Jesus and Satan were having an on-going discussion about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days and God was growing tired of all the bickering. Finally, God was fed up and He said,”THAT’S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will last for 2 hours, and from the results I will judge who does the better job.” So Jesus and Satan sat down at their keyboards and typed away. They moused. They faxed. They e-mailed. They e-mailed with attachments. They downloaded. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They created labels. They created cards. They created charts and graphs. They did geneology reports. They blogged. They did every computer job possible. Then 10 minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and of course, the power went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and shouted every curse word known to man. Jesus just sighed. Finally, the power came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming “It’s gone! It’s all GONE! I lost everything when the power went out!!!” Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of His files from the past 2 hours work. Satan observed this and became irate. “WAIT!”
he screamed. “That’s not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don’t have any?” God just shrugged and said, “JESUS SAVES!”

What an honor! Thanks to Dianne, at Glasses of Grace, who has chosen me for this award. I found sweet Dianne through some other bloggers I met and it seems as if we are on the same wave length about many things. I adore reading about her adventures with her neices. She has an awesome relationship with them. They both are blessed to have each other in their lives.

When I think of the word “reflection”, I am reminded that a reflection is a picture of who we really are. In this internet world, I have chosen to be the “reflection” of the real me. The one that does not try to act smarter or wiser than I really am. The me that is dumfounded by some things and in absolute awe of others. The me that loves to make people laugh and feel comfortable, and the me that needs private time alone to regroup. I am so honored that Dianne thought enough of my feeble attempts at communication to share this award with me. I hope my “reflection” always leads my readers to see my love of the Lord, my appreciation of the beautiful world He provided for us, and my love of the people He chose to put into my circle of life. I thank God for these blessings with much humility. I have the sweetest group of friends in this bloggy world that I count on daily…..thank-you for your reflection of true friendship! Love you all!

Click on the award to read about the origin of this award and the thought behind it.

I have put much thought into the blogs I list on my blogroll. I choose to list only those whose values and lifestyle are similar to mine. Ones who I can feel comfortable with recommending to others. So, since so many have already been chosen for this award, I offer to you as my nomination those who appear on my blogroll. Thanks, ladies for enlightening me daily.

Yesterday my Sunday School class took a ladies trip to see the musical, MENOPAUSE. We travelled to the Shakespeare Theater in Montgomery, had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, and got seated a few minutes before show time. Let me just say this…”best return for my money in a long time.” It was hilarious! I laughed and clapped and hooted and hollered and laughed and sang along and laughed and clapped and shouted and laughed. That was for the first song….there were about 25 more. The best 2 hours I’ve spent in a long time. The show features 4 women …over 40…and nearing or into that “special time of change.” Then they parody songs from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s. They cover it all…hot flashes, night sweats, forgetfullness, weight gain, sex or lack thereof, irritability, etc. You know…all those things us “seasoned ladies” deal with on a daily basis. I urge you to go if it comes anywhere near you. There is a national website:
www.menopausethemusical.com . Here you can find the tour cities. You can also order the CD and songbook and other stuff. Just to listen to the CD is fun. You won’t be disappointed.

While looking around in the vast internet world, I came upon the neatest site. It’s a quiz of sorts that asks about your living preferences. Things like climate, culture, medical facilities, sports, etc. I answered all my questions with abandon…exactly what I would pick if I could design my own city. After you finish, it then lists 24 of the places in America that are most suited to you and your wishes. My #5 spot is the place I live now!!!!!! How funny is that!! I guess sometimes you have just what you want and don’t even realize it! That could be said for lots of things, couldn’t it?

Anyway, try it out and see where your spot is… You may already be there!!!

http:// www.findyourspot.com

I am very sad today, my friends. I am having trouble understanding life and the way things happen and why people do what they do.

As I have told you, my middle son Alex has a very serious disease which causes him to be in severe pain almost constantly. He is under the care of several doctors and sees a pain management specialist for pain control. As such, he is taking some big time pain meds. This is a very tightly controlled substance. He gets his prescriptions a month at a time, and each pill has to be accounted for. Alex is very conscious of this and is very careful of his medication. He has enough to get him to his next doctors appointment exactly, and no more. Usually, the doctor will take him off of this every year or so to give his body a break, but to do so means he has to go through withdrawal, which is a very bad thing. But this is the safest way for him to continue to take this medication. And this is the only thing that works for him.

Over the last 3 or 4 months, he has mentioned that he has seemed to be short a few pills. We chalked it up to just a mistake in counting or negligence in putting it away. But, on Monday night, as he was counting out his meds for the week [he puts it in boxes for each day a week at the time], he discovered about 20 pills are missing. That means that he would be going almost a week with no meds. And, we have wracked our brains trying to figure out what has happened. There is no way, he could have taken too much. And we know he got the proper number from the druggist when it was filled the last time. Don and Adam counted it all out to be sure. We always do. But, still 20 of this pain med is gone. And we are confused. Several people have keys to our house, family, and 2 friends. But these all know how much Alex suffers and I can not imagine that anyone who knows Alex would willingly cause him to suffer. It is possible some one else may have gotten hold of a key, and came in, but how did they get by Scooter. He is a fox terrier, and is extremely protective. No one can imagine him letting a stranger in the house. We have had the same locks for 20 years or so, so maybe we have forgotten about a key or something. Anyway, for the doctor to give Alex meds to make up for the ones he’s missing, we had to file a police report. Which is o.k., because this needs to be reported. They came and said that it probably is someone we know, who has gotten a few along and figures that since they haven’t gotten caught, it is safe to take more. Also, I have realized that a bottle of pain meds I have for my arthritis was missing last month. I thought I must have just misplaced it, because I do that quite often, but now, I’m not so sure. We have not found anything else missing, and my jewelry has been here and other valuables also. I had to take the police report to the doctor and give it to them before they could legally give Alex any more meds. But, we’ve done that now and all under control. We have also bought a safe for Alex to keep his meds in…which means he has to go into the safe three times a day to get it.

So, here I am….. angry, and hurt, and disappointed. I just can not wrap my mind around this. Who would do this to us…to Alex? I feel violated…someone has violated my home, my family, my trust. I just don’t understand. We should not have to lock up things in our house in order to properly care for our son. This is just not right. What kind of person would do this? Alex is the sweetest, kindest, most gentle person you could ever know…anyone who would willingly hurt him is vile. He suffers so much and he is only able to cope with the pain because of this medicine. He doesn’t complain and doesn’t bother anyone…in fact he is always ready to help anyone any time he can. I do not even know if I want to know who did this, because I do not think I can take it. I so hope it is someone I do not know. Our locks are being changed, but even this is expense we shouldn’t have to deal with.

So, I did not get to go with Don to Birmingham. I missed celebrating with Ian, and I missed going to the doctor with Don today. There was no way I could leave yesterday, and they both knew I had to be here. Ian had a nice birthday. Don took several of his friends out to eat and then his roommate had planned a surprise party for him when he got back home. Don’s scans showed that everything looks the same as before. So, the doctor feels good about everything. He is going to do some comparing and call us with more definitive results.

Please pray for me. My heart is broken, and I am having a hard time putting this in its proper place. I trust that God sees and knows all that happens to me and my family. I trust Him to lead us in the right direction. I know, too, that nothing happens to one of His children without going through Him first. He sees and knows and He will help us as we deal with this, but right now, it sure is hard.