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January 19, 2021

Birthday Memories


We had Covid just about all of December and then I had complications. Let me tell you,  coronavirus 
positively sucks! smile! Visited the ER twice, was on steroids 2 times and had 2 secondary infections that I took antibiotics for and am currently still on a blood thinner for blood clots in my lungs. The second ER visit on Christmas day, they kept me in an unplanned hospital stay overnight. So needless to say, that was a scary time. While I'll go to heaven to live someday, I'm not ready for a move in that direction any time soon, no offense, God. smile! Let's just say, I'm grateful to still be alive! 

I made note of all our wonderful church family members who brought us meals and shopped for us while we were in quarantine. That was such as blessing. And thank God for technology, as I was able to talk to a couple of doctors and friends via video chats while we were sick. 

BIRTHDAY MEMORIES:

 When I was of elementary school age, my siblings and I contracted chicken-pox. And now I can add that I've had the coronavirus on my birthday as well!

Girlfriends sent me electronic and snail mail cards for my birthday! Thank you, gals! The guys had ordered my gifts and they were delivered by snail mail. I received a Mary Engelbreit blanket from my honey and the boy gave me a Mary Engelbreit Loonacy game, a Mary Engelbreit coloring book  and a Mary Engelbreit desk calendar! Whee!

The US President who was in office when I was born was Dwight "Ike" David Eisenhower. You can read his biography here!  I wrote the article some time back. 

 INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES!

My pastor's sermon "Name Them One by One!" And below, in the comments on YouTube, I name three blessings that I've enjoyed lately. 

Truth Cards by Melody Ross. These two blog posts tell about them. One, Two.  

SAYINGS & QUOTES!

Mary Engelbreit's card = "A charmed life."

"Christmas is a season when we give tokens of love. In that house, we received not tokens of love but love itself. I became the writer I promised by Father I'd be and my destiny led me far from Walton's Mountain. My mother lives there still, alone now for we lost our Father in 1969. My brothers and sisters, grown with children of their own, live not far away. We're still a close family and see each other when we can. And like Miss Mamie Ballwin's 4th cousin, we're apt to sample the recipe and gather around the piano and hug each other while we sing the old songs. For no matter the time or distance, we are united in the memory of that Christmas Eve more than 30 years and 3,000 miles away. I can still hear those sweet voices. 

Elisabeth: "Goodnight, John-Boy." 

"Goodnight everybody!" 

~ Earl Hamner, Jr., The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, 1971

My husband's family reminds me a lot of the Spencer/Walton family. Except the Rush's lived in the Ozark hills for 150 years and the Spencer/Walton's family settled in the Virginia mountains. 

SCRIPTURES!

Coloring Sheet Scripture -- Deuteronomy 11:22 = If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow - to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him... (I'm a tree-hugger!). 

Documented Faith by Stephanie Ackerman

Luke 1:37 = For nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 1:44 = As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! 

Luke 1: 58 = Her (Elizabeth) neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy!  

Luke 2:10-11 = Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 

1 John 3:1 = How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. 

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The middle section of my journal was blank until I began adding in photos of and then the actual cards that I received by text and in the snail mail. I also added a list of accomplishments that I did this year of 2020 to one of the pages. 

VIDEO! 

January 04, 2021

JOY-Happy!

VIDEO

CARTOONS!
I was cleaning out some old files in my email and found one that Joan had sent me for the National Mental Health Day! I doodled the email photo and then added the saying that came with it: "From one unstable person to another. . . Hope everyone is happy in your head -- we're all doing pretty good in mine!" (smile!) 

A new idea! Cartoons!

GLUEPAGE JOY! A collage page of things that have to do with JOY! Found two! 

INSPIRATIONAL ARTICLES!

Brave Girls Club: How to Start a Day-to-Day Creative Practice! I see where Stephanie got her idea to combine daily creative practice with Bible reading. 😇

Erica Arndt's Quilted Composition Notebook Cover: Easy tutorial on YouTube. I think I will be making this to cover my 2021 Positivity Journal. 

I discovered Mat and Savanna Shaw during Covid Lockdown and loved their singing together. Here's a Thankful Daddy Daughter duet on YouTube. I bet you'll love them as much as I do! Some of their songs have been very meaningful to me. 

Marsha Baker's Thanksgiving Project Round-up with a couple of lists of things you can be thankful for. Be sure to watch her doodling tutorial video. 

MOVIES! 

Watched a few movies and made a new playlist on YouTube for my friends called "Movies to Watch." 

ONE OF MY FAVORITE POEMS - The Serenity Prayer. Written by Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr. His biography and a copy of the poem are here

QUOTES & SAYINGS:

"A flame can light a thousand candles." ~ The Unexpected Gypsy. 

BE HAPPY! 

Carleta's card: Share JOY. Give THANKS! Have you watched my "Finding JOY" video and the second one?

Choosing JOY is being able to see God's goodness even when life is hard and messy. 

Find out what give you JOY and go there. 

Focus on doing more things that bring you JOY.  

"Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier." ~ Thomas Monson. 

"Of all the things you wear, your smile is the most important." ~ Kind Notes.

Private quotes from friends. 

"She turned her can't into cans and her dreams into plans." ~ Kobi Yamada

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you." ~ Rumi.

"You and I are both very fortunate to have had grandmothers who gave us their love of genealogy." ~ Susan Lohr

SCRIPTURES:

Exodus 18:9 = Jethro was delighted to hear about the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand  of Egypt. 

1 Samuel 7:12 = Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying "Thus far has the Lord helped us." 

Isaiah 6:5 = "my eyes have seen the King the Lord Almighty." (JOY Coloring Sheet!)  

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 = These is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Matthew 5:14-15 = You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 [Documented Faith] = We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.  

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 [Documented Faith] = Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

SONGS!

Anybody remember this song? We sang it in church!

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands! 
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!
If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it,
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Stomp your feet
Praise the Lord
Say Amen! 
Beep your nose -- Beep! Beep!

SMILE!