63 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 10-14-15”

  7. Last night I posted that I began my Blog Challenge experiment that Jeff Goins is offering for free on his website. My blog name is janicegareyblog through wordpress. Just curious if any here can access it?

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  9. Yep, miniature horses in a pulling contest at the fair. If you see just the first photo, you might think it’s some big powerful beasts, but I included the people in the second one to show the size perspective. (Actually, I was thinking I’d sent AJ one photo of draft horses and one of miniatures, but I see by the background in the first photo that those are miniatures too.) They’re fun to watch; they’re like little terriers in terms of not liking to wait to be hitched up. They just run as soon as they get pulled back to it but before he can make the quick connection, and their handlers pull them back and try again, and sometimes it takes several attempts. Last year one time both horses ended up on the ground on their sides, one on top of the other, and a different time an Amish guy got knocked down when they did get the load moving.

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  12. 6 Arrows, it sounds like you’re getting the same kind of glasses I have, progressive lenses with a broader area of lens through which one can see. My husband got regular progressive lenses (without the “upgrades”) when he got his bifocals three years ago, and he said he quickly got used to the fuzzy areas because he just turns his head to look at whatever it is, but when they explained the difference to me, I knew I “needed” the upgrade. If it wasn’t available, of course I would have to adjust, but I read all day long, including comparing two books side by side, and I also take a lot of photographs and am looking for a way to earn some money with some of the photos. So glasses with a full range of vision seemed worth the upgrade, for business and personal reasons both.

    My husband and the person fitting my glasses both warned me not to go back to the old ones if I was having a hard adjustment, BTW. (In other words, don’t wear each for part of the day. Wear them until you’re used to them.) After that first day when they felt so very weird, the hardest thing for me has been that the top part of the lens doesn’t feel as sharp and clear as my old glasses did for distance vision. But my hunch is that you will find, like I did, that within just a few days you’ll be wondering why you waited so long to get something so helpful. I only have a couple of steps at my home and never noticed any issue with steps; it was driving I wouldn’t have done with the new ones, not till about the fourth day with them. After that I wouldn’t have felt any hesitation to use them in any situation, although I didn’t adjust to them “fully” (95% or so) until nearer the end of the week. But by about day 4 I stopped fearing that I’d be one of those people who never do adjust to them. And reading with them was a treat from an hour after I got them.

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  14. Janice, I need the link, it should be something likehttps://janicegareyblog.wordpress.com/

    Which, as a matter of fact, works, I think.

    I’m on the challenge, too, but haven’t received anything in the mail today–which is unusual for J. Goins.

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  16. Mumsee, I’d have a hard time with the steps, too, with my glasses off. My uncorrected vision in my right eye is pretty bad, and in my left eye, VERY bad. Makes for a bad combination with balance and depth perception. I also have astigmatism with my right eye.

    My husband’s eyes are pretty equal, but his bifocals are only for distance and close up. The intermediate range, like reading on the computer, is bad. He’s not on it much — mainly for looking up items regarding fixing cars — but when he does use the computer, he takes his glasses off.

    I wouldn’t be able to see doing that, or reading music.

    Cheryl, yes, it does sound like you’ve got the same kind of glasses I’m getting. They showed me pictures of the view through regular progressives and the progressives that offer a bigger field, with peripheral more clear. I went with the latter. I don’t want to be turning my head a lot to see, especially while I’m teaching piano, glancing from the music, to my students’ hands, etc.

    And I feel those upgraded progressives are safer for driving, too, being able to see side traffic better.

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  18. I must have the upgraded progressives, too, I don’t have blurry areas — but I’ll ask about it when I go in, I’m due for my annual eye exam in December I think.

    We’re still stuck in our fall heat wave. 😦 Can I get a Boo for that? Friend from my sister church texted last night that she finally just took the dog and headed up to their 2nd house in the mountains 90 minutes away last night, she couldn’t take it anymore (her husband must be away). She said at least it was jacket weather there.

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  26. It took a couple days for me to adjust to the progressives, but one thing I did notice that week was I couldn’t manage walking up a steep hill near my house. My eyes couldn’t figure out how/where to look. I finally closed my eyes and told the dog, Suzie, to lead me to the top.

    Fortunately, this was before she went blind!

