Tonight Jungle Princess, Game Master, Maggie and I were home on the way from Awanas. There was a car parked in the middle of the road. No lights, no flashers, nothing. I assumed they were broken down and saw a man opening the side door of the car to motion me on. I pulled up, rolled down a window and asked if I could be of assistance.

A lady asked if I had a cell phone she could use.  I did, but then remembered that my cell phone is broken. I can call numbers in my memory, but if they have a 1,2, or 3 in the number, I can't dial it because those buttons have stopped working...another story for another day. I suggested they put on their hazard lights. We could not find them.  Anywhere on the steering column!  Then I remembered I had flares in my trunk. I opened my trunk. We are in the country, there are no lights, and while I have a flare, I don't carry a flashlight.  My trunk light hasn't worked in ages. My small miracle was that tonight, on the dark country road, when their lights wouldn't work and I had no flashlight, the trunk light lit up so I could find my flares and read the direction on the back of the package. God is amazing, isn't he!

Well, I told her we would walk to the house on the corner (I know the people) and use their phone. But they were not home. So we went back to my car and I drove her a couple of miles down the road to her cousin's house while her fiance waited with the car. (Forgot to mention, the reason they were in the middle of the road was they had hit a deer. The deer had run off. They didn't have a cell phone and they have recently moved here from New Jersey, so weren't aware of  'proper procedure'. All they could think of was getting the car home to her cousin.  Unfortunately, the car simply stopped working and they were stranded. It is totaled with the whole hood bashed in.Technically, they should have called the police where they were hit and filed an accident report, by driving it a few miles closer to home, they have endangered the insurance claim, but of course they did noth know that.

Anyway, Nancy is talking and trying to calm herself. She is terrified by what her cousin will say. I told her the important thing was that they were all right and the insurance would take care of the damage (I saw the damage, and I feel fairly sure in the end it will work out alright).  I took Nancy home and a woman with a cross around her neck came to the door. She didn't ask Nancy if they were okay or ask us in. She just backed up moaning and went in the house. Then after a few moments, she came back out asking more questions about what happened and when, then went back in. Finally, Nancy screwed up her courage and went in trying to explain. The cousin was hollering at her for not leaving the car where the accident had occured. As the cousin disappeared down a hallway, I loudly made the comment to Nancy (2 others were in the room) that the important thing was that everyone was alright and the insurance would take care of the rest. At that point, I said I had to go as I didn't want my DH worrying about where I was.

I stopped to let the fiancee know that they were on their way. They arrived as I walked away from my car and the woman coming out of this woman's mouth was obscene. I felt so sorry for Nancy and her fiancee and all I knew to do at that point was to pray.  It bothered me that this woman with her cross necklace could behave such, but I also know I have behaved poorly under stress. I pray for them all that there will be peace in their family, that the insurance issue will work out okay and that once the woman calms down, she will apologize to Nancy for her anger. I ask that you send up a prayer on their behalf as well.

God bless!

From my devotional today:

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10

Some days it's hard just to get out of bed. Our motivation is fading or completely gone. We are overcome with a "What difference does it make?" attitude. We become overwhelmed at the enormity of the duties before us.  Our talents and resources seem miniscule in comparison to the task.

A businessman and his wife once took a much needed getaway at an oceanside hotel. During their stay a powerful storm arose, lashing the beach and sending massive breakers against the shore.  The storm woke the man. He lay still in bed listening to the storm's fury and reflecting on his own life of constant and continual demands and pressures.

Before daybreak the wind subsided. The man got out of bed to go outside and survey the damage done by the storm. He walked along the beach and noticed it was covered with starfish that had been thrown ashore by the massive waves. They laid helpless on the sandy beach. Unable to get to the water, the starfish faced inevitable death as the sun's rays dried them out.

Down the beach a ways the man saw a figure walking along the shore. The figure would stoop and picke something up. In the dim of the early-morning light he couldn't quite make it all out. As he approached he realized it was a young boy picking up the starfish one at a time and flinging them back into the ocean to safety.

As the man neared the boy he asked,"Why are you doing that? One person will never make a difference - there are too many starfish to get back into the water before the sun comes up." 

The boy said sadly, "Yest, that's true," and then bent to pick up another starfish. Then he said, "But I can sure make a difference to that one."

God never intended for an individual to solve all of life's problems. But He did intend for each one of us to use whatever resources and gifts He gave us to make a difference where we are.

My today's devotional was about the value of one. I shared it in my previous post.  In the last 6 months to a year, I have been feeling more ready to reach out to others about my faith and to share what knowledge I have about God and Jesus. I have prayed that God would help me to be aware of opportunities where I could share my faith and to give me the courage to do so. As always, he has provided an answer.

