Woman – Hazardous Material

Good New Years Eve friends. Hope you are safe and warm. In cleaning out my spare room to turn it into an office/writing room, I ran across some old books and papers I have not seen in a very long time. I wanted to share one that I found that, as a woman myself, made me chuckle and hope it brings you a smile for then end of this… “interesting” … year. I do not know where it came from but it was tucked in the quality control papers from my management position down in Alabama and fit the types of papers we dealt with assuring safety and quality within the automotive industry. It is titled “!!Hazardous Materials Data Sheet!!” Enjoy the chuckle with me.

Element : Woman

Discoverer: Adam

Atomic Mass: Accepted as 55kg but known to vary from 45kg to 225kg

Physical Properties:

Body surface normally covered with film of powder and paint.
Boils at absolutely nothing – freezes for no apparent reason.
Found in various grades ranging from virgin martial to common ore.

Chemical Properties:

Reacts well to gold, platinum and precious stones.
Explodes spontaneously without reason or warning.
The most powerful money reducing agent known to man.

Common Use:

Highly ornamental, especially in sports cars.
Can greatly aid relaxation.
Can be a very effective cleaning agent.

Hazards:

Turns green when placed alongside a superior specimen.
Possession of more than one is possible but specimens must never know of other possessions or make sys contact.

In reality, all women must understand their great value to all of mankind. While we can be possessive creatures, when it get down to brass tacks, we really want the best for everybody. So women – stay pure and beautiful as God made you and remember beauty is not always on the outside. Inner beauty always carries more power, courage and resolve…regardless of gender.

Have a very good new year and remember always to be kind.

Happy New year

As I read my devotion this morning, I was reminded of God’s love for us. As we approach this new year let us not worry about how we tripped up this year and fell short of His expectation…or rather our expectation of how we thought we should have been.

God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of our missteps to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. Oswald Chamber

Let’s not waste time worrying about the “oops” we made this past year but allow Him to guide us, using those missteps through the new year, to show the beauty of who we can be.

While we have lost opportunities that will never return, God can transform these lost opportunities into constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Oswald Chambers

I wish you the very best New Year and hope that all things go well for you. Remember God wants us to be happy.

Let your fresh start for the new year be filled with kindness. Kindness comes for the heart and reflects His love for all.

First Snow Fun

Its always fun on the first snowfall to go out and play. Daisy thought it a great idea to run crazy fast circles in the 3-4 inch frozen white.

Snow hides the dead of fall making everything pure and white. I am okay with it until it lasts for days…..

The birds don’t seem to mind as long as food is readily available. Evidently its lunch time.

The bummer is that even with this small amount of snow, it has covered the receiver of the satellite dish, so no TV. Glad the cable is underground, at least I can play here. Welcome winter, don’t be mean and don’t stay too long. And please be kind to those of us who are not big winter fans.

At the End, It is a First

Hello friends. Crazy title for a post isn’t it, but that is what December has been like here in Iowa. We had crazy record breaking highs in the 70s combined with February cold in the teens. No wonder people are running around with the sniffles. But today is the first snow for December. It wont last. It will turn to rain by lunch but it is a sign of what is to come. This coming weekend may prove to be what the weathermen have been telling us all through the fall – winter is going to be cold.

The changes of the weather can sometimes be a reflection of the changes in our lives, some days hot, some days cold, and what we really want is comfort in the middle. My daughter gave me a fabulous gift for Christmas. Its a sandscape picture with soothing colors of blue, white, black and a smattering of glitter, The picture is filled with water and oil and as you flip the picture, it changes in a most mesmerizing way, soothing and calming to the nerves. I have heard these do wonderful calming effects for children in the autism spectrum to help them focus. I can see why, and can sit and flip it for the better part of an hour as every turn creates a different picture.

When you flip the picture you see the oil bubbles float to the top creating small gaps for the various sands to fall through creating a mountain range of various shapes. Coming from the southeast and the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this reminds me of the peace and tranquility of those mountains. A most fitting feeling as we walk through the last week of Christmas being reminded again about the Prince of Peace coming as a small defenseless babe.

This sandscape also reminds me of life and how it moves, sometime fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes all at once that can create a mess if we don’t have our feet grounded.