    I have a pair of glasses, somewhere, I’m supposed to wear at the computer, too. Maybe I’ll go hunting rather than write today . . . . 🙂

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  27. HAPPY 🙂 BIRTHDAY
    ❤ ❤ KBELLS ❤ ❤

    @@@@@@@@@@@
    KBELLSKBELLSKBELLS
    BIRTHDAYCAKEDIVINE
    chocolatechipsinvanilla
    whippedcreamwithmocha
    caramelmacadamianut
    fillingoverbrownienutcrumbs
    @@@@@@@@@@@@
    @surroundedbys'mores@

    Hint: use the s'mores to dip into
    the gooey cake to have a fine
    and too sweet birthday treat to
    honor KBELLS, a fine Southern Belle!
    Cake idea=spin off of the lovely cakes
    Mumsee baked (w/o special surprise
    ingredients. 🙂 )

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  32. HAPPY BITRHDAY KBELLS!

    I remember when the Brooklyn Dodgers were called “The bums”.
    By those who loved them.
    There was a time when the world series was usually played in the NY area.
    Yankees, Giants, Dodgers

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  33. Someone my husband and I knew from years ago just stopped by the office. It was great to see her and remember some old times and people ( people from the olden days, not old people, of course) That was a big surprise.

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  34. Mumsee, I have a website at http://www.janicegarey.com and the blog appears there, but I need to work on the display of it, and it does not give the wordpress header on there. I am not savvy about all these things, but in time and with a little help from the support line for my website, I may get it all better formatted.

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  35. The cake is all gone already?!

    Happy Birthday, KBells. 🙂

    I like that dress. Michelle, since you’re so good at it, what are you sending to me to wear when I perform the Armed Forces themes duet next month?

    Kidding! But suggestions are welcome — I’ll do the purchasing, if needed. 😉

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  37. Okay, Janice, got it. I had been to your blog through Michelle’s post and to the website through your name, but did not see the blog indicator there. That worked, and if I can remember to go there……

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  38. Michelle, I’ve had a couple of fun experiences with giving people gifts. One time, in the days when I made a decent amount of money, a friend was adopting a baby, and I knew the cost was a lot for them, so I sent a check for a few hundred dollars. To my dismay, in a couple of weeks the envelope came back to me, with a new address marked on it. I addressed a new envelope and re-sent it. Later I heard the rest of the story. My friends were on their way out to pick up the baby, and she said to her husband that she didn’t know how they were going to afford this, but she knew God was in it. They stopped at the mailbox on the way to pick up the baby, and there was my card with a check–the delay in its arrival meant it came in perfect time to show them God had it covered. Not that my check came anywhere near to covering the adoption costs, but that it was an encouragement on a day they needed to be celebrating a new baby, not worrying how to pay for her.

    Another time a friend was struggling financially, but so was I. I decided to give a little something, and I came up with an amount that I’d like to give if I found a way to do it. Later that day I got a small editing project just a dollar or two short of the amount I had decided to give, and I worked that project joyfully, knowing it was God’s gift to me to be able to give something to my friend. But I gave the gift anonymously, because I knew it would be hard for her to accept it if she knew it came from me, because she knew I didn’t really have surplus. A few days later I had lunch with that friend, and she told me how exciting it was that she and her husband hadn’t had enough to pay their mortgage that month, and an anonymous gift of just the right amount came in just in time. It was so much of a blessing to see the different layers of how God worked that one out!

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  39. When michelle wrote: “It took a couple days for me to adjust to the progressives …”

    I kept thinking she was talking about the political progressives. 🙂

    ,

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  40. Those new lenses you all were talking about, with the clearer peripheral field, sound good, but I won’t need them. I can’t turn my eyes laterally, so it wouldn’t make a difference anyway!

    (When I read, my head is like an old fashioned typewriter going back & forth. 🙂 )

    Walking downstairs has sometimes been a challenge lately, as my watery eyes affect my eyesight worse when I tilt my head down. So I take the stairs very carefully, feeling with my feet to make sure they’re stepping in the right place.

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  47. Thoughtful, sobering article by a medical doctor: The Children Whom Reason Scorns.

    http://doctorisin.blogspot.com/2004/12/children-whom-reason-scorns.html

    It is sobering and puzzling to ponder how the profession of medicine – whose core article of faith is healing and comfort of the sick – could be so effortlessly transformed into a calculating instrument of judgment and death. It is chilling to read the cold scientific language of Nazi medical experiments or Dutch studies on optimal techniques to minimize complications in euthanasia. Yet this devolution of medicine, with some contemplation, is not hard to discern. It is the natural gravity of man detached from higher principles, operating out of the best his reason alone has to offer, with its inevitable disastrous consequences. Contributing to this march toward depravity:

    …

    The banality of evil: Great evil springs in countless small steps from lesser evil. Jesus Christ was doubtless not the first innocent man Pilate condemned to death; soft porn came before child porn, snuff films, and rape videos; in the childhood of the serial killer lies cruelty to animals. Small evils harden the heart, making greater evil easier, more routine, less chilling. We marvel at the hideousness of the final act, but the descent to depravity is a gentle slope downwards.