1. A couple of months ago my sister and brother-in-law were visiting and they started asking questions about where we went to church and some other related questions. They were pondering going to church. My sister-in-law was much more ready than my brother-in-law. Their children had been going to a local church for awhile thanks to the efforts of my mother-in-law when she was in town and to Nanny who passed away in June.  Now both my sister-in-law and brother-in-law are going to church. Praise God!

2.  My children go to Awanas on Sunday night. There is a family two doors down that has two children, each a couple of years younger than mine and they do not attend church. This family has been a bit stand-offish in the years we have lived here. Last summer I made some overtures towards M, but she was going through a tough time and wasn't up to responding. We started taking walks in the late afternoon now that the weather is cooler and almost everyday we saw the kids outside playing. Last week, M was out there and I said hello, but let the opportunity to invite the kids to Awanas pass by. We walked on and I vowed if they were still out when we came back, I would ask. Well, they weren't and a week passed by before I caught M in the yard with the  kids. I told her about Awanas and she has said she would think about it as the time would make it late for her oldest to get to bed. I also was led to invite them to attend the church we are going to (different from the one we go to for Awanas). We talked quite a bit about church and a seed has been planted. Also, when I told her we were going to walk most every afternoon, she said she would like to join us. Yesterday she and her children were at the top of our driveway ready to go.  M is 25 and I hope God will give me the wisdom to be of assistance to her and her children.

3.  I missed an opportunity and acted very ugly to a person when I could have demonstrated a Christian behavior instead. Thank goodness the Lord forgives me and I hope he will present me with another opportunity. One day I was leaving a local restaurant (children in the back seat) and this guy was pulling in and not watching where he was going (he was looking at other traffic and almost ran into us). I looked at him quizzically and he rolled down his window and started talking. I thought he was going to apologize, but he rolled down his window and started saying the most foul things to me. Instead of rolling up my window or saying something kind in return, I acted just as ugly back (reverting to language that I rarely ever use anymore, but used to frequently be in my vocabulary). I am sorry I missed this opportunity and ashamed of the behavior I exhibited before my children, but I apologized to them and told them I had behaved badly and hopefully, there is a lesson there for them in my mistakes.

Well, that's enough sharing for now. I hope all of you who drop by my blog have a blessed day! Must get to work1

1.  I made it to Day 30! Even though it took me about 2 months to do, I blogged 30 entries of 5 blessings each and that leads to 150 blessings!

2.  I was blessed by comments I read from others who were reading my blessings.

3. My children have played all evening without incident.

4. I was able to teach a young lady a basic embroidery stitch today (and a young man). 

5. The smiles on the faces of the students in my co-op class as we discuss great literature and writing.

I finally have a few moments to blog. I sure have missed blogging and am ashamed it has taken me almost two months to get my 30 days of blessings in.  But I have been thinking about my blessings each day even if I haven't written them down and that was my goald to begin with.

1.  My children are such a blessing to me. It is their presence that encourages me to go to church even when I am sitting here thinking that I should stay home and get some work done.  I went this past Sunday even though I had a ton of stuff that needed doing at home and I was blessed by the message and my spirit was renewed.

2.  My children remind me to stop and enjoy the world around me. We have been taking walks and just getting out of the house replenishes me.  But having that time to enjoy God's world and watch my children riding their bikes and getting stronger and not to mention the good exercise for me are added blessings.

3.  Business continues to be good and that is giving me the opportunity to take care of some of the extras in life. The kids are going to be getting new beds, a fence for my daughter's puppy that she has been wanting to get, the piano is going to be tuned, things like that.

4.  Bills are paid, school is going well, and life is moving along smoothly for today.

5. The co-op we started this year has been a tremendous success. We are all learning something and the children are having an awesome time. 

4. 

This was from my morning devotional book and I thought I would share it.  It is a good thing to remember! May God bless you today and work miracles in your life.

The story is told of a diamond prospector in Venezuela named Rafael Solano. He was one of many impoverished natives and fortune seekers who came to sift through the rocks of a dried-up riverbed reputed to have diamonds.  No one, however, had had any luck for some time in finding any diamonds in the sand and pebbles. One by one, those who came left the site - their dreams shattered  and their bodies drained.

Discouraged and exhausted, Solano had just about decided it was time for him to give up too. He had nothing to show for months of hard work.

Then Solano stooped down one last time and scooped up a handful of pebbels, if only so he could say he had personally inspected every pebble in his claim. From the pebbles in his hand, he pulled out one that seemed a little different. He weighed it in his other hand. It seemed heavy. He measured it and weighed it on a scale. Could it be?

