I mentioned before that Elsa was 101.
She died March 15 at her winter home in Florida.
Not only did Lions minister to her, she was in our SS department..
We’re attending a memorial service for her today.
😦 Estate sale of my mom and dad’s things. I cannot be there. I don’t want to be there anyway. The whole thing is grievous to me for a variety of reasons.
🙂 Fabulous weather to be out and about. Also, to get some gardens cleaned up. Plus, my husband finally got a project done for me. This is cleaning and sealing an old sewing machine base to use as a base for a dollhouse my mom made and furnished. She made many of the items in it.
🙂 Christian fellowship. The prayers of fellow believers.
🙂 Saturday and the end of a busy week — grateful for the (albeit short) weekend breather!
🙂 Cleaned the kitchen this morning (yay); dishwasher loaded & ready to roll; laundry next, but maybe not until tonight
😦 I was tentatively/maybe (it wasn’t firmed up) supposed to drive up to see Carol today, but I had to cancel/postpone; we’ll talk by phone later; I am anxious to see her new place — and she really wanted me to visit — but Saturdays also are about my only days to catch up around here and squeeze in some needed down time. I think I’ve spent the last 3 Saturdays with her, much of it on the road to and from various places she’s been
😦 I’m supposed to visit my reporter friend with Parkinson’s, and today’s probably my only chance to do that. He requested I bring some apples. He can no longer read (mainly because his hands are so shaky and weak, but he said he doesn’t listen to audio books for some reason either). These visits are long (I try to wrap it up in an hour) and kind of sad so I tend to procrastinate about going. 😦
🙂 Church friend who moved to Colorado a year ago — and then within months lost her 90-something husband — had a lumpectomy yesterday and all went well. She’ll have to do some radiation, but hopefully that’ll be it. I know she’s glad it’s behind her, she had breast cancer 17 years ago so this was the first time since then that it had reappeared. Thankfully it was very small. And that reminds me I’m quite overdue for a mammogram.
🙂 😦 Tess’ right front leg/foot seems to be getting better, she tweaked it (again) and was hopping around on 3 legs for a few days. She’s using the foot now, though, but still only gingerly so she’s quite limp-y. Same thing happened a few months ago but an Xray showed nothing, so she must be straining/spraining it while running in the backyard. Always the same foot-leg, so it’s obviously becoming prone to re-injury
😦 Cowboy has a big bare, bloody (from chewing) patch/hot spot on his hip, so I gave him a prednisone tablet last night which will clear it up fast. He gets these coat & skin problems at certain times during the year which is why I always like to keep a prescription of that on hand, even though it’s needed rarely. But when it’s needed, it’s really needed! Poor guy.
This is how God blessed me today in 14 sometimes confounding steps with an epilogue:
1. Decide to take a walk, finally, from your book: Great Sonoma County Hikes..
2. Decide to combine errands and see Hill’s family with photos and gifts, so you call them.
2a. Frantically try to download photos to your Ipad so you can show the fam.
2b. Apple won’t allow you to do so, insisting you need to buy a NEW IPAD!
2c. Nuclear engineer determines you can get away with something called a dongle.
3. Call Hill fam and learn planned walk is on the outskirts of nearby town where a parade is happening at the same time.
4. Change walk choice.
5. Enjoy walk.
6. Decide to stop at mall and purchase dongle from Apple store.
7. Apple has no idea what you’re talking about but insists what you really need is a new Ipad.
8. Walk across mall to Best Buy outlet where the Sprint saleswoman in store knows what a dongle is and checks. We can buy it at the big box store.
9. Arrive at parking lot of giant shopping area and husband decides he’s hungry. After many fits and starts, they go to Applebee’s.
10. Husband, out of blue, decides after lunch he wants to walk through the local Trader Joe’s.
11. Don’t buy anything and walk back to car. M suggests they continue walking across parking lot rather than drive. R thinks that’s silly because they’ve just walked six miles, but agrees.