But regardless of the speed of the sands of life falling, if we stop, listen and breathe…we will feel the peace and comfort of God surrounding us.

So as we close out another year, let us focus on a new year to come with sands of beauty as God gives us the strength to stand firm in however they fall.

Regardless of how your sands may look to fellow man, to God they are all beautiful. So share your beauty of your creation with others so that they too will understand the beauty of their own sandscape. And as always, remember to be kind. It helps unlock those doors of fear.

Christmas Eve Encouragement

Tonight is a night we focus on the memory of Christ’s birth, a quiet joyful night usually with candlelight. The candlelight represents His light coming into the world and as we share the flame from candle to candle, it shows how we should share His light from person to person.

Christmas means that God is interested in the affairs of people, that God loves us so much that He was willing to give His Son. Billy Graham

In my Christmas village I have an observatory and it reminds me we should always remember to look for His star, His light, as it shines on us and the rest of the world.

***The Hope Observatory, may we all feel the hope of His light***

I wish you all the very best Christmas. If this is a joyous time for you and your family, I hope it continues to shine brightly. If this time of year is sad for you, I hope the light of Christ finds you so that you understand just how much you are loved. He came for all of us to find His love and peace.

Merry Christmas

Evening Encouragement

Good evening friends. This is a time of year where we all think everyone should be happy and filled with joy. But for some, this is a difficult time of year. So I come to you with thoughts from a new devotional called Jesus Speaks by Steven Scott. This is a wonderful devotional book and companioned by another of Steven’s books called The Greatest Words Ever Spoken. These books unfold the words spoken by Christ to help us understand them better and be able to lean on them for any situation we may find ourselves in. I hope this encouragement post will ease those troubled hearts just a bit. The Bible and the teachings of Jesus are a living entity that, if we study them as we should, will always help us feel His loving arms around us as He carries us through the hard times.

Even the disciples had a hard time fully understanding His teachings and how to use them for their lives, but the Holy Spirit came alongside them, with a lighted path, to help show them the way. And He wants to do the same for all of us. But to see this path we must stay in the Word, for His word is the light for our path.

When we stay in the Word, our faith will grow and when our faith grows, our fears and doubts will vanish and we can stand firm.

Remember that even though you can not see Him, probably may not even feel Him, there is no need to fear. You can trust that He is as close as your breath.

So I encourage you to feel the peace of Christ in any of your concerns. His love for you is more powerful than any of us will ever fully understand.

Have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and in all things try to be kind. The seeds of kindness can quickly grow new trees of love.

The Gift of Love

As we explore this final week of Advent, we explore the vast, powerful and varied meanings of the word – LOVE. I want us to visual us standing inside a closet with the door closed, no light is on. No light is on in the house either. How dark and lonely is it in your closet? That dark can’t compare to the darkness of the nothing that was before creation. But what does creation have to do with love…everything.

God created everything that was…that is…that will be. And his purpose was love. Think about how you feel when you make something for someone as a gift. Now take that feeling and expound it exponentially…then you might begin to understand why God creates things for us. God wants a close relationship with us. It’s why He created Eden, so he could walk in and with all of His creation, enjoying the love they shared together. But man messed it up and here we are today still trying to find our way back to that love. And patiently God waits for us to come…

And knowing our inability to fully find our way back to Him, His love never failed and He gave us an unbelievable gift…a baby…Himself in human form, to show us again that amazing Love.

As we come to the close of the Advent season we begin to fully understand the power of the four gifts of Advent and how these gifts link out past, our present and our future together. The gift of Hope, the gift of Peace, the gift of Joy and now the gift of Love, all come together to help us celebrate Christ’s coming…in the past, here with us today…and in the future when all things will be made new as they should be.

Just as a parent loves their child, so God loves us as we are his children. He loved us first…and loves us more. That is the power of His Love.

We close out Advent with the lighting of the white candle on Christmas Eve, Christ’s candle. Let us never forget the all consuming LOVE God the Father and God the Son have for each of us.

Even though we may not fully understand the completeness of this love, it is as real as the air you are breathing. Breathe it in, embrace it and share it with others who need to breathe it in.

May you all have a very blessed Christmas. And remember in all things to be kind.

