prayer for the day ...

Because of the Lord's great love we

are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning,

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The Lord is my

portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

Lamentations 3:20-24

Operation Christmas Child

just a reminder for those of you who pack shoeboxes ... the time is soon approaching ... national collection week in canada is november 5-10 ... in the US it is november 12-19 ...

click here: samaritans purse ... to find the collection spot in your area and brighten the day of a child who normally doesn't get gifts ... this small act of kindness is such a huge blessing to the heart of the giver!

new day

squeaks started a new day with a new outlook ... he was a happy go lucky kitty again ... racing around the condo, jumping into the air, playing with all the toys he came across ... and last night he purred and purred for what seemed like hours ... i guess going through that stressful experience made him feel better - :o)

this morning we woke up to a heavy frost ... the flowers pictured above and below were still blooming yesterday ( pics taken on 25th and 26th) ... which is sort of unusual in our neck of the woods ... usually the flowers are gone by Thanksgiving (which falls on the second monday of October here in Canada) ... last year we had had a good snowfall already ... i'm loving fall this year!!!

this morning i was reading Titus ... i'll leave the following verses with you - they spoke to my heart of a day that will be coming soon ... i want others to get on board that salvation train - the ticket is still free - by asking Jesus to forgive our sins and accepting Him as Lord and Savior, by faith ... but it won't always be that way ... that thought is very sobering to me ...

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeard to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldy passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Titus 2: 11-14 (NIV)

Squeaky's day ...

squeaks had a very exciting day today ...

he went for a ride with us, in his new cat carrier ... a ride all the way to the doctor's office!
there the nice lady doctor stuck a thermometer up his bum ...
shoved a pill down his throat ...
put greasy stuff on his head and behind his ears ...
lathered gooie liquid inside his ears, then swabbed it all out with very long Q-tips ...
then jabbed his butt with 2 long needles ...

we brought him home and he hasn't purred since!

i went to work for the afternoon and when i came home, he sat on my lap for 2 minutes, then went back to bed with a very disgusted look on his face!

i guess he's had better days?

2 Timothy 4:2

just chatting ...

last week it was all about books & computers ... a learning curve ...

then my off hours were all about home, family and friends ... it has been quite busy in my little world!

today it was a library meeting and tomorrow will be my ALL day (including evening) at the library! leo and our little kitty are missing me - but i keep telling them that once we get into a routine, it will be better!

life is like that, isn't it? feast or famine ... and blessed is the person who can actually balance it all properly!

my sister maria is stable again - thank you for praying - her health has been poor for many years now, but there are varying degrees to it ... for those of you who live with chronic care loved ones, you will know what i mean ...

leo seems to be in a "healthier" mode too ... which is always a relief to me!

as for me - i went from an easy pace, to a steady working pace ...

well i best go read the paper, before it becomes old news (which will only take seconds in our world of instant, high speed, info!) ...

blessings to one and all who happen drop by this site!

morning has broken

picture taken monday morning from our living room window

Morning has broken

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon

first day at my new job ...

my first day at the library went very very quickly! and i enjoyed myself a whole bunch!!

unfortunately, i did wake up at 2 a.m. this morning - reviewing all the things i had learned and thinking of questions to ask on thursday when i go back to work ... i guess the old brain doesn't log off the same way you can end computer programs! :o? this will be my learning curve ... plus i am working more hours this first week - for training purposes ...

it was fun tho'!!!! i hope that enjoyment continues for most days ... i just want all the blessings, don't i? i DO HOPE/PRAY that i will be a blessing to those i meet and work with!

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest. ~Lady Bird Johnson

perfect Autumn day ...

ok, fess up! someone must have prayed for sunshine in my world - because after talking about the gloom in my previous post - today was an absolutely PERFECT day! the sun was out and my world was bright & cheery! :o)

i even washed windows and puttered around in the garden, admiring the flowers that are still blooming! in our neck of the woods, the frost should have hit and killed them by now ... but they are still greeting me with their multi-coloured smiling faces ...

after the household work - it was time for a bike ride!!!! i gleefully hit the trail and even snapped a few photo's to share with you ...

the picture above and the picture below, were both taken at the town dock/beach ... as you can see, the leaves are mostly on the ground now - but it is a tranquil lovely spot to visit ... and one i pass by every day when i go check the mail at the postoffice ...

see how serene the water is? you can see the clouds reflected in it ...

and here is the other end of town ... i must have biked a few miles ... thoroughly enjoying every wheel rotation, grinning like a 10 year old who didn't have a care in the world ... and as i rode, i prayed ... "thank you Lord ... i love you Lord ... you have blessed me beyond measure ... "

how good God is ... how i love the simple sweet things in life ... and despite the burdens that can weigh me down - God brings these joys along, that unexpectantly lift me up again ...

blessings to you, blog buds! and an extra blessing to the one who prayed for SONshine!

Art gallery? Who needs it? Look up at the swirling silver-lined clouds in the magnificent blue sky or at the silently blazing stars at midnight. How could indoor art be any more masterfully created than God's museum of nature?