12. They cross purposes twice trying to decide if they’ll cut across the parking lot or use the marked crosswalks and the only walkway through the parking lot. They opt to be legal.
13. As they walk past Marshalls on their way to Best Buy, dearly loved Lee and Linda Miller, friends from our church in Ukiah walk out at that exact minute.
14. 20 minutes of joyous, spontaneous fellowship!
The best part of the day.
Epilogue: Best Buy had a dongle. No new Ipad. We’ll visit Hill’s family another day.
🙂 😦 visited my reporter friend with Parkinson’s, he has a very hard time both physically and mentally now. It is hard because he was such a talented and gifted writer and artist. …
🙂 Broached the subject of God — which initially he took down a rabbit trail telling me (again) about his experiences of communicating with dead loved ones through a psychic (I kept thinking how much money did she charge him? Argh). But before we said goodbye the topic came around again when he said his estranged brother-in-law suggested they drive to Oregon for euthanasia (which my friend wouldn’t be all that opposed to, he keeps saying he wants to die, but said in this case he’d do it just in revenge so it would ruin his B-I-L’s counseling career and reputation.
He then said families are just really “f’d” up — which was my opening to say “That’s why the Bible just always made so much sense to me — we are a fallen people in a fallen world, with sometimes troubles galore. I explained how I always had to flee to God because in me I have nothing, but in Him I have everything. (He was raised in a conservative Baptist environment which he now ridicules and laughs at, his life has been hard with lifelong battles with depression and other mental illnesses).
When I finally left, I said I’d be praying for him.
He said hadn’t prayed much in a long time. But that he’d pray too. I said “Good!”
I could have/maybe should have said more. I definitely could have said it all better.
But I’m praying the Lord will bless what I did manage to say and that it will bear some kind of fruit in my friend.
🙂 Finally got my toll lane transponder purchased and registered so maybe trips to see Carol will be easier on congested freeway days
Donna, after an encounter like that, you shouldn’t go back and worry about what you might have said or done. You did what the Lord led you to do. Be satisfied with it.
You know, there’s a time to be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. Is there a social worker assigned to you? Judge? That needs to be reported.
Also, has E worked out a plan for when you have to put a restraining order into place against him? Where would she go?
I’d start thinking and working on that as well. Once it all falls apart for good, I be worried about her safety, not to mention the child.
😦 Well, there’s trouble in paradise. Carol called (and she’s generally pretty easy-going and adaptable to change, not picky) and said the new place isn’t (so far) to her liking. The food is awful, and worst of all, they wouldn’t let her go out on walk today.
Now Carol’s not one to ask questions so when I asked if the asked them why, she said no. It may just be that they want her to get better acclimated as a new resident, maybe they want to watch her a bit. Or maybe they’re just a lot stricter than her other places, which is not good. Carol loves going to the local library and she’s often “out and about” with her walker.
So she’s meeting with the facility’s ombudsman on Monday and I told her to ask some of these questions and to raise her concerns. It may not be a very good fit, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, the boyfriend is coming (supposedly) for a visit tomorrow and he’s been pressing her to move back in with him, maybe into a new facility closer to our home turf. I’m afraid it will all sound very appealing to her.
🙂 The dog park wasn’t too cold. But “Buffalo” has returned from Belize and claims he’s heading back there for good in a few weeks. Southern California is too cold.
In Idaho, it is against the law for a person under eighteen to be in possession of a handgun unless he has the written permission of the parents on him or his parent is with him. Of course, the parent cannot be a felon as that person would not be allowed to have a gun.
😦 Irked by a guy at the dog park today who actually yelled at and hit his dog for chewing on a hot spot on his foot. Sheesh. I mentioned prednisone or even topical sprays to ease the itch. He seemed to think the dog was doing it all on purpose … He asked if he could buy prednisone at the 99-cent store. Um, no, it’s not expensive but you do need to call your vet for a prescription.
😦 I figured about then that he probably didn’t have a regular vet … I’m not as chi-chi and some L.A. folks about their animals, but basic vet care for things like hot spots (which really are seasonal for a lot of dogs, including Cowboy) is kind of basic?
