Good Morning!
On this day in 1705 Queen Anne of England knighted Isaac Newton.
In 1851 a lighthouse was swept away in a gale at Minot’s Ledge, MA.
In 1900 the first book of postage stamps was issued. The two-cent stamps were available in books of 12, 24 and 48 stamps.
In 1922 Annie Oakley shot 100 clay targets in a row, to set a women’s record.
In 1940 the first no-hit, no-run game to be thrown on an opening day of the major league baseball season was earned by Bob Feller. The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0.
And in 1962 Walter Cronkite began anchoring “The CBS Evening News”.
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Quote of the Day
“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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QoD? Anyone?
Wandering Views 
Good morning. I’ve been chewing on Galatians 6:9 since seeing it in my devotion book a few days ago: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Has any particular passage of scripture been on your mind lately?
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Good morning. I’ve been thinking about the ministry of encouragement. In I Samuel, when Saul was hunting for David and hoping to destroy him, David fled to the hills of the Desert of Ziph. During that time, Jonathan ministered to David. In I Sam 23:16, it says that Jonathan helped (David) to find strength in God.
There is a great need for more Jonathans among us…Christians with the very same ministry that Jonathan had to David…helping him find strength in the Lord. What an encouraging ministry!
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The Times-News reports that a local physician finished the race 20 minutes before the explosion. He attempted to go back to assist, but they wouldn’t let him.
Seems they had plenty of emergency equipment. Kinda like having an accident in front of a hospital.
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I memorized Psalm 100 and worked with it until I turned the words into a song for me to sing in the morning. I have just sung it this morning and found it to be of particular help after the Boston happenings yesterday. Then on top of bombs in Boston, the big tax preparer’s nationwide system (Drake) failed yesterday afternoon. This morning I was awakened by a phone call from a worker in my husband’s office who said her husband has a second kidney stone that has released on top of the one that has not passed as it should have by now. He is in such horrid pain. So there has been a lot of heavy duty bad since yesterday. Even so, God’s word stands strong, immovable as a source of good that sustains us and brings peace and remembrance of God’s power to overcome the darkness.
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Kare2012, I hesitate to tell this, since it will finally reveal that I’m not a genius. But I will.
Back in 1972, we bought another house in Annandale. A nice split level. I installed carpet in an upstairs bedroom. But then the door wouldn’t close. I needed to cut about half an inch off the bottom. So, I removed the door, and like your husband, I measured, and measured again. (The old saying is, “Measure twice, cut once.) Certain that I had it right. I proceeded to cut half an inch off the wrong end.
I suspect that door still has a gap at the top.
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In my younger days I worked the finish line for the July 4th annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. All the volunteers got a t-shirt the easy way. We would have to gather at Piedmont Park very early in the morning to get ready for the race. I worked at least one year as a verifier of the finish time. It was very exciting when the top runners came through. But it could be quite scary, too, since a number of men who had pushed themselves too hard, and maybe were not fully prepared for the run, would come through looking ashen gray. So there was medical care there for those who might need it. Also, you can imagine how hot it can be in Atlanta in July so even though the race is quite early, heat and humidity can be a factor, too. I have been praying for all those affected by this tragedy.
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Chas, that is worth two hahas 🙂 🙂
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It’s funny only in retrospect Janice.
Actutally, it didn’t matter much. You didn’t notice when the door was open. When it was closed, a small gap was at the top, which nobody ever noticed. Only when Chuck moved out and I made that room an office, did I notice occasionally. And smile. When I closed the door, I could tell from the inside.
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I am reading a book by David Niven called “The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People”. It contains simple statements of advice. Interesting. Some of the items are simply parts of current wisdom (i.e 1. “Your life has purpose and meaning”, some, sort of silly sayings you’ve heard all your life, “Eat some fruit every day.”) I thought I might post some of them occasionally.
Let’s try this:
1. Your life has purpose and meaning.
Understanding that is supposed to make you happy. I suspect it makes people less sad in times of stress.
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A reporter I sit next to eats fruit (1-2 apples) every day. Loudly. At his desk. Which is right up against my desk. CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH. Arrrrg!
I copied down this quote from Bach during my morning readings the other day: “With steadfast joy go forth, thou shalt see at the finish that what before caused pain occurred to bring thee blessing.”
We’ll be doing more runner followups today, a former colleague passed on a tip to me last night that he may know how to reach the son of a local man who was among the seriously injured back there.
