Last U.S. WWI vet dies at age 110

Just cutting & pasting here from a story I read today. Amazing. Imagine the changes this man saw during his long lifetime. 

Last living U.S. WWI vet dies at 110

In spring 2007, Buckles told the AP of the trouble he went through to get into the military.

"I went to the state fair up in Wichita, Kansas, and while there, went to the recruiting station for the Marine Corps," he said. "The nice Marine sergeant said I was too young when I gave my age as 18, said I had to be 21."

Buckles returned a week later.

"I went back to the recruiting sergeant, and this time I was 21," he said with a grin. "I passed the inspection ... but he told me I just wasn't heavy enough."

Then he tried the Navy, whose recruiter told Buckles he was flat-footed.

Buckles wouldn't quit. In Oklahoma City, an Army captain demanded a birth certificate.

"I told him birth certificates were not made in Missouri when I was born, that the record was in a family Bible. I said, 'You don't want me to bring the family Bible down, do you?"' Buckles said with a laugh. "He said, 'OK, we'll take you."'

He enlisted Aug. 14, 1917, serial number 15577.

Read more here

five things

Five things I hope & pray that my children learn to consistently do well ...

(tho' it seems that I, the one who should be teaching them, am a

 'jack of all trades and master of none' 

here so I'm not quite sure how they're ever going to learn them from me) 

 1. Live by the "Golden Rule" 

(- and if I could only teach them only one thing, this would be it) 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

 ²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”   ²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
 ²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and,
 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
   ²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Luke 10:25 - 28

While I would love to be the one to teach my children to do this but in all honesty I'm still trying to figure out how to do it.  I will say though that it's amazing - how, even in my feeble attempts toward this end, everything else I've learned has helped me understand that this is at least how much God loves us (see John 3:16 -21)!  And if that is all my children learn from me in this regard then I will know I've done something right. 

 2. Make good choices

If you know me,  you know that I'm convinced that choices, good or bad, and their consequences are the basic elements that living boils down to - and when I consider where the consequences of even one bad choice can lead - well ... enough said.

3. Do their personal best at whatever they put their mind to do 

To "just do your best"sounds so simple but to really do the best that one is capable of doing requires hard work which I'm confident would set my children apart in this world and lead them to opportunities even beyond their wildest dreams.  Their Daddy is the best example I know of for them to follow here.

 4. Be content with what they have

&  

5. Make nothing less than the best of whatever circumstances they find themselves in 

If they can do these two things,  I'm believe that they will then have what it takes to be as happy as they can possibly be - at any given time.  

If you have a heart, it will break...

After a year of almost unfathomable hardship in Haiti, more than a million displaced people still live under tents and tarpaulins. Reconstruction has barely begun. Officials’ sole point of pride six months after the earthquake — that disease and violence had been averted — vanished with the outbreak of cholera and political unrest over a disputed presidential election.

via: 

New York Times

Haiti: The Shattered Year

Published: January 12, 2011

***

I must warn you  -  if you have a heart, it will break if you click on the picture below - and chances are your first reaction to some of the images will be to close your eyes and/or look the other way.  But - you will no doubt understand why it is not only our duty  but also our privilege to do something.  Our girls are both excited about an opportunity they've been given to go to Haiti this summer where, assuming all goes according to plan,  they will help build an orphanage, administer a school medical clinic - and reach out to the Haitian people with the love of Christ - and so ... we're sending them. 

¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:15-17

Up Next

Up next - for February - in our year long 25th Anniversary Celebration is....

at the Boston Opera House.

We're taking the girls to this one.

It will be their very first Broadway show!

So glad they'll be joining us.

I can hardly wait!

So exited!

Feeling rather

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
(for lack of a better word! ;)

about the whole thing, really! 

Five things I (almost) never leave home without

Just poppin in here quickly - as I've been tagged by Mug over at Parading Chicks to join with others and  list five things I (almost) never leave home without.


cell phone


keys


Purse & wallet


glasses




It's funny tho' ---  I rarely go anywhere without these things yet I am continually misplacing them! Not sure why that is - but it IS - & it can be SO StrEssFul ;) ... especially for someone who counts "All Together in One Place" among her favorite books....and strives to have a place for everything & everything in its place.


My list is kinda boring, huh? ... I guess I'm just a simpleton who believes less is more - at least in theory - but in reality I'm usually the one  "bumming" for a band-aid - or a Tylenol - or a pen - or wishing I'd brought my umbrella!

Now I'm supposed to tag two others to join in - but I'm going to bail here - tho' if your list is more interesting than mine, by all means consider yourself tagged ;)

The BIG Picture

I bought a 1,000 piece puzzle of this mural mosaic the other day.


