Pros and Cons?
Quick question for you all…  (Bee is still working on getting her life together. LOL)
Have any of you tried the Weight Watchers “online” program?  If so, what did you think of it?  I am “weighing” all my pros and cons.. (har har… rolls eyes.)

O.K. y’all…. I don’t know how I am going to do this… but I have GOT to do it!

I have got to lose weight!  I have never had much success before, I
would lose a little and gain it back… but I was always doing it for
vanity reasons, as much as I tried to talk myself into other more
“noble” reasons to lose… eh… I just wanted to look better.  This
was just not that much of a motivating factor for me… I’m not going
to delve into my past baggage, but I just always felt like I was never
going to measure up even if I got skinny, so ya know, why bother?

But I was having some knee trouble last week and had x-rays done…
bottom line is I have osteoarthritis in both knees.   I know they
were getting more wear and tear than usual because of the constant
muscle knots in my lower back from my fibromyalgia.  My back issues had
caused me to walk incorrectly and my knees caught the brunt of it… but
also… I am just carrying too much dang weight!  I know things would
improve dramatically if there was not as much pressure on those knees!

So to make a long story short I am motivated now!  My plan of attack is
to essentially limit my meals to quality proteins, lot of veggies, a
little fruit and nothing “white” (flour, sugar, pasta, rice, potatoes.)
I am also going to be careful about portion control.  I am not kidding
myself here, this is going to take a while, (I need to lose about 75
lbs) and I have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get!  I
would love to find an “online” food diary that could automatically
count up my nutrition as I entered what I ate… does any one know of
anything like that?  I know I will also need to incorporate some kind
of “knee and back friendly” exercise… plus check into what vitamins etc.. I should take but I will have to research those and add
them as I can.

At any rate… today was my “maiden voyage”…. say a prayer for me… and I am open to any and all advice!

Love, Bee

Tonight and tomorrow night this hazy green comet will be the closest to earth!  As you can see if you look up right now it should be nearest Saturn!  I grabbed our binoculars and saw a very faint image… but any telescope, even a small one should pick it up well.
Happy Viewing, Bee,  (and let me know if you see it!)

Sigh….

Can a person be any busier?  I don’t think so…

I am still around… and occasionally get to read your posts… but just not much time to write, I will be back though, one of these days soon.. I just have to get a handle on all of this stuff! I appreciate your patience.

Love, Bee

Update:
Thank you all so much for your prayers… I know the Lord hears and answers!!
Love, Bee

Sloggin’ Along

Whew….. you know I usually don’t do this………

But I could use your prayers this week.  You know there are just some weeks when you feel “beat-up” by the devil.  Make no mistake I have not laid down my sword,  but I am getting mighty tired. 

We just have had a lot of stuff hit all of the sudden…  water leak in our slab, (moving furniture, cleaning, plumbers, insurance, musty odors… all that good stuff.)  My fibromyalgia is acting up also… and I have so much to do!!  It is so frustrating!  I am going to have to try and get the inside of the house repaired at the same time I am trying to finish the veg garden plans… (and I just really felt like the Lord wanted me to do that garden this spring)… plus I have already invested in the stone structures.  Well, and to top it off I am still struggling with a reocurrent sinus infection and plugged ears.  I just finished with my second antibiotic and now have another rash on my upper chest.  (We switched meds because the first one gave me a rash.)  Also I need the dedicated brain time and energy to study for the ladies class I teach.   Plus…. my first grandbaby comes in a few weeks and I really want to be feeling good for that special event!   So…. if you would allow me to be selfish for this post… I would covet your prayers this week.  Thanks for listening to this mess!!

Love,  Bee

How Well Do We Know Him?


Here is an excellent devotional by Pastor Roy…..



Enjoy!  Bee

“How well do we know the Judge?  If we have come from a guilt based
church background or have lived a life that has been rich in chosen
rebellion, it is easy for us to wish that our Holy Judge didn’t know so
much about us.  Our Enemy does his best to keep us self focused and
afraid. He wants us to fear what will happen when we meet the Savior,
as though our meeting will be a first for both of us.  What Jesus longs
for us to do is to remember that we have been special friends of His
right from the start of our relationship.  Jesus willingly died to pay
for our sins thousands of years ago.  He was there when we were
conceived and there when we were formed in our mother’s wombs. (Ps.
139) He was there as we grew up and planned the circumstances that led
to our willingness to accept him as our Savior.  He has been living in
us ever since.  Jesus has loved us deeply all along.  There is nothing
about us that is hidden from him and he loves us with an eternally
rooted love.

You see, God is love.  When God the Father and God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit move into our being they bring their holy love with them. 
Now each one of us as God’s children have a bottomless well of love to
draw from as we face the hate and fear that dominates the world around
us.  The longer we live with our Holy Lover, the more loving we
become.  The more challenges we face in life, the more perfect we grow
in reflecting our Lovers love.  The longer we know God, the more secure
we become in the reality of  his love. Then one day we will leave these
bodies behind and face the Perfect Judge.  God wants us to remember
that it won’t be a surprise for either of us.  The better we know him
now, the more confident we will be when we open our new heavenly eyes
to see his loving face.  Even on the day we stand at the “bema” seat to
review our life’s work with him, we will still know him as our loving
Judge.  May the Lord capture our hearts and minds with this wonderful
truth.”
Pastor Roy

How to Pray for Obama

In thinking about praying for our new President the subject came up on
Facebook with a group of young people from our church… they were
wondering if we should pray for his salvation.  Some thought he might
already be a Christian since he said he was and we are not supposed to
“judge”.  Other kids thought that since he didn’t exactly show the
fruit of a believer (being pro-abort  etc) that we should pray for
his salvation anyway. Well, here is a copy of my response to them on
“how to pray for Obama”. 