Sure enough, Solano had found a diamond in the rough! New York jewelry dealer Harry Winston paid Solano $200,000 for that stone. When it was cut and polished, it became known as the Liberator, and it is considered the largest and purest unmined diamond in the world. 

You may have been plugging away at a project for weeks, even months or years, without seeing much progress. Today may be the day. Don't give up!

The Scriptures are filled with examples of men and women who, on the verge of disaster or failure, experienced God's creative work in their lives. Remind yourself.

God's Word is true.

God can part the sea.

God can heal the incurable.

God can provide water from a rock and manna in the wilderness.

God can conquer your enemies.

God can still deliver from the fiery furnace and the lion's den.

Perservere in what He has asked you to do today, because your rewards will be more than you can think or imagine.

-From Breakfast with God

I love the movie Rikki Tikki Tavi. It was a favorite of mine as a child and back then you could only see it whenever the networks decided to show it on television. Now I own it on video and it can watch it anytime I want ... so there!  I don't know why this little mongoose story captured my imagination when I was a child. Maybe it was the sparkle in his eye. Maybe it was the way he outsmarted Nag and Nagina...or maybe it was the way he saved his family from harm. However, I know the food chain usually means there are things above you and things below you.  And the same is true for the mongoose. Apparently, they are on the menu for some carnivorous storks.

Here is a video of Marabou storks in Africa trying to catch some baby food for dinner. The third time is the charm for the storks, but the mongooses put up a good fight!

1. I have been too busy with work and home to blog. I miss blogging, but I am glad for the work and the income and I am glad the children are doing so well with homeschooling! 

2.  I have a friend who is helping me to test out new things with my Ebay business. She is being my willing guinea pig and I am grateful.

3.  My car's passenger window broke (clips inside). I am grateful that the repairs aren't very expensive and I have the money to fix them.

4.  My daughter loves doing school work and wants to work 'ahead'.

5.  My son is reading books that he would not have read except for that we are making them part of a co-op class. And he is learning to like some good literature:) We are currently reading The Witch on Blackbird Pond. Excellent!

1.  I recently 'rediscovered' a produce stand with good and reasonably priced produce. Helps for healthier eating.

2.  My children are taking an interest in cooking.

3.  Today, a friend told me that I had 'turned her child onto writing' after one co-op lesson. She said he had been writing on his story ever since (and prior to that he hadn't shown any interest in writing or coming up with stories at all). That really made my day.

4.  I am blessed because I can go to bed early tonight and the world won't come to an end.

5.  I went to an auction yesterday and picked up a 25.00 Maple Twin size bed for my daughter, a 4' x 3' box full of tupperware...some of which I can use and some of which I will sell, some wonderful books and glassware items. I am blessed by being able to go, to have the money to make the purchases and by the fact that I can carry something of this lady's family on forward as I find new homes for her books and other items.

1. Last night I left my children in capable hands and DH and I got to meet friends for dinner at Applebees and then we went to see Othello at the Black Friar's Theater in Staunton. It was fantastic! And it was fun to be out with friends and to eat a meal that didn't have a prize attached to it!

2.  I found a book at  a recent book sale that it turns out will likely sale for 100.00 or more. It's always nifty to find one of those kinds of books.

3.  My husband and I got to spend time together alone!

4.  Awanas is starting back up at a neighboring church. They do such a wonderful job with the program and with the children. I am grateful that they have such a heart for children and that they welcome mine.

5.  The weather has been positively fantastic!

This was in my Devotional Book this morning. It is taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

Generous in love -God give grace!

Huge in mercy - wipe out my bad record.

Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry.

I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.

You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all,

seen the full extent of my evil.

You have all the facts before you;

whatever you decide about me is fair.

I've been out of step with you for a long time...

What you're after is truth from the inside out.

Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. 

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,

scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.

Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,

set thses once-broken bones to dancing.

Don't look too close for blemishes,

give me a clean bill of health.

God, make a fresh start in me,

shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life

Don't throw me out with the trash,

or fail to breathe holiness in me.

Bring me back from gray exile,

put a fresh wind in my sails! 

Give me a job teaching rebels your way

so the lost can find their way home.

Commute my death sentence, God,

my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your

life-giving ways.

Unbutton my lips, dear God;

I'll let loose with your praise.

My prayer is that this will bless someone today. May all who read it (and those who don't) have a terrific day and be blessed by our most gracious Heavenly Father.

