I received this little prayer from my blog friend Elaine, and thought it too precious not to share. It goes out to all my cyber friends, with love.

Every single evening as
I'm lying here in bed,
This tiny little Prayer
keeps running through my head:
God bless all my family
wherever they may be,
keep them warm and safe from harm
For they're so close to me.
And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do;
Hope you don't mind me asking,
Please bless my computer too.
Now I know that it's unusual to bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second while I explain it to you, Lord.
You see, that little metal box holds more than odds and ends;
Inside those small compartments rest so many of my friends.
I know so much about them by the kindness that they give,
And this little scrap of metal takes me in to where they live.
By faith is how I know them much the same as you.
We share in what life brings us and from that our friendships grew.
Please take an extra minute from your duties up above,
To bless those in my address book that's filled with so much love.
Wherever else this prayer may reach to each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail inbox And each person who hits 'send'.
When you update your Heavenly list on your own Great CD-ROM,
Bless everyone who says this prayer sent up to GOD.com
Amen

Tickled Pink!

I have my pink tree decorated for Jingle for the Cure. This little cutie begged me to buy her at Big Lots, to which I quickly obliged. A full picture of the completed tree can be seen at the bottom of this page, complete with the ornaments sent by my Jingle for the Cure swap partner Diane.

Pawzaar Time!

I volunteer for our local Humane Society, and each December we hold our annual "Pawzaar". I thought I would share with you the shoppers paradise that awaits hundreds of shoppers for three days straight! This is just a small preview, I really should have taken some more closeups! The crowds start lining up early,for the 10:00 opening. The huge basket is being raffled off along with a Wii and a beautiful wreath. Tomorrow and Sunday is pet and family pictures with Santa, and for the volunteers it's animal lovers paradise. If you click on the pictures, they will enlarge for a better view of the goodies!

Ornaments from Diane!

I recieved in the mail today, the ornaments from Diane at http://pineconesroses.blogspot.com/, for the exchange. They are absolutely beautiful, and look wonderful on my pink tree. Thank-you Diane!

Christmas Cheer

I'm getting around to decorating, and tonight put up my pink tree. It's almost done, just a couple things more, and then I'll post a full picture. I'm very pleased with my little tree from Big Lots, wish I could get a picture though that you can see the pinks! They're sooo pretty. Now I just have to figure out a way to keep Andy away from it, he really likes artificial trees and wreaths. I've caught him several times munching away. The pink tree is up higher, so I'm hoping he'll leave it alone.

Holiday Spirit?

I was watching the news this evening, totally appalled at the behavior of people on Black Friday. A 34 year old man opening the doors at a Wal-Mart is trampled to death. A co-worker injured trying to assist, trampled also. Then the story switches to a mall south of us, with people fighting, swearing, acting like rabid dogs going for the kill. One woman the reporter interviewed said, "you do what you gotta do." The reporter then says, "the holiday spirit is truly alive." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Pardon me, but I was under the impression this Holy day was because a child was born that would save us. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." When did that change? When did it become so tragic that taking someones life to get an early bird special became nothing? That fighting your way to a display to grab a gift from someones hands became acceptable behavior? Mob scenes are just a part of the shopping routine, and a matter of life or death?

This Christmas season, let's take time to reflect on the true meaning, the true spirit, and the true love God gave for all of us, and pray for those who just don't get it.

Blessings,

Laurie

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, ours was very special, shared with several families, with tons of food, laughter, and fun. Dinner always begins with my mother saying grace, a family tradition for many years, along with celebrating mine and my nephews birthdays. My sister Kathy bought me this snowman light for mine, isn't he adorable!? It's so much my style, I love him! We also celebrated My nephew Matt's birthday, home on leave from the Marines. We are very thankful he was back from Iraq for the holidays, safely. Blessings to all, Laurie