Monday, November 27, 2006

New Camper!!

Meet RL's Kurosinju Jiro-chan
"JIRO"
Born 10-02-2006
1 of a 13 puppy litter, and yet he's definately ONE of a kind
Black with a white front left paw, white toes on left rear paw
Arrived at his new home on 11-22-06
11lbs at first weigh in after we got him

Jiro w/Ma and big Sis

and there's Jiro w/Pa (aka: the counselor)

Puppy Paradise thanks to Sis

First Gator ride. He loved it!!

Colton's sure to be one of his biggest buds!!

Jiro w/big Sis

Whether he came as a Late Birthday or Early Christmas & I'm full of THANKS-giving!!! The camp is soooo happy to finally have him home.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thanksgiving Forever!

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Our Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day and for the glorious abundance of Blessings that you continue to shower upon me and those I love. Thank you for the amazing husband you have blessed me to share my life with. Please watch over him and protect him from all harm. I am so thankful for the home I live in, my job, my boss, and my dog. I thank you for the life you have allowed me to live, and pray that it will continue.

I thank you above all else for the gift of your Son. For the Peace, the Comfort and the Joy that comes from knowing that, because of HIS sacrifice, if it be your will, I have the hope of a place in heaven someday.

I beg for your forgiveness of my innumerable sins, and I ask that, in spite of those sins and shortcomings, you continue to show your mercy and love towards me.

Please be with all those for whom I should pray. I ask that you be with my families, both genetic relatives and heart relatives and please be with my friends. Please watch over those who are sick and those who are grieving. Give them comfort and consolation in the knowledge that all will be well because, in the end, you are in charge. Be with the leaders of our country, especially our president and be with our military and her leaders. Give them wisdom to make the decisions that are most glorifying to your name, and then give them the strength and courage to stand up for and fight, if necessary, for those decisions. Be with your children who are away from home. Wherever they may be, please guard them and bring them back as safely and swiftly as possible.

I ask that you be with me Lord, please guide, guard and direct, my thoughts, words and deeds. Please give me the hope of being a better person someday.

I trust with every fiber of my being that you will continue to care for me and my loved ones and supply our needs, and for that I am eternally grateful. I ask that you also continue to consider our wants and desires and bless us with those things, material and immaterial, that make our lives so easy and so much fun.

Finally, Lord, I ask that you go on with us through life. Again, please forgive me of my sins, and at last in heaven receive us.

All these things I beg, in Jesus’ name and for his dear sake.
Amen.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

GIFTS, GAB, & GUILT!!!!

What more could a girl ask for on her Birthday?

The Gifts - The day started out with me finding my annual Birthday Bear, from the counselor, sitting on my pillow. I also got a purse by Vera Bradley and a Red one by Tommy Hilfiger. And then the Ultimate Gift was the Hardbound, Boxed set of the complete works of Gary Larson’s FAR SIDE COMICS. Unbelievable!!

The Gab - And then it was off to work, where my day was broken up several times with phone calls from friends and family, including “alphabet” the soldier boy, and Jac. Some of them usually only correspond by e-mail, so it was such a pleasure to not only have them remember the day, but it was wonderful to just get to chat with friends and do a little catching up!! Then on the evening of my birthday, while having a coffee with the counselor, I got a sweet, sweet call from my niece and one of my nephews. It was “Happy Birthday to you…” complete with “Deeear Aunt Lenkaaaaa”. It was spectacular. I made the sister, who also put her good wishes in, call back and have them do it again on my voicemail so I could keep it.


And then…, AND THEN…

The Guilt – the other sister, (and I totally believe her) thought about calling earlier in the day, but it was too early to call me, so she wound up forgetting until the next day. So when she called me I could tell that she was riddled with guilt and remorse, and even though I assured her that it was the though that counts, she must have wallowed all day long until she came up with the PERFECT restitution: A PUBLIC APOLOGY, complete with an irresistible picture of the nephew!! And it worked. She’s forgiven forever!!

Yep, I’m one lucky gal to be so loved. And I want to just say Thanks to you all and I LOVE YOU back!! Ya’ll don’t forget next year now, ya hear?!!!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Casting Stones, Casting Votes, Casting Pearls before swine... what's the difference?

...but I did it anyway!!!

I can honestly say that I have very little idea of WHAT I voted for, or even WHO I voted for. I tried, HONESTLY, I tried to sift through the trash talk and the dirty politics and the mud slinging. Even endured two candidates using CANCER as a political power play. It's total limbo in more ways than one. Not only do the voters just get hung out there with no sure direction to take and no real place to go to, but the candidate's theme song seems to be "how low can you go?"

...but I did it anyway!!!

I think that throughout this whole campaining/election/voting process, I came away with only two real pearls of wisdom and they are:

1. Voting is like picking your favorite mosquito out of the swarm
2. If voting REALLY worked, the government would have made it illegal a long time ago.

...but I did it anyway!!!

I decided that if nothing else, I needed to step up and exercise my civic duty. I considered it a way of "preserving my right to gripe"!!

...so I did it anyway, and I all in all, I feel pretty good about having done it.