FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!!

In economics today, we had to look up the total cost of giving the gifts from the song the 12 Days of Christmas. I found this article on MSN Money and could hardly believe it. From the pear tree to the twelve drummers, True Love would have spent more than $65,000 last year. See for yourself:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/
content/CNBCTV/Articles/TVReports/P68518.asp

Who wants three french hens anyway? And twelve drummers would give me a migraine.
Good thing, considering my true love has yet to make an appearance.

The Prophet

A friend of a friend once wrote:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children. And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet do they not belong to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves the bow that is stable.

-Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet

How Rich We Are

One day at the Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Fanny J. Crosby was asked by D.L. Moody to give a personal testimony. At first she hesitated, then quietly rose and said, 'There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my soul's poem. Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.' She then recited while many wept:

'Someday the silver cord will break,
and I no more as now shall sing;
but oh, the joy when I shall wake
within the palace of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face,
and tell the story--saved by grace!'

When Fanny died, at 95 years of life, she was buried beneath a simple stone enscribed, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!"

Jesus is mine. Thank you for passing on your faith, Mom and Dad. How Rich we are!

A Different Road

I’ve traveled long
I’ve traveled hard
And stumbled many times along the way
I’ve bruised my knees a lot
And turned my back on God
And seen His mercy
I’ve been quick to judge
And slow to learn
So many times I’ve gotten in the way
I think I know so much
I’ve questioned God enough
But still He loves me

So now I’ll walk a different road
I want to see Him there before I even go
I’ve run ahead and gone too slow
I’ve got to be still now
Wait upon His will now
This time,
It’s gonna be His time

Don’t want to live without
The peace that comes to me
When I am by His side
I’ve known the freedom there
Can’t find it anywhere
But in Christ Jesus
I believe He’s got a plan
Everything in His time
I may not always understand
Everything in His time
Everything in His time

-Kathy Troccoli

I don't know what made me think I could be perfect. I thank God for being who He is. Glory be.

Top 10 Quotes Heard this Week

10. [in reference to keeping money in the icebox] "So, one might say they have a 'freeze' on their account..."

9. [speaking to a class of first graders] "your configurations of coins don't need to match your neighbors'."

8. "you'll have to excuse my friend, she's a little...crooked." refering to my parking at Target.

7. "You've got to be kidding me!" kristi when Fr. H. told the class they were going to read all of St. John ch. 6.

6. "You'll have to hold your nose from here to the sidewalk, it smells like cats."

5. "Look, you could get these for your Christmas trick-or-treaters." -me.

4. "What, boots?" -clint e. [i was pointing at mini-candy canes]

3. "I suppose I could have just taken the batteries out of the bird, but hiding it and leaving a ransom note just made more sense."

2. "I'm a pretty, pretty princess."

1. "We bring glory to God by praising him for what he has done, trusting him for all we need, and obeying him in all he asks." -John Piper [and you were thinking I wasn't gonna sneak in some theology...]

To My Brothers Growing Older, Growing Strong

"Wrist-wrestling father"

On the maple wood we placed our elbows
and gripped hands, the object to bend
the other's arm to the kitchen table.
We flexed our arms and waited for the sign.

I once shot a wild goose.
I once stood not twenty feet from a buck deer unnoticed.
I've seen a woods full of pink lady slippers.
I once caught a 19-inch trout on a tiny fly.
I've seen the Pacific, I've seen the Atlantic,
I've watched whales in each.

I once heard Lenny Bruce tell jokes.
I've seen Sandy Koufax pitch a baseball.
I've heard Paul Desmond play the saxophone.
I've been to London to see the Queen.
I've had dinner with a Nobel Prize poet.

I wrote a poem once with every word but one just right.
I've fathered two fine sons
and loved the same woman for twenty-five years.

But I've never been more amazed
than when I snapped my father's arm down to the table.

-Orval Lund