one hand under the mask and held my skin while I pulled with the other.
      Ten minutes later the mask was in the sink and my face was pink and healthy.
      And laying against my chest.
      Fortunately, it returned to its original positition before anyone came home.
      Let me just say, that next time, I will just scrub and rinse.