1.  Listening to my son practice piano and watching my husband practice with him. Their music fills our home with joy.

2.  A wonderful devotional book given to me by a friend.

3.  Another friend who thinks of me when she runs across homeschool books.

4.  My in-laws reached their Florida home safely this week.

5.  A friend who is a mentor and is very free with her advice on how to help me run my Ebay store. The true blessing is that even though we have very different political beliefs, we find common ground and hopefully learn a little bit about the other side of things as well.

1.  Yesterday we went to the zoo and enjoyed watching a large variety of God's creatures playing. (The Richmond Metro zoo has tons of monkeys and they were all having lots of fun!)

2.  I live in a free country with a President who believes in God and has stuck to difficult choices even when it gives his enemies ammunition against him.

3.  We can pray in public whether it be to say grace before eating or just to say 'thank you' or any other reason that we need to talk to God. Personally, I feel that people who pray in public at meal time are sending a strong message to those around them and who knows whose heart they might be touching.

4.  We drove over 200 miles yesterday and returned home without incident.

5.  I was able to pay back some money I had borrowed from my mom a year ago.

Lt. John A. Crisci

September 11, 2001 is a day that lives in our hearts and minds. We all remember where we were that day and what we were doing. My husband had just started a new job in Canada and I was mopping floors before taking my sick child to the doctor. My husband called me with the news that the world as we knew it had changed in an instant. As deeply as this day affected Americans and indeed people around the world, the people most affected were those who lost loved ones on this day etched in our minds.  As part of the 2,996 Memorial, I want to remember one of the people who left us that day.

John A. Crisci was a family man. Actually he had two families. John was first a husband, who for nearly thirty years loved his wife Rachael. Together they raised three fine upstanding boys, John Jr, Michael and Joseph. He was dedicated to his three sons, never pushing them but rather supporting them in all of their endeavors. The boys excelled in sports, school and behind them was their mother and father reinforcing the true value of competition, that friendship and fair play was the reward, not just winning. John wasn’t into fancy vacations, he preferred sitting in his backyard swinging in the swing and drinking coffee.

When you think of John, see a man who loved his children and wife. A man who worked for everything and took nothing for granted. John and his brother, Leonard were born in Brooklyn in a three-room apartment that never had heat in the winter and was always hot in the summer. They lost their father when he passed away in 1968, John was only 15 then and just starting High School, yet he stayed in school and went on to college. John’s belief in commitment and responsibility were displayed throughout his life.

Besides being a father, brother, son and husband, John was also a member of the New York Fire Department family for 23 years. John A. Crisci began his life in public service with the New York City Police Department, assigned to the 88^th precinct and then the 114^th precinct before becoming a NYC Firefighter.

In 1988, a major fire consumed a tenement in NYC’s Harlem area. John was informed that a small child was missing and might be on the sixth floor. He raced into the building, up six flights of stairs, crawled through thick smoke and found the child. With his back to the flames, and the child in his arms, he exited the building down a fire escape to safety. He was honored by the NYC Fire Department with one of its highest awards. He shrugged this off with a typical “What’s the big deal” attitude that he always had.

John A. Crisci loved firefighting and was a rescue specialist and teacher. In 2001, he was working with the Hazardous Materials Company 1 in Maspeth, Queens. His shift was over on September 11, 2001 and he was on his way home when the first plane struck. Instead of going home, he changed back into his gear and jumped on a rig headed for lower Manhattan. Before entering the World Trade Center Tower, he saw a probationary firefighter with an orange shield on the scene. He said, “Go back to that truck and stay there, and don’t move.” John saved that man’s life. Unfortunately, John and 17 other members of the Haz-Mat Co. at Maspeth were lost when the towers collapsed.

John was a hero to his children, to his co-workers and to millions of people around the world. He put others lives before his own, and on the day the towers fell, he was doing what he believed in and what he was trained to do. John was not a man looking to make a name for himself. He was called to serve and to protect. He followed that calling willingly and with joy and conviction. I have no doubt that John now stands in Heaven, still watching over his families. John, on September 11, 2001, you and your two families became linked to the rest of us.  We are sorry that your life ended when and the way it did. But we thank you for your commitment and example. You are a true hero. May God bless and keep your family safe until you can all be together again.

The information in the above tribute came from the following resources:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/people/2060.html

http://www.legacy.com/Sept11.asp?Page=TributeStory&PersonId=98346

http://www.crusadefinearts.com/comics/throughtheashesjohncrisci.html

http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/featurearchive/feature2002/0328/feature_story.html

This is part of a huge blogging effort where one man started a movement to get bloggers involved in remembering the victims of 9/11.  You can read other tributes HERE.

