Friday Chain Mail

Some bloggers have Friday Military Wife Fill in's, some have Friday Photo Dump, I am going to have Friday Chain Mail this week.  If you send me a chain email it will probably be deleted, not forwarded not kept and honestly sometimes not even read, but every now and then one of them captures my intrigue and this did just that and I am sharing.

MOM'S EMPTY CHAIR

A woman's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her mother. When the minister arrived, he found the woman lying in bed with her head propped up on two pillows..

An empty chair sat beside her bed. The minister assumed that the woman had been informed

Of his visit... I guess you were expecting me, he said.

'No, who are you?' said the mother. The minister told her his name and then remarked, 'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up...' 'Oh yeah, the chair,' said the bedridden woman 'Would you mind closing the door?' Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

'I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,' said the woman.

'But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head...'

I abandoned any attempt at prayer,' the old woman continued, until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, ' Prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest..

'Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'..

'Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now.'

'So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I'm careful though . If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.'

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her mama had died that afternoon.

'Did she die in peace?' he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, she called me over to her bedside, told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later, I found her .

But there was something strange about her death.

Apparently, just before mom died, she leaned over and rested her head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?'

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, 'I wish we could all go like that.'

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.

I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.* I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.* I asked God for a friend, He gave me YOU.* If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.*

Happy moments, praise God.*

Difficult moments, seek God.*

Quiet moments, worship God.*

Painful moments, trust God.*

Every moment, thank God.*

The title of this chain mail caught my attention and it's message captured my heart.  If you ever sneak up on me while I think I am alone you will more than likely catch me talking to myself, most of the time outloud.  I don't know why but I have done this for as long as I can remember, and yes my prayers are usually done outloud also as if I am having a conversation because I am that person who never got the whole prayer thing but having a conversation with someone is really pretty easy, even if I can't see Him I know He is there and always listening to me.

The 5 Things You Should Say to Your Spouse Each Day

So I have been following this blog and podcast called Stay Happily Married, I can't remember who recommended it but I love it. And although this episode is old I just listened to it today while at the gym and had to share.  The link is below to the transcript but if you go on itunes you can download it for free.

To make life easier though here are the 5 things...

1. Say I love you
2. I’m so lucky (telling your spouse you are so lucky to be with them or have them in your life)
3. You look beautiful/handsome
4. I value your wisdom/opinions, I respect you
5. Compliment them on a strength

Transcript Link http://stayhappilymarried.com/files/2010/07/07062010-The-Five-Things-You-Should-Say-to-Your-Spouse-Each-Day.pdf

Such good advice.

Hedges, Big Sky, & 3rd Grade!!

Well we get to start from scratch, darn it. I had started to write a new post last week but I guess I didn’t save my ramblings so now it is back to the drawing board.  Oh well new random thoughts here I come…

So where do I start well how about Hedges, if you lived in Helena Montana you have probably seen this mountain maybe even driven to the top in a vehicle of some sort.  It has special sentimental memories for me it is where the love of my life took me to give me the biggest surprise/shock of our together history, oh yes this is where he proposed down on one knee in the dark with the city of Helena twinkling in the background it was AMAZING!!  But that is not what this story is about Shane wanted to take the girls riding in some rocky stuff for practice for their Big Sky race and Hedges is perfect.  So we set out on a family adventure to conquer this large mountain.  And we did just that the girls made it up and back down on their 50’s and to say it loud THEY ROCKED IT!! They did amazing two or maybe three little tip over’s nothing major they got right back up and we even got a friend to take a family picture at the top.  It is always beautiful up there it doesn’t matter what time of year it is or whether it is day or night it is gorgeous.

On to Big Sky, yes the ski hill where there are double black diamond runs and warning signs at every turn!  This was round 6 of our Montana XC series racing and it is always a good time.  The race is at the base of the mountains for the kids and the big kids ride up the mountain quite a ways.  Shane decided to work this race this year, he has never worked a race before so why not one where the scenery is great and the riding is once in a lifetime for some.  I will note I think it might be the last time he works a race unless he is injured he was itching to go race, it was actually kind of funny.  But at the end of the weekend he was glad he helped out and he got to ride and enjoy the riding more because he was going at a slower pace, so overall I think it was good.  The girls had a extraordinary weekend at Big Sky because Lauryn had a first, nope not a first place but she finished in front of her sister and that is a first for her this race series, it was great so cute to see the smile on her face she beat her big sister.  Kaleigh was a good sport about being beat although I will admit she is definitely a competitor.  She has already told Lauryn she will get her back at Billings.

Wow this post is a little long but that is what happens when I am playing catch up. I really need to steal the hubby’s computer more often!  Well the last part of my post is 3^rd grade!!  Oh my I remember when I was in 3^rd grade, definitely one of the best years of elementary school; great memories and even greater friends were made that year.  So as I was getting supplies, clothes, shoes and backpacks ready for my little girls to go back to school.  I almost had a mommy meltdown.  I know you are supposed to have those for Kindergarten, 6^th grade, freshman year and of course graduation, but something in my eyes triggered tears and I just felt so sad.  Writing this right now I feel the same way it is like they aren’t so little anymore they are definitely getting bigger because 3^rd grade is bigger kids and they just rub it in by splitting up the playground and now my little girls play on the big kid side. SIGH, GULP, more TEARS! They were so excited for school though that I had no choice but be excited on the first day with them, they are again in separate classrooms this year and now that we have it that way I think they prefer it they get to have their own time they get to be individuals, separate people with separate thoughts, they get their very own teacher and schedule and they get along so well on the weekends and seem excited to talk about their individual days, homework and of course compete a little to see who had the better day.  Yes they still have some WWF moments where I am sure they should be wearing helmets and boxing gloves but they seem to appreciate being twins more.

Well that is a recap of the past couple of weeks I am sure I missed some stuff and I will have more hopefully later as I have been following some great blogs that I hope to share some links to in the near future.  If you have any blogs you follow that you love please share in the comments section I love reading other people’s writings it inspires me.