Or at least knowing about & using some good home remedies beyond smacking them on the head and threatening to take them to the pound. ???
😦 talked to Norma today, she had to put her cat, Sunshine, down this week (he had neuropathy). Boy, when it rains it pours. Meanwhile, she’s had a lot of home visits this week to get her set up with Meals on Wheels & Hospice.
🙂 she’s going to church tomorrow, I’m picking her up as usual
Picking her up for church … I told her “Let’s do it again” before we hung up … (maybe not an appropriate song, per se, but it’s where the line comes from):
Well, I’m definitely not a single woman anymore. I have a sick husband, one daughter who is out on a date and has been gone for quite a few hours, and one daughter whose workplace needs her to work some extra time (no one else available to cover the shift) and so they’re going to loan her a car so that the rest of us can get to church tomorrow (since I’ve had little experience driving hubby’s Prius–once or twice a couple of years ago–and don’t particularly want to drive it when he isn’t with me).
Today was a church workday and since I live in the church Missions house there was a crew working in my yard. I went over and worked with others cleaning toys. So nice to see all that they got done.
🙂 Received a special card in the mail today with a gift from all of you. Such a sweet blessing. My post office is 5 to 10 miles away so I don’t get my mail that often.
I did five miles both of the last two days. I have been walking since my daughter gave me a fitbit. However my friend went with me out on the Empire Mine trails which back up to the church. I was huffing and puffing. I have been walking on level ground and there were hills back there!! I will have to use that trail more often. But… there are signs to watch out for mountain lions…
Emily is passing the information along to her lawyer. R even bragged about it in a text to her, including the type of gun used.
Sometimes I think R could be dangerous, but other times, I think he’s “all talk”. He’s usually been the kind that will write insulting, harassing messages via text or Facebook (when she was still Facebook friends with him) or say those things on the phone, but is relatively polite when face-to-face, as if he doesn’t have the guts to say things to our face.
Emily, who knows him better than anyone, & is not naive about him anymore, doesn’t think he would actually do anything dangerous. Of course, Lee & I pray for protection over our daughters & our little guy.
Good service Donna. Nothing about it to report on though.
Tonight we’re going to have a simulcast by Joel C. Rosenberg, called “The Third Target”.
I have read several of Rosenberg’s books and I’m going. Elvera isn’t going. I can’t blame her. She doesn’t keep up with that sort of thing..
🙂 We had a good sermon today (on Rom. 10:1) about evangelism — and we’re also hosting a class on evangelism in coming weeks.
All believers are called to “sound the trumpet.” He specifically addressed some of the intimidations in our own culture right now that Christians face.
“(The media) portrays Christians as simple, unthinking, unreasonable, mindless bigots who have an unwarranted hatred or fear of anyone unlike themselves … It can become paralyzing for many Christians … (But) efforts to degrade the Christian faith cannot diminish the power of the gospel anymore than sticking your finger in the barrel of a shotgun can somehow dissuade the buckshot. Yet this finger does succeed if it can convince the Christian to remain silent and know his place — to not pull the trigger. Young elephants are chained to a small stake in the ground which holds them still. When they grow up they can pull the stake up with east, but don’t, because they’ve been convinced it’s a useless endeavor … Is that how we now tend to think about the power of the gospel?”
Karen, I pray this young man will be saved, too. In the meantime, I would be super careful. Most people who harm others are described as someone who others thought were harmless. There is absolutely no point in a child that young handling a firearm. I hope he had ear protection. Why was he even doing such a thing around the child? It is not like he has his son 24/7. Very strange.
I was brought up with guns. My dad and brothers all hunted and I have done target shooting. Never, ever would such a thing happened. No one with a lick of sense would have a four year old near a loaded gun.