The Gift of Joy

Good morning friends. I come to you this morning to explore some more through the Advent devotional book “The Gifts of Christmas”. This week we are celebrating the beauty and power of Joy. The candle we light is pink because this color represents joy. This candle is meant to help us enjoy the remembrance of Jesus’ birth. This candle is also called the Shepherd’s Candle as it represents the joy of the shepherds.

I can not imagine how the shepherds felt when all of a sudden the sky erupted with angels, but they told them not to be afraid. The gift of joy that had been promised of old had now been born. It is a gift of caring love and of strength.

And while this world around us can be quite scary, we have an inner joy that is stronger than any fear through Jesus our King. The Wiseman from foreign lands had studied the stars for years and knew of the prophecies. They felt a powerful joy the star appeared and went to seek it out.

As our pastor explained to us during Sunday’s sermon, joy is not a feeling, it’s a choice. Happiness is a feeling that can come from joy but if circumstances are dire, you can still have joy, it is a gift from God that comes from within.

There are many scriptures concerning joy, so it is a very important gift for us to embrace and hold tightly to. The psalmists remind us to be glad in the joy that has been bestowed on us.

May you feel the Joy of the Lord in all that you encounter. Have a blessed weekend and remember through this season of joy to always be kind.

Encouragement for Women

Some encouragement and love for all women. This poem was written by Donna Ashworth and the sculpture was created by Simone Wojciechowski . I was so touched when I saw them both on facebook, I wanted to share with all of you. Never forget how very special all women are. A special creation from God by design for His purposes. Even though some of us have harder tasks than others, He has given us all the strength to get through them all. Hang in there and lean on God when it seems too hard and He will carry you through it.

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day.

An angel came by and asked, “Why spend so much time on her?“

The Lord answered, “Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her? She must function in all kinds of situations. She must be able to embrace several kids at the same time, have a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart. She must do all this with only two hands. She cures herself when sick and can work 18 hours a day.”

The angel was impressed, “Just two hands…impossible! And this is the standard model?” The angel came closer and touched the woman. “But you have made her so soft, Lord.

“She is soft”, said the Lord, “But I have made her strong. You can’t imagine what she can endure and overcome.”

“Can she think?” the angel asked.

The Lord answered, “Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate.

“The angel touched her cheeks. “Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her.”

“She is not leaking…it is a tear” the Lord corrected the angel.

“What’s it for?” asked the angel.

The Lord said, “Tears are her way of expressing her grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride.”

This made a big impression on the angel. “Lord, you are a genius. You thought of everything. A woman is indeed marvelous!”

Lord said, “Indeed she is. She has strength that amazes a man. She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens. She holds happiness, love and opinions. She smiles when she feels like screaming. She sings when she feels like crying. Cries when happy and laughs when afraid. She fights for what she believes in. Her love is unconditional. Her heart is broken when a next-of-kin or a friend dies but she finds strength to get on with life.”

The angel asked: “So she is a perfect being?”

The Lord replied, “No. She has just one drawback…she often forgets what she is worth.”

May women everywhere understand just how very important they are. I think women underestimate themselves more than men do and while all creation has a divine purpose, I believe women can balance more plates in the air at one time that most men. So rest assured ladies, you are indeed special. And remember in all that you do, be kind.

2021 Holiday Doors

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature, hosted by No facilities, allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

His post this week of Ginger bread houses inspired me to show some favorite doors from the village I painted with a friend way back in 2000. We wanted to have a small village for Christmas but could not quit finding cute houses. So now 48 houses later, I have my village. The village gets put out every year. We won’t talk about the 10 I gave away as Christmas gifts. Wish I still had them. But alas it is what it is. The first pictures are a few of the ones I painted that have more interesting door features.

The next set of pictures are from a new village I started this year. These structures are only 3 inches high against those above that are 5 inches or higher. I call this little village the Candy Cane Village. They feature Mr. & Mrs. Claus and I did not make these. They are actually supposed to be ornaments, except for the Mr. & Mrs. They were my mom’s.

***The red sign says “Believe in the Magic of Christmas”***

If you enjoyed these, I will post more village pieces this weekend. Have a great end to your week and remember to always be kind. It shows the sweeter side of you.