1. The smell of homemade food...bread, cookies, pie, dinner in the crockpot.

2.  I was able to repair the loose wheel on the lawnmower and mow the yard.

3.  A nice quiet day at home. I baked and got some Ebay store work accomplished.

4. My husband is all fixed up with a new used car that gets better gas mileage than his collector's Jeep he has been driving and will keep him cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

5.  My children have played well together all day.

As I wrote my tribute for Lt. John A. Crisci, he came to life for me, in spite of the fact that he was ripped from life 5 years ago. As I read the tributes of others in the 2,996 blogger event, I learn about the people who were sacrificed on the altar of terrorism and I know that as long as we remember them, they live on. 

Some may say that we are reopening our wounds by doing this...why do we want to keep focusing on a tragedy that happened five years ago...why are we dragging this dead cat out to look at it again as my mother-in-law would say.

Well, the answer is simple...as long as we remember, then the terrorists have failed. As long as we remember, these people live on. As long as we remember, then we will have the resolve to be vigilent and keep our country safe.  War is not pretty. We didn't ask for this war and no one in their right mind is happy that we are in it. I get so sick and tired of hearing from those who say the war is about oil or about our dislike of people who are Islamic. We are a nation founded on the principle that all are welcome here. We based out country on the principle of religious freedom. But religious freedom is not granted to those who wish to kill others (no matter what their religion...Christianity, Jewish, Islamic, etc). 

Terrorists brought this war to us very vividly one bright September morning and in order to remain a free nation we must respond. We must chase them to every corner of the earth, to every cave they hide in, to every innocent they hide behind. Will we ever get rid of all the terrorists, truthfully we have to acknowledge that there will always be people who want to kill others. But can we make life a living hell for them? Can we harry them so that they have no rest, not time to plan, no safe haven? Yes, we can! And by keeping them on the move and infiltrating their previously dark hide outs, we can keep down the damage they are able to do.

So, go ahead, think about what happened on September 11, 2001. Read the tributes. Cry. Remember. And grow stronger in your resolve to support our government so they can do everything in their power to make sure this travesty doesn't happen again.  The 2,996 project is a great place to start...remember the voices we no longer hear and celebrate their lives. Also, check out the website Oh How Soon We Forget for moving tributes and information.

And remember, there are many ways to fight the war on terrorism. Be vigilant. Be happy. Be grateful to live in a free country. Support our military. Support countries that stand by our side in this fight. Live every day to its fullest, but not in fear, in joy.

May God bless you. May God bless and keep those families who lost loved ones on September 11th. May God bless our military and their families. May God bless the people and countries around the world that stand beside us in this fight. And may God remember those who ran away.

1.  Today is a beautiful day. Low humidity, a nice breeze, autumn is in the air.

2.  I have been blessed by people's responses to my 9/11 tribute.

3.  We have become the proud owners of a new inexpensive car in good condition. It belonged to my husband's grandmother.

4.  We have had a great week with school work, learning a lot and getting a lot done.

5.  My husband loves me and plays with the children.

1.  I lost 1 lb last week.

2.  My sore throat is feeling much better.

3.   My family enjoys singing karoake together...memories for a life time.

4.  My little girl looks up to Wonder Woman.

5.  My stepson called today and caught me up with what he was up to.

1.  D. C. Roe set up a remembrance for those who died 9-11-2001. I am blessed to be able to be part of that.  I wrote a tribute for Lt. John A. Crisci. There are over 3,173 bloggers involved. Be sure to read these moving tributes.

2.  A beautiful, cool day today and the children and I got a whole bunch of errands taken care of and got to see the movie, CARS (we really enjoyed it).

3.  My HSB  friends who always encourage me and provide me with useful information.

4.  Magnesium (I can't believe that I am not craving chocolate!)

5.  Good sales in my Ebay store.

1.  We had an excellent first day for our co-op.

2.  My husband made me dinner.

3.  My children behaved even though I wasn't around to remind them:)

4.  I made new friends.

5.  I got to spend some time with old friends too.

1.  More Rain!

2.  The migraine I had yesterday is gone.

3.  I learned today that my serious chocolate cravings could be counteracted by adding magnesium to my diet. I will blog more on this later! Thanks so much to Jaminacema!

4.  I have some time today to blog and read a few blogs.

5.  I am blessed that my husband is not a sports fanatic who wants to spend all of his spare time watching football, etc.

1.  A beautiful fall like day...I knew the hot, humid summer couldn't last forever!

2.  My dad and stepmother visited for dinner as we celebrated my dad's 61st birthday.

3.  My children have already picked their Halloween costumes and they are ready to go. (Arrgghhh, matey!)

4.  I slept well last night.

5.  Our bills are caught up.