Karen, I don’t know about there, but around here letting a four-year-old fire a gun (yes, we can own handguns as well as long guns) would be grounds for loosing not only custody rights but also the right to own a gun. And as K says, seeming harmless isn’t grounds for trusting someone. It is what people do, not what they appear, which determines what they are truly like. In your descriptions, I am seeing an escalation of attention getting behaviour from someone who very likely has either narcissistic or borderline personality disorder. Such people have been known to kill themselves for attention. I remember hearing a couple of years ago about a father who blew his house up with himself and his kids, who were visiting in a joint custody arrangement, in it. I am shocked that the courts are being so obtuse on this. Pray for his salvation by all means, but don’t be lulled by the charm. That is a very typical tactic to get people to turn a blind eye to what is really happening. Desiring someone’s good doesn’t mean that one has to entrust that someone with a child’s life.
Oh, believe me, I am not being lulled by his very-occasional charm. It actually makes me wonder what he’s up to.
Unfortunately, in Connecticut, it is very, very hard for either parent to get sole custody. There is good reason for that, but I think we have gone overboard in protecting the rights of fathers or mothers who are not good for their kids.
As I said above, Emily will pass this by her lawyer in the morning. He will tell her how to proceed. He once told her she was close to having a good case for sole custody, so maybe this incident would help.
My prayers are in hope that God will intervene & get a hold of R before the situation becomes dangerous, but we are also keeping our eyes open, & keeping the lawyer apprised of what is going on.
Wandering Views 
I mentioned before that Elsa was 101.
She died March 15 at her winter home in Florida.
Not only did Lions minister to her, she was in our SS department..
We’re attending a memorial service for her today.
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😦 Thyroid numbers off again. Anxiety. 😦
😦 Issues with my mom.
😦 Estate sale of my mom and dad’s things. I cannot be there. I don’t want to be there anyway. The whole thing is grievous to me for a variety of reasons.
🙂 Fabulous weather to be out and about. Also, to get some gardens cleaned up. Plus, my husband finally got a project done for me. This is cleaning and sealing an old sewing machine base to use as a base for a dollhouse my mom made and furnished. She made many of the items in it.
🙂 Christian fellowship. The prayers of fellow believers.
🙂 God never leaves us or forsakes us.
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I looked at the pictures, KI. Hard. Xoxo
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🙂 Saturday and the end of a busy week — grateful for the (albeit short) weekend breather!
🙂 Cleaned the kitchen this morning (yay); dishwasher loaded & ready to roll; laundry next, but maybe not until tonight
😦 I was tentatively/maybe (it wasn’t firmed up) supposed to drive up to see Carol today, but I had to cancel/postpone; we’ll talk by phone later; I am anxious to see her new place — and she really wanted me to visit — but Saturdays also are about my only days to catch up around here and squeeze in some needed down time. I think I’ve spent the last 3 Saturdays with her, much of it on the road to and from various places she’s been
😦 I’m supposed to visit my reporter friend with Parkinson’s, and today’s probably my only chance to do that. He requested I bring some apples. He can no longer read (mainly because his hands are so shaky and weak, but he said he doesn’t listen to audio books for some reason either). These visits are long (I try to wrap it up in an hour) and kind of sad so I tend to procrastinate about going. 😦
🙂 Church friend who moved to Colorado a year ago — and then within months lost her 90-something husband — had a lumpectomy yesterday and all went well. She’ll have to do some radiation, but hopefully that’ll be it. I know she’s glad it’s behind her, she had breast cancer 17 years ago so this was the first time since then that it had reappeared. Thankfully it was very small. And that reminds me I’m quite overdue for a mammogram.
🙂 😦 Tess’ right front leg/foot seems to be getting better, she tweaked it (again) and was hopping around on 3 legs for a few days. She’s using the foot now, though, but still only gingerly so she’s quite limp-y. Same thing happened a few months ago but an Xray showed nothing, so she must be straining/spraining it while running in the backyard. Always the same foot-leg, so it’s obviously becoming prone to re-injury
😦 Cowboy has a big bare, bloody (from chewing) patch/hot spot on his hip, so I gave him a prednisone tablet last night which will clear it up fast. He gets these coat & skin problems at certain times during the year which is why I always like to keep a prescription of that on hand, even though it’s needed rarely. But when it’s needed, it’s really needed! Poor guy.