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🙂 Chas’ door. 🙂
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Bobby Vinton’s song about “Blue Velvet” always brings back a moment in time for me — I was in maybe 7th grade, 12 years old, and just beginning to figure out that, like it or not, I’d soon morph into one of those “teen-agers” we always thought were so creepy. Horrifying and intriguing both, just the thought of it.
My girlfriend and I stopped at Mo’s diner walking home from school one afternoon — we usually stopped in for a coke in a fancy Coke glass with ice, which I think cost only some spare change back then. There was a juke box (remember those?? D4 …) and someone was playing “She Wore Blue Velvet.”
I thought that song was just so pretty and years later I did actually have a velvet dress (burgundy, not blue). But as a kid that day I remember thinking if I ever went to a dance or prom, I’d wear blue velvet because that song was so beautiful. 🙂
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Good Morning…snow…snow..snow…yuck! Sorry…now I feel better 🙂
6arrows….thank you for the sweet reminder in your first post…Years ago, I received a call…the case worker was going to bring to our home a 2 day old baby…birthmother (35yrs old) had never been seen by a doctor…she kept her pregnancy a secret..she didn’t want her 15yr old to know…during the night, she delivered her baby in the bathtub…alone…she fed her child 2% milk from an eye dropper…the baby had not been seen by a doctor and was being brought to my home during snowstorm. “Lord…what should I do…I have no idea what condition this child is in and the caseworkers are unwilling to have her examined by a doctor due to the cost?”….I opened my Bible….and this is what He spoke to me ” Let us never grow weary of doing good…..”….I took her in my arms…she was in a skimpy summer sleeper…she was freezing…I swaddled her and held her close to my chest through the night…praying. In the dark hours of the morning, I called a friend who is a pediatrician…he was aghast…he arranged for me to be met at the emergency room by another pediatrician….the baby was placed under warming lamps to regulate her body temp….after spending 10 hours in the hospital…I brought her home…she was eventually adopted by a dear couple who had been praying for a child…she is doing very well…happy, bouncy, full of life 14 year old…God is good…and I shall never grow weary 🙂
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nancyjill, what a tender story, thanks for sharing that.
Update: Annie Oakley (my cat, not the record-setter from 1922 as mentioned above) seems to be getting back to herself. She ate a little bit this morning and is behaving more more normally.
Cats.
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How can you keep a pregnancy secret?
When Elvera was pregnant, she worked for New York Life in Fort Worth. In those days, NYLIC wouldn’t let a woman work if she showed pregnancy. She kept it secret for five months, but eventually got fired because she was obviously pregnant.
That couldn’t happen today.
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Donna,
Maybe she felt under the weather because she took out 122 real pigeons, instead of the clay ones. 🙂
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NancyJill,
🙂 🙂 🙂
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Good one, AJ 🙂
Chas: “That couldn’t happen today” — and that kind of workplace progress for women was a good thing.
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I could never figure that out either Chas…but, I did meet the birthmother…she was a bigger lady and I suppose she could have worn “billowy” clothes…In the morning when her 15yr old asked where the baby came from…she told her daughter a friend “brought the baby over in the middle of the night” and now she was going to care for the child until arrangements could be made, since her “friend” couldn’t keep the baby…
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Chas…”That couldn’t happen today.” Now remember Abraham and Sarah and how all things are possible with God? 🙂
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It’s always a bit surprising when you read about teens who “hide” a pregnancy until they deliver, but it has happened.
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I’ve never understood how women don’t know they’re pregnant. But then a dear friend, a nurse, was shocked to go in for problems and the doctor found a heartbeat! Her husband got the news a couple days before he left for a three month deployment.
My godson was born four months later. Talk about unprepared! 🙂
Lovely story, above. Thanks.
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I haven’t read the thread yet, but seeing Michelle’s comment at 11:03 reminded me of someone I’d heard of from a friend of mine. Her friend did not know that she herself was pregnant until she went into labor!
Apparently this woman was of an age where she thought her missed cycles were menopause-related. Also, she had had abdominal surgery some years back that had left part of her abdominal area numb to sensation, so she couldn’t feel the baby moving during her pregnancy. Add to that that the baby had an unusually short umbilical cord and wasn’t moving around much anyway, due to that.
Another friend of hers had seen her the day before she delivered, and was VERY surprised to get an announcement on her answering machine the next day that her friend had had a baby!