From the back of the box:

"The Wildlife Ark" Mural Mosaic project began with an overall design sketch by Lewis Lavoie. From there 216 panels were created, marked with only some lines and color tones. Following these simple guidelines, 140 Canadian wildlife artists without knowing the final image, were free to translate the 16" x 16"  panels to any wildlife-themed painting of their choice.  The completed original paintings were then combined to form the 16 foot by 24 foot Mural Mosaic.  No computers or special effects were required. 

Somehow I get the impression that when the artist conceived this magnificent mural, he realized that those who would give it a glance would no doubt be treated to a feast for the eyes. But some would linger - and look closely enough to see each individual canvas panel for the unique work of art that it is and to realize how, when combined with numerous others, each contributes to "the big picture". For them, for those who would really appreciate his work, the artist would take great pleasure in rewarding them with a depth of understanding limited only by the amount of time they were willing to spend studying the details of his creation. 


And it occurred to me .... that this reminds me of Someone Else I Know.

  The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

² Day after day they pour forth speech; 

   night after night they reveal knowledge. 

³ They have no speech, they use no words; 

   no sound is heard from them. 

⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth, 

   their words to the ends of the world. 

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 

 ⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 

   like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 

⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens 

   and makes its circuit to the other; 

   nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Psalm 19:1-5

For a closer look at - and better understanding of  the big picture above click here:  http://www.muralmosaic.com/cpaws.html.   And for a closer look at - and better understanding of the Really BIG Picture, go for a walk in the woods - or stand at the edge of the ocean - or look up and into the night sky - or treat yourself to a boquet of flowers ... and study the details.

I'd take great pleasure in...

... serving up a heartwarming treat like this to friends & loved ones.

via

I'd love to learn how to transform a routine cuppa

into a work of heART myself. 

Think of all the potential fun 

one could have personalizing coffee

with other simple designs.

Needless to say....

I'm adding a milk frother to my

 "I really wish I had one of those!" List.  

.

One day...

One day, you're going to learn something that can't be explained with science. And when that happens, your life's going to change in ways you can't imagine.

 True Believer
  By Nicholas Sparks


I'm not halfway thru' the book yet & I'm still not quite sure where it's heading - but nonetheless, the quote above ... resonated with me.

High atop our rooftop yesterday....

We were up there for hours, the two of us. 

But we did it!!  Our roof is clear!  Hooooraaaah!

  

I have not done that much physically exhausting work in a looong time. 

It actually felt good & I reveled for a bit in the sense of accomplishment when we were finally done! 

Whew!

You know you've had too much snow when....

...you call Home Depot and they answer your question before you even ask it! Seriously! Whoever answered basically said  "Welcome to Home Depot! Sorry - we don't have any roof rakes." all in the same breath and before I even had a chance to ask ... or to say "hello" myself!  But ... that was all I needed to know.  Ugh!  If this is the last you hear from me it's most likely because I've been buried alive!

February

via

Thanks, Spokes, for changing the colors on my banner!  That was a fun change to wake up to this morning :) It's a sure sign that January is history & we're that much closer to Spring! Ahhh ... that does have has a nice ring to it --  doesn't it?!

Snow Much Snow!!!

The sign on a church marquee I saw on the news this morning reads: 

Whoever is praying for snow....please stop! 

The snow just keeps....snowing!  I've lost track but I believe this is the 5th or 6th snow day we've had in about as many weeks!  Plow drivers must be asking  "How now then to plow?!"  There's no good place to put the snow! The mounds along our driveway are massive. After being forewarned of back to back snowstorms heading our way we raked our roof.   Yes - we, here in New England - out of necessity - occasionally have to rake our roofs to remove some of the weight. My husband borrowed our neighbor's electric snow shovel & used it on our roof too. Kudos to whoever invented that!! Once we get the snow off the roof, what ends up on our driveway then has to be moved again. The frosty white & seemingly endless labyrinth of city streets is challenging to navigate - as often one has no way of really knowing what's around the bend - or if they can make it up that hill - until they've passed the point of no return. My husband's company closed again today due to the weather.  I will say yesterday's snow was beautiful! Light & fluffy as could be. Today tho' it's different. When you can hear the snow ... that's when you know it's icy - & heavier & slicker & ... a long list of other not so nice adjectives. Here. Listen!...

Hmmm... Perhaps this wintery mix of snow & ice 

should be called "snice"?!

So - please excuse me while a take a moment - before heading out again to move snow around - to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. To think sand instead of snow.  Warm water instead of freezing rain.  Sunlight instead of snow white. And to count today as one less day until I will actually be there...

Maho Bay, St. John