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This is how God blessed me today in 14 sometimes confounding steps with an epilogue:
1. Decide to take a walk, finally, from your book: Great Sonoma County Hikes..
2. Decide to combine errands and see Hill’s family with photos and gifts, so you call them.
2a. Frantically try to download photos to your Ipad so you can show the fam.
2b. Apple won’t allow you to do so, insisting you need to buy a NEW IPAD!
2c. Nuclear engineer determines you can get away with something called a dongle.
3. Call Hill fam and learn planned walk is on the outskirts of nearby town where a parade is happening at the same time.
4. Change walk choice.
5. Enjoy walk.
6. Decide to stop at mall and purchase dongle from Apple store.
7. Apple has no idea what you’re talking about but insists what you really need is a new Ipad.
8. Walk across mall to Best Buy outlet where the Sprint saleswoman in store knows what a dongle is and checks. We can buy it at the big box store.
9. Arrive at parking lot of giant shopping area and husband decides he’s hungry. After many fits and starts, they go to Applebee’s.
10. Husband, out of blue, decides after lunch he wants to walk through the local Trader Joe’s.
11. Don’t buy anything and walk back to car. M suggests they continue walking across parking lot rather than drive. R thinks that’s silly because they’ve just walked six miles, but agrees.
12. They cross purposes twice trying to decide if they’ll cut across the parking lot or use the marked crosswalks and the only walkway through the parking lot. They opt to be legal.
13. As they walk past Marshalls on their way to Best Buy, dearly loved Lee and Linda Miller, friends from our church in Ukiah walk out at that exact minute.
14. 20 minutes of joyous, spontaneous fellowship!
The best part of the day.
Epilogue: Best Buy had a dongle. No new Ipad. We’ll visit Hill’s family another day.
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😦 Somebody (not one of us) decided it was a good idea to let an impulsive four-year-old shoot a real gun.
🙂 So very thankful nothing bad happened.
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🙂 😦 visited my reporter friend with Parkinson’s, he has a very hard time both physically and mentally now. It is hard because he was such a talented and gifted writer and artist. …
🙂 Broached the subject of God — which initially he took down a rabbit trail telling me (again) about his experiences of communicating with dead loved ones through a psychic (I kept thinking how much money did she charge him? Argh). But before we said goodbye the topic came around again when he said his estranged brother-in-law suggested they drive to Oregon for euthanasia (which my friend wouldn’t be all that opposed to, he keeps saying he wants to die, but said in this case he’d do it just in revenge so it would ruin his B-I-L’s counseling career and reputation.
He then said families are just really “f’d” up — which was my opening to say “That’s why the Bible just always made so much sense to me — we are a fallen people in a fallen world, with sometimes troubles galore. I explained how I always had to flee to God because in me I have nothing, but in Him I have everything. (He was raised in a conservative Baptist environment which he now ridicules and laughs at, his life has been hard with lifelong battles with depression and other mental illnesses).
When I finally left, I said I’d be praying for him.
He said hadn’t prayed much in a long time. But that he’d pray too. I said “Good!”
I could have/maybe should have said more. I definitely could have said it all better.
But I’m praying the Lord will bless what I did manage to say and that it will bear some kind of fruit in my friend.
🙂 Finally got my toll lane transponder purchased and registered so maybe trips to see Carol will be easier on congested freeway days
🙂 OK, it’s finally off the to the dog park for me
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Donna, after an encounter like that, you shouldn’t go back and worry about what you might have said or done. You did what the Lord led you to do. Be satisfied with it.
Be careful not to freeze in the dog park.
😆
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I have not said anything about the dog park.
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It’s nice to see you showing some restraint, Mumsee.
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Mumsee, only eight and a half months and you will have survived your New Year’s resolution, and you can say anything you like about the dog park.
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You know, there’s a time to be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. Is there a social worker assigned to you? Judge? That needs to be reported.