    …

    Reason of itself is morally neutral; it can kill children or discover cures for their suffering and disease. Reason tempered by humility, faith, and guidance by higher moral principles has enormous potential for good – and without such restraints, enormous potential for evil.

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  48. on an entirely different scale that was the problem this week. Our Director told us all his logical reasons for not continuing our security upgrades, finishing enclosing the fence. He did not take into account the emotional and spiritual needs of so many.

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  49. I once took a nap on the couch at my daughters home. As I was falling asleep, she gently covered me with a blanket. God told me right then to write her a check, a large check. It really was all that I had saved for a new computer. I prayed for a moment and then got up and wrote the check. I needed to go to the store for something and asked her if she would like me to deposit the check into her bank. She told me yes. The next day I saw her husband writing and check and going off to mail it before we went somewhere. I never knew what the need was.
    Later others came to me and wanted to buy me a computer.
    Oh, 49

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  50. The attitude with your Director, Jo, sounds more like a case of his wanting to be understood, rather than seeking to understand. That’s hard to deal with. He doesn’t sound like he aims toward servant-leadership.

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  53. My Mama Ruth used to look for a struggling family with small children every year. She would send them a cashier’s check from Santa Claus.
    Before we get in a debate about Santa Claus, she is a Christian but her view on Christmas and Santa Clause was that it was the only time that children were given a gift that they were not expected to say Thank You. It gave her a lot of pleasure to do it. A couple of years I was included in helping her–it was a lot of fun.

    I look for little things I can do. Right now there is a popular costume jewelry that you can pop different pieces in and out of. The receptionist has an owl with a turquoise medallion. She is an Auburn fan and was wearing something orange. I happened to be in the store where they are sold and got her a “happy” of a melon colored medallion. It cost $6 and made both of us happy.

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  54. For a number of years, as a single mom whose support wasn’t coming, a family in our church gave me a card with a gift. Made such a difference at Christmas.
    The church also gave us food and gifts, but that check meant so much.

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  55. I was very disheartened yesterday about something I heard on my favorite public radio station. I have mentioned before that when I am online, I listen to the live stream at Classical Minnesota Public Radio. Great selection of music, and I enjoy the program hosts, as well.

    At regular intervals each day, they will mention their programming sponsors.

    Yesterday while I was on the computer, half-listening to MPR, one of those mentions caught my attention. I didn’t listen closely to the first part, but the words “Planned Parenthood” jumped out at me when they were spoken.

    The announcement went on to talk about the “wonderful” (that wasn’t the word, but the impression give) reproductive services for women that they provide.

    I X-ed off that tab with horror and dismay that one of my favorite entities was promoting that organization.

    Today I looked up information about how MPR determines with whom it accepts sponsorship.

    http://minnesota.publicradio.org/support/business/sponsor.shtml

    Sponsorship Policy
    Minnesota Public Radio accept sponsorship at their sole discretion, and reserves the right to refuse underwriting from any company for any reason.

    How can that be considered discretion to accept sponsorship from an organization like Planned Parenthood? Have they not heard of all the scandals with the sale of fetal organs and tissues for profit? 😦

    I’m just disgusted.

    Also at the link:

    Sponsoring programming on Minnesota Public Radio is good business. Sponsors reach a highly educated, affluent, well-traveled and culturally discriminating audience while supporting MPR’s award-winning news, music and Web.

    I am considering contacting them about their decision to give Planned Parenthood a voice there. This (former?) audience member is not pleased. 😦

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  57. This, too, from the link above:

    Being an MPR sponsor gives your business credibility. 80% of our listeners have a more favorable opinion of organizations who sponsor public radio. (source: Jacobs Media Research 2007)

    Credibility? I hope MPR listeners are more discerning than MPR is on PP. 😦

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  59. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. They’ve also accepted sponsorship from the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, and their local news has a decided liberal slant.

    Quitting with all my negativity now. Time to get ready for the piano students coming tonight.

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  60. Cheryl reminded me that she wanted a copy of my Adventures in Prayer talk. I’m thinking someone else did as well. If you’re interested, could you let me know and I’ll send it? Thanks.

    Also, I’ve got a list somewhere of people who wanted to see the memoir. At the rate I’m going, I won’t edit it soon so I’ll just mail it, too.

    Am now editing chapter four of the Biddy bio–which means as soon as I’ve got the writing in a good place, I can put together the proposal and send it out. It’s harder to write nonfiction than fiction! LOL I have to be absolutely honest . . . 🙂

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  61. Michelle – Yesterday on the prayer thread I mentioned that I’d like to read your prayer talk notes.

    BTW, I don’t know if you remember, but I read your memoir some years ago, & enjoyed it very much.

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