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I also know a nurse who was several months pregnant before it was discovered by accident. I know a few people who did hide a pregnancy and/or claim not to know it until they went into labor. I never could have gotten away with that. I always looked like I was having quads.
Beautiful story, Nancyjill.
Chas, thanks for your story, too. It gave both me and my husband a good laugh. Believe me, when you finish the whole interior and/or remodel a home, you make lots of mistakes. Once in awhile, my husband would say to himself, “Oh, well, someone going by on a galloping horse won’t notice” This was only one of his sayings to comfort himself. Hard to be a perfectionist when working with imperfect materials. Things called ‘straight’ are often crooked. Truthfully, who noticed the door as much as you? WE notice our mistakes, others overlook them. Those who love us ignore them or help us fix them. Those who criticize are not worth worrying about.
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Good (late) morning!
6 Arrows: (From yesterday’s thread): Sounds like we have a lot in common, at least in the area of procrastination!
I had a fabulous time on my trip to San Diego. There were six of us that were able to get together. We stayed up talking until 3:00 in the morning. It was as if no time had passed whatsoever. Our 25th high school reunion is next year and we’ve decided to take a cool trip to celebrate. I was selected to plan the excursion. I’m about 95% sure we’re going to rent a house in Costa Rica for four nights. I’m already excited about it!
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I had lunch with a friend who had just received the news that her son’s fiancee was pregnant, several months along (somewhere in her second trimester) . . . and had just found out. She was on birth control and of course wasn’t “trying” to get pregnant and wasn’t looking for signs. And any signs of pregnancy may have seemed like side effects of the Pill. She was several months pregnant when they married, and they had another baby 13 months later (she was on the Pill with that one too, but I don’t know how long it took her to realize she was pregnant).
We knew a very large woman when I was a child who ended up finding out she was pregnant and close to her delivery date. As I recall her children were half-grown, so she probably had some combination of thinking she had menopause symptoms and not being able to feel the baby because of her own girth. If I recall correctly, that same woman later had her stomach “stapled,” the first such surgery I had every heard of, and lost a couple hundred pounds or so. . . .
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Chas – thank you 🙂 I read the door story to my husband and he laughed (and felt better about his (our) mistakes.
Kathaleena, no one going by on a galloping horse will notice the outlet behind the fridge either 🙂
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😦 Kinda quite around here. I notice the west coasters chatter a lot after 2100,
Do any of you remember pressure cookers?
My mother had one.
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NancyJill — beautiful story at 10:09. Very touching, especially the part where you mentioned swaddling the baby and holding her close to your chest through the night and praying. What sweet memories!
Tychicus — thank you for your thoughts on Jonathan’s ministry to David. I just finished 1 Samuel last week, so that story is fresh in my mind.
AnnMS — glad you had a great time in San Diego! And Costa Rica sounds like fun. Hope you and your friends can make a go of that. 🙂
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I remember pressure cookers. I don’t think my mom used hers that much; mainly for canning, if I recall correctly. I wasn’t very domestic growing up, and didn’t absorb a lot of information on cooking, and what equipment to use when, and so on. I was too busy with school activities and such to be concerned with learning about household matters, and my mother, who did not work outside the home, didn’t really teach me in that area.
I had a steep learning curve when I got married, and especially when I came home from my teaching job seven years after marrying, to be home with my children. And 20 years later, I still have a lot to learn.
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Just filed a story about a 60-something businessman with local ties to us who is in surgery, fighting for his life — he was standing at the finish line cheering on his daughter & other family members yesterday. Pray. Sounds very serious.
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We use pressure cookers, especially for old hens and roosters. Yum. Also for canning. Roasts. Etc.
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Interesting link from barna.org on the most post-christian cities in the US and its not San Fransisco… its Albany, New York?
http://cities.barna.org/the-most-post-christian-cities-in-america/
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Considering I have a 15 year old daughter who has had me on an emotional roller coaster I cried through NancyJill’s post.
My mother was terrified of a pressure cooker and wouldn’t use one. Something about opening it and a pot of whatever ended up on the ceiling. I do know that the local hardware store has the rubber rings for pressure cookers. I could probably bluff my way through using one. I think I have one in storage somewhere. What I do have is a set of SaladMaster cookware that my dad bought me as a college graduation present. I really wanted a tanzanite ring. I still use the pots and pans and probably wouldn’t be wearing the ring. Tonight all I could think about for dinner was a rotisserie chicken from Winn Dixie. They didn’t have any so I am having hummus and pita chips.