Also, has E worked out a plan for when you have to put a restraining order into place against him? Where would she go?
I’d start thinking and working on that as well. Once it all falls apart for good, I be worried about her safety, not to mention the child.
And AJ, is he blocked from seeing this site?
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😦 Well, there’s trouble in paradise. Carol called (and she’s generally pretty easy-going and adaptable to change, not picky) and said the new place isn’t (so far) to her liking. The food is awful, and worst of all, they wouldn’t let her go out on walk today.
Now Carol’s not one to ask questions so when I asked if the asked them why, she said no. It may just be that they want her to get better acclimated as a new resident, maybe they want to watch her a bit. Or maybe they’re just a lot stricter than her other places, which is not good. Carol loves going to the local library and she’s often “out and about” with her walker.
So she’s meeting with the facility’s ombudsman on Monday and I told her to ask some of these questions and to raise her concerns. It may not be a very good fit, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, the boyfriend is coming (supposedly) for a visit tomorrow and he’s been pressing her to move back in with him, maybe into a new facility closer to our home turf. I’m afraid it will all sound very appealing to her.
🙂 The dog park wasn’t too cold. But “Buffalo” has returned from Belize and claims he’s heading back there for good in a few weeks. Southern California is too cold.
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Karen (8:11), yikes.
I can’t even be trusted with a gun, let alone a 4-year-old
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In Idaho, it is against the law for a person under eighteen to be in possession of a handgun unless he has the written permission of the parents on him or his parent is with him. Of course, the parent cannot be a felon as that person would not be allowed to have a gun.
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Thank you for noticing, Karen, kind of you. You are correct, Cheryl.
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😦 Irked by a guy at the dog park today who actually yelled at and hit his dog for chewing on a hot spot on his foot. Sheesh. I mentioned prednisone or even topical sprays to ease the itch. He seemed to think the dog was doing it all on purpose … He asked if he could buy prednisone at the 99-cent store. Um, no, it’s not expensive but you do need to call your vet for a prescription.
😦 I figured about then that he probably didn’t have a regular vet … I’m not as chi-chi and some L.A. folks about their animals, but basic vet care for things like hot spots (which really are seasonal for a lot of dogs, including Cowboy) is kind of basic?
Or at least knowing about & using some good home remedies beyond smacking them on the head and threatening to take them to the pound. ???
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😦 talked to Norma today, she had to put her cat, Sunshine, down this week (he had neuropathy). Boy, when it rains it pours. Meanwhile, she’s had a lot of home visits this week to get her set up with Meals on Wheels & Hospice.
🙂 she’s going to church tomorrow, I’m picking her up as usual
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Picking her up for church … I told her “Let’s do it again” before we hung up … (maybe not an appropriate song, per se, but it’s where the line comes from):
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A song & movie from my long-ago youth 🙂
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Well, I’m definitely not a single woman anymore. I have a sick husband, one daughter who is out on a date and has been gone for quite a few hours, and one daughter whose workplace needs her to work some extra time (no one else available to cover the shift) and so they’re going to loan her a car so that the rest of us can get to church tomorrow (since I’ve had little experience driving hubby’s Prius–once or twice a couple of years ago–and don’t particularly want to drive it when he isn’t with me).
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Today was a church workday and since I live in the church Missions house there was a crew working in my yard. I went over and worked with others cleaning toys. So nice to see all that they got done.
🙂 Received a special card in the mail today with a gift from all of you. Such a sweet blessing. My post office is 5 to 10 miles away so I don’t get my mail that often.
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How was the service, Chas?
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🙂 just looked at my running pedometer om my iPad – “0”
Not sure what I really expected to see 🙂
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Look at the one on your phone not your IPad! Lol
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I did five miles both of the last two days. I have been walking since my daughter gave me a fitbit. However my friend went with me out on the Empire Mine trails which back up to the church. I was huffing and puffing. I have been walking on level ground and there were hills back there!! I will have to use that trail more often. But… there are signs to watch out for mountain lions…
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Emily is passing the information along to her lawyer. R even bragged about it in a text to her, including the type of gun used.