Blessings, Bee

I think we can safely say that Obama is not a Christian by the
“biblical definition.” (Which is someone who has given his life to
Jesus Christ and has confessed Him as being the Son of God who is the
only way to Heaven.) Obama talks extensively in this interview (link at
the bottom) from 2004 about his “faith”, and this is not his confession
as you can see from the excerpt at the end of this note.



So we can begin by most certainly praying for his salvation! Then if he
does get saved we can pray that his heart and mind would be renewed
quickly by the Word of God and that his judgments would be made with
wisdom and based on sound moral absolutes.



He may however continue to reject Christ and so we should also pray
that God will limit the damage that Obama does to our country while in
power. Also.. we need to intercede in prayer that God will have mercy
on our nation! Our sins are many and we do not deserve His favor so we
must pray for His mercy.



Ultimately, we know that God has a plan and His plan stems from His
character of love, justice, mercy and holiness. We can trust Him, even
if things end up looking very bleak. Habakkuk, a prophet in the Old
Testament, had a difficult time in trying to figure out why God was
raising up the “Chaldeans”, (they were a really bad bunch!) God’s
answer to him is found in chapter 1 verse 5…



“ Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded! For I will
work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were
told you.”



God is essentially saying “trust me I have a plan”. So what is our
response to this? You know if we want to respond in obedience and faith
it has to be “O.K. God, I am going to trust you … no matter what”,
and that is the conclusion Habakkuk ended up with also. (You can see
this in the last few verses of the book.)



The faith stuff is hard though… it really goes against our flesh, so
we should also pray for one another. That we would be strong in the
Lord and see the world through His eyes… look at things through the
perspective of His character. We can only do that because the Holy
Spirit (who is God) indwells us as believers enabling us to view things
through the filter of who God is and what is on His heart. …And BTW
what is on His heart is people!



Which brings us to the other thing to pray for, which is the salvation
of the lost. Because that is ultimately what this is all about. All
nations and governmental systems will pass away… but people are
eternal. Christ did not die to give us a perfect democracy He died to
give us a whole new life with Him for all eternity! Pray that hearts
are changed… and that will change our world!



Blessings, Bee


http://falsani.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-2004-god-factor-interview.html

“So, I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are
many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a
higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there
are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and
there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as
collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.”

His Most Benign Highness?


Just a wee bit of Presidential trivia….

I got this out of the Farmer’s Almanac of all places!  Personally, I am
glad that they did not go with that title for the President… although
I am thinking some today would find that it has a certain ring to it.

Bee

“It is impossible to think of the U.S. chief executive as anything but “the President,” but in 1789, John Adams had other ideas.



After George Washington was unanimously elected, Congress had to decide
on his title. When “the President of the United States” was suggested,
Vice President–Elect John Adams disagreed, saying that the title was
not dignified enough—after all, he argued, even fire companies and
cricket clubs had presidents.



Instead, he believed that the leader of the United States needed a
grander title and humbly suggested “His Most Benign Highness.”



His peers, including George Washington, no doubt thought that Adams’s
grandiose suggestion was too reminiscent of the titles of English
royalty. They insisted on the more down-to-earth “President of the
United States of America.”

Seeing is Believing?

I could not believe when my son told me how many photos today in the news and media are “Photo-shopped”!  You would assume a good reporter goes out and shoots the photos, adds them to his article and presto you see the results on CNN  or elsewhere.  Well, not always… it seems sometimes the things you see in the photos may not have even been there… or there were things that should have been in the photo that totally vanish! 

I mean I knew they did it all the time with models and such… airbrushing away blemishes… but I had no idea that this was so prevalent with our everyday news articles!

Check out a couple of examples below…  These are photoshop mistakes (from a website called “photoshop distasters”) so you can tell they obviously altered the photo… but with the photos that do not have the mistakes, you would never know.  That kinda creeps me out!
Bee
 
Here is an example from the CNN website.  This was from only a couple of days ago when the plane went in the Hudson river. Notice the tail fin of the larger plane in the front looks like it is behind the smaller plane in the distance!

Now this next one below really has me intrigued… look down at Sarcozy’s legs.  There was another man there!  But they forgot to erase his leg! I wonder who it was?

As I have mentioned here before… Andrew Wyeth was one of my all time
favorite artists.  His paintings had such a sense of timelessness and
simplicity yet they conveyed very complex emotions.  I thought it was
amazing how he could through simple color and structure of inanimate
objects communicate such emotion!  There were blatant displays of
emotion as in the famous painting “Christina’s World”, but there were also just
as much emotion portrayed in the rugged wood of an old home or a lone
tree.  He was a very talented man indeed… and will be missed.

Some have described Wyeth’s work as melancholy due to the fact that he
painted elderly people, wintery bare trees and he predominately used
shades of brown.  Wyeth however chose to describe his work as
“thoughtful,”…. and I highly agree.  I think Andrew Wyeth was a
master at communicating the type of emotion that bypasses intellectual
analysis… it just goes straight to the heart.  For me his
paintings could bring a lump to my throat and I wouldn’t even know
why.  That is true art!

Here is how he responded to the frequent descriptions of his paintings as “melancholy”…..

Hmm… something to think about… have we lost the “art” of being alone?

Bee
P.S. For those of you who missed it the first time… below is the link to a beautiful video of Wyeth’s paintings set to music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnj_MBfSZKs&feature=related