~Grey Livingston

no sunshine ....

i took this pic today as i made my way to the city & some shopping ... i did tweak it a little before putting the little note on it (the note is from an RBC daily bread booklet - they didn't credit the quote to anyone) ... the picture captured the gloomy weather we've had in the prairies lately ... apparently we've only had 6 hours of sunshine this October - YIKES! we're known as sunny manitoba - but not this month! ...

the quote i used adds a positive touch to the gloom of the pic ...

i did have another of those driving/shopping trips i like to take ... solo ... and tho' i didn't buy much, it was fun ... i'm good company (said with tongue in cheek!!) ... *grin* ...

my library job starts this tuesday - so i've had plenty of time to do home stuff and be with leo ...

blessings on your weekend! i'm just hoping for some sunshine!

from the "garden"

remember how i had a lovely little flower garden and didn't plant it?

well look at these cherry tomatoes that came up all by themselves!! they grew by the side of our condo ... so i just let them ... *smile* ...

i know they are green, but there was a frost warning ... so i took some inside and wrapped them in newspaper to let them ripen ...

isn't that the neatest thing how God does stuff like that? i never knew that tomatoes just came up like that!

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.

~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

worry? who me?

Worry is a completely unproductive emotion. It is the advance interest we pay on troubles that seldom come. ... God wants to be the first one we turn to in times of worry or crisis.
~ Greg Laurie

PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING! and IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS! ... that is God's will for us ...

thankful heart

it is the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend ...

i am thankful for a peaceful home, with leo in it ...
i am thankful that my sister is feeling more comfortable ...
i am thankful for so much answered prayer ...
i am thankful that God answers "no" to some of my requests - since He knows what is best ...
i am thankful for so many many things in my life ... which i have been thinking of this morning.

the foremost is Salvation ... knowing Jesus as my Saviour and Lord ...

i am thankful for prayer ... and friends who pray ... and care ...

i am thankful for y-o-u, my friends who i have never met, except through our blogs ...

blessings and peace to you ... this Thanksgiving weekend!

our library ...

first an update on maria ... they have stabilized her ... they have also let her go home, which is unsettling for us ... we would have preferred she stay in the hospital over the weekend ... we do covet your prayer for her ... as i said, she has been stablized, yet all her diagnosis remain the same and grave ...

yet there is other news, which is good ... i have a part-time job at the local library! it is something i have always wanted to do ... and now that we live in town, i'm so close that it's an easy walk ... *smile* ... i only work 2 days one week and 3 days the next ... and the job ends in april, so i can still have our beautiful summers off ... i do feel blessed!

with that said, here is another from my archives - written in march of 2005 - at that time i didn't know that our cottage would be sold and that i would actually be working at the same library i love to visit ...

blessings to you, dear blog buds!


March, 2005 archives:

yesterday i visited one of my favourite places in our quaint little town ... the public library ... i walked in and realized that even the air permeates books ... it enveloped me like the hug from a dear friend ...

my first stop was the "what’s new" shelf ... and i was tickled to see a Francine Rivers’ book, The Priest ... i picked it up and continued my perusal for things to read ...

this year i visit the library every 3 weeks ... last year i went on a weekly basis ... this year i usually pick up 4 books ... last year i would pick up 6 books ... this year i feel refreshed and at peace with my reading material ... last year i read and read and read, yet felt empty ...

so what is the difference? this year i am trying to feed my soul, not to titillate my senses ... i’m not saying that i am reading only study books or Christian novels ... but i am choosing the secular books with more care ...

last year i just wanted to escape my life in a novel ... which is a fine "vacation" occasionally, but definitely not as a steady diet ... i left the table hungrier than when i sat down!

yet somehow i didn’t want to "see" that all i needed was just a little bit of self-discipline in the area of books, and the Lord would bless my "little bit", a whole lot!

i think i’m a slow learner in some areas of my life ... but i am still teachable ... smile ... and i think it counts in God’s eyes ...

a prayer request

would you please pray for my sister "maria" ... she is 42 years old and in acute renal failure (plus other complications) ... i was just visiting her at the hospital, in the city, yesterday ... it saddens my heart to see her like this ... she is uncomfortable and in pain ... would you please pray with me that the Lord gives her body comfort and her spirit strength? thank you ...

i reposted my story about her - written a year ago ... ... thank you for your prayer ....

Maria and me (i'm the one with the long hair!), taken in 1969

from my Fall 2006 archives:

have i ever told you about one of my sweet little sisters? no? well i guess today is the day ...

we'll call her Maria in my blog ... she is the first of mom's children from her second marriage ... my brother and i thought she was just the cutest baby ever born ...

Maria was also the most mischievous little thing!

she wanted to experience every aspect of life ... to explore ... to travel ... to meet new people ... and more than once, some of these activities got her into a real pickle of a problem ...

but i totally fell in love with my little sister in those early days of taking care of her ... and it broke my heart when at the age of 3, she became a diabetic ... it was before the time of disposable syringes ... the needles seemed huge & heavy ... her little body seemed so small and fragile, as mom would inject the insulin into those tiny little arms ... we all soon learned about insulin reactions and diabetic shock ...

maybe this caused Maria to want to live, love, and experience everything life afforded in such a driven way ...

did i also mention that diabetes is an unforgiving disease? unlike the saving grace of God - diabetes is unforgiving and without grace, or many second chances ...

over the years, Maria has slowed down considerably ... the disease taking over and ruling everything except her sweet spirit ...

i spoke with her this morning ... she tried to catch her breath, as with drug slurred speech she described her doctor's visit yesterday ... she is retaining so much water that her heart is having a hard time keeping things going ... she is pretty well house bound and losing her vision ... she is slowly losing her life too ... she just turned 41 last week ...

Maria is one of the bravest and sweetest women i know ... but for the sake of honesty and not to make her out to be a saint, she has also lived hard and wild - only to return again and again into the waiting arms of Jesus - who has unconditionally saved her soul ...

i feel so very sad this morning as i think of her ailing body ... yet i do rejoice that her Hope IS in the Lord ... and that Hope won't disappoint ...

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:2-4