Sometimes I think R could be dangerous, but other times, I think he’s “all talk”. He’s usually been the kind that will write insulting, harassing messages via text or Facebook (when she was still Facebook friends with him) or say those things on the phone, but is relatively polite when face-to-face, as if he doesn’t have the guts to say things to our face.
Emily, who knows him better than anyone, & is not naive about him anymore, doesn’t think he would actually do anything dangerous. Of course, Lee & I pray for protection over our daughters & our little guy.
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Interestingly, R has been talking on the phone to me lately (like when he calls to say he’s coming to pick up Forrest) kind of like I’m a friend.
Yesterday, I sent along a lunch with Forrest, & included enough for R, too. He thanked me & even made a little joke.
I pray every day for this young man’s salvation, deliverance, & healing (emotional & mental).
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Good service Donna. Nothing about it to report on though.
Tonight we’re going to have a simulcast by Joel C. Rosenberg, called “The Third Target”.
I have read several of Rosenberg’s books and I’m going. Elvera isn’t going. I can’t blame her. She doesn’t keep up with that sort of thing..
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🙂 We had a good sermon today (on Rom. 10:1) about evangelism — and we’re also hosting a class on evangelism in coming weeks.
All believers are called to “sound the trumpet.” He specifically addressed some of the intimidations in our own culture right now that Christians face.
“(The media) portrays Christians as simple, unthinking, unreasonable, mindless bigots who have an unwarranted hatred or fear of anyone unlike themselves … It can become paralyzing for many Christians … (But) efforts to degrade the Christian faith cannot diminish the power of the gospel anymore than sticking your finger in the barrel of a shotgun can somehow dissuade the buckshot. Yet this finger does succeed if it can convince the Christian to remain silent and know his place — to not pull the trigger. Young elephants are chained to a small stake in the ground which holds them still. When they grow up they can pull the stake up with east, but don’t, because they’ve been convinced it’s a useless endeavor … Is that how we now tend to think about the power of the gospel?”
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Karen, I pray this young man will be saved, too. In the meantime, I would be super careful. Most people who harm others are described as someone who others thought were harmless. There is absolutely no point in a child that young handling a firearm. I hope he had ear protection. Why was he even doing such a thing around the child? It is not like he has his son 24/7. Very strange.
I was brought up with guns. My dad and brothers all hunted and I have done target shooting. Never, ever would such a thing happened. No one with a lick of sense would have a four year old near a loaded gun.
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That would be someone others thought was harmless!
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Karen, I don’t know about there, but around here letting a four-year-old fire a gun (yes, we can own handguns as well as long guns) would be grounds for loosing not only custody rights but also the right to own a gun. And as K says, seeming harmless isn’t grounds for trusting someone. It is what people do, not what they appear, which determines what they are truly like. In your descriptions, I am seeing an escalation of attention getting behaviour from someone who very likely has either narcissistic or borderline personality disorder. Such people have been known to kill themselves for attention. I remember hearing a couple of years ago about a father who blew his house up with himself and his kids, who were visiting in a joint custody arrangement, in it. I am shocked that the courts are being so obtuse on this. Pray for his salvation by all means, but don’t be lulled by the charm. That is a very typical tactic to get people to turn a blind eye to what is really happening. Desiring someone’s good doesn’t mean that one has to entrust that someone with a child’s life.
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Oh, believe me, I am not being lulled by his very-occasional charm. It actually makes me wonder what he’s up to.
Unfortunately, in Connecticut, it is very, very hard for either parent to get sole custody. There is good reason for that, but I think we have gone overboard in protecting the rights of fathers or mothers who are not good for their kids.
As I said above, Emily will pass this by her lawyer in the morning. He will tell her how to proceed. He once told her she was close to having a good case for sole custody, so maybe this incident would help.
My prayers are in hope that God will intervene & get a hold of R before the situation becomes dangerous, but we are also keeping our eyes open, & keeping the lawyer apprised of what is going on.
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