I still haven’t wrapped my brain around what happened in Boston yesterday. I don’t think it is real to me because I havenn’t been able to watch a lot of the news.
I really don’t have any home improvement stories. I grew up with a man who preferred to hire that sort of stuff done. Now if the motor went out in your washer or dryer or air condition he could rebuild it in a couple of hours and if there was a plumbing problem he had all the wrenches and snakes you could want. First husband was real pretty to look at but not real handy when it came to fixing things. His solution was to buy new, call my dad, or call a handyman. New husband recently fixed the bathroom sink. I was amazed there was no blood and no cursing. I didn’t know a sink could be fixed without those two components (see growing up with my dad–big hands)
Tomorrow I interview for a virtual assistant in the Philliipines. I am not sure what all to ask her, but I am so ready for her to come on board.
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HRW, That is a very interesting link. You can see the North/South split. Cities with a higher black population are more Christian. However, there are other interesting results. Dallas/Fort Worth is by far the most Christian of the top ten metropolitan areas, significantly ahead of Houston and Atlanta.
Looking at the methodology, Sunday School attendance, volunteer work and financial contributions were factors. I think some of the factors in the methodology tended to make largely Hispanic cities show up as less Christian than I would expect.
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I see Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Ashville are near the bottom.
I’m not surprised. Almost everyone around here goes to church somewhere.
I read somewhere that evangelical church attendence in New York was 4%. I as astounded. I knew it was low, but I expected something like 17%.
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The girls were given several hand made square dance outfits. They are delighted. They love square dancing as do the boys. They refer to themselves as the boys. Not the guys. The boys. I find that interesting.
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I have used a pressure canner for canning. Actually, I own one, but never have custody. Another family member always borrowed it, never returning it, to the point I decided to forget about it.
My mom used one very seldom. She does have a story about someone’s exploding theirs.
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I didn’t think Wynn Dixie existed anymore.
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Chas, Lubbock was too little to be ranked, but I think it would have been up there with Shreveport.
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Does anyone know about the CISPA vote that is coming up? A friend sent an e-mail wanting me to sign a petition and I don’t know anything about it. Here is a link to something I found about it. AJ, it sounds like something you probably know about since it involves sharing of internet information. Here’s the link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/16/cispa_house_of_representatives_vote/print.html
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We have a BIG pressure cooker at work. 😉
It’s so strange to hear people next door. That house has been vacant since summer. I don’t think the new owners have officially “moved in” yet (they just got the keys yesterday), but they currently don’t live far away so they’ll probably start moving stuff over bit by bit, maybe do the big move this weekend.
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Janice,
CISPA is bad for privacy. It was already defeated, but this is the newer version, but just as bad. It’s one of the few issues I actually agree with Obama on. He has for the second time threatened to veto it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/16/with-cispa-vote-looming-the-white-house-threatens-veto-again/
“As the cybersecurity bill CISPA crawls out of its grave, the White House is threatening to kick it back in again.
On Tuesday afternoon the Obama Administration issued a public statement that it will veto the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) if it reaches the President’s desk in its current form, citing a need for greater privacy protections in the bill’s information sharing provisions as well as a need to preserve the boundaries between civilian agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency.
“The Administration recognizes and appreciates that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) adopted several amendments to [CISPA] in an effort to incorporate the Administration’s important substantive concerns,” the statement reads, citing recent changes meant to avoid privacy violations. “However, the Administration still seeks additional improvements and if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.””
For more on what it is, see this.
http://www.zdnet.com/what-is-cispa-and-what-does-it-mean-for-you-faq-7000013965/
“CISPA, known officially as H.R. 624, is a cybersecurity Bill currently going through the motions in the lower house of Congress, the US House of Representatives. It is designed to help prevent and defend against cyberattacks on critical national infrastructure and against other internet attacks on private firms by obtaining and sharing “cyberthreat information”.”
“Its sole purpose is to allow private sector firms to search personal and sensitive user data of ordinary US residents to identify this so-called “threat information”, and to then share that information with each other and the US government — without the need for a warrant.
By citing “cybersecurity”, it allows private firms to hand over private user data while circumventing existing privacy laws, such as the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. This means that CISPA can permit private firms to share your data, such as emails, text messages, and cloud-stored documents and files, with the US government.
It also gives these firms legal protection to hand over such data. There is no judicial oversight.”
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