SUNDAY PRAISE

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you are all having a lovely day.  It has been a long time since I did a Sunday Praise post.  I no longer have a Sunday School class, but I continue to get free lessons sent to me from the U.K.  I thought I would share this week's lesson with you.  The theme is John the Baptist.

Even before John was a baby, his parents knew God had a special plan for him.  Zacharias and Elizabeth were too old to have a baby.  His birth was a miracle.  He was Jesus' cousin.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were good parents and taught John what it meant to obey God.  They thought, when he was old enough, John would also become a priest.

But God had a special mission for John.  Instead of working at the temple as a priest, he moved to the desert.  He wore clothes made from camel's hair.  He ate locusts and wild honey.  (Matthew 3:4)

He began to preach an important message.  John taught people they needed to repent.  Many people came to listen to him.

Some people thought he was crazy.  Some religious people told him off.  But others believed his message and repented of their sins.  They said sorry for the bad things they had done and began to obey God.

John baptized them in the Jordan River.  It was a way to show they really meant what they said.  It was like washing the bad things away.

Many people repented of their sins and were baptized by John.  John was preparing the way for Jesus.

This lesson made me wonder how I prepare the way for Jesus.  How do I show evidence of my repentance for my sins?  Many people talk the talk but do not walk the walk.  I need to be so careful that I am not like one of them, but that Christ shines through me always.

John's main task was not baptizing people, but calling attention to Jesus.  Do I call attention to Jesus?  Or is my focus on myself?

Deep thoughts indeed.

On another note, I thought I would let you know that I went to my primary doctor this week.  The pain in my left arm is so intense that I can barely move it.  Now the pain is going up my neck and into my back.  After examining me (and pushing in a spot on my back that was so painful I almost screamed) Dr. Barbara said that it was not a torn rotator cuff or even torn ligaments in my arm.  It is a torn tendon in my neck.  She knew what it was immediately from where the pain was.  I am now on steroids and will be getting an X-ray this week of my neck and shoulder to make sure her diagnosis is correct.  Hopefully this will clear up itself without any further treatment.  If not, I will be seeing an orthopedist.  But what a relief to finally know exactly what is wrong with me and to be getting some treatment.

I am going to end for now.  Hopefully I will be back later this week with another post.  I'm trying to keep in touch.  Really trying.

See you all later.

Kathy

THIS AND THAT

 Hello, friends!  I thought you might like to see the view outside of my kitchen window.  Worse than the snow is the bitter cold.  I have not left my house in days.  With my asthma, it's not good to breathe sub-zero air into my lungs.  Well, I don't think it's good for anyone to breathe it in whether you have asthma or not!

Tonight I made some chicken vegetable soup with some leftover chicken thighs I had.  I wanted to use them before they went bad.  I figured out how to do it with no help from a recipe and it was so easy.  I put 12 cups of water into a Dutch oven, added four packets of chicken bouillon, cut up the boneless, skinless chicken thighs and added them and ended by adding a bag of frozen mixed vegetables.  I let it cook about 45 minutes and it was done.  And I have about half of it left over for tomorrow.

While I was cleaning up the other day I found the honey pot and bread tray my sister had given Joe a few years ago.  One jar of honey was left and since honey doesn't go bad (ever) it was still good.  It was from a bee co-op in the New Jersey county she lives in and was from clover.  My goodness it is so good.  A different flavor than I have ever tasted in honey.  I put together a little vignette, lit a candle and took a picture.  I think it looks so nice.

Not much really going on here.  I carry on cleaning out the house.  I found that in the evening I sit on the sofa and have a pile of paperwork to go through beside me.  I just do a little at a time during the commercials as I watch TV and I am amazed at how much has gotten done.  And why do I have so much paper in this house?  That has got to stop!  But it's so easy to put things aside and tell myself I will deal with it later.  Anyone else do this?  I can't be the only one. I feel so good that so much has gotten done.

A week ago I was walking around the house barefoot (a bad habit I have) and I walked into the leg of the kitchen table and broke my toe in three places.  Ouch!  Fortunately, the pain didn't last more than a couple of days and the bruising is almost gone.  There's not much you can do for a broken toe except let it heal.

And finally, I am slowly packing up Christmas and putting out snowmen for January.  I'll be sad to see things go away until next year.  Like my teddy bear nutcracker.  You can see the box with the snowmen next to the angel.

Jack is no help with this cleaning up thing.  His job is to mess things up and make it harder for me.  But who can be mad at him when you look at his sweet face?

That's about it from this end.  Hope you stay warm and safe.  I'll be talking to you soon.

Kathy

THE COFFEE CALENDAR, PT. 2

 It is a cold day.  A very cold day.  And getting colder as the week goes on.  Right now it is 32*F (0*C).  Since I have cold induced asthma, I am debating about going to church tomorrow.  The temperature then is supposed to be 44*F (6*C) so a bit better.  But on Tuesday when I am supposed to teach Bible Study it will be around 15*F (-9*C) which I am really thinking about.

Sorry I have been missing in action lately.  I have had a doctor's appointment every day this week.  All different doctors with all different ailments.  I am falling apart.  Still more coming up this month and next.  It is not fun.

But let me tell you about Joe's Coffee Calendar.  He had opened some more.  Some he liked, and some not.  But his favorite one so far is this one.

He loved it so much that I think I will be getting him a box for Valentine's Day.  Or his birthday.  He said it tasted like a chocolate cream in his coffee.

The next one he tried was this:  Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee.

Joe said this was OK but he didn't like it too much.  It was strong and he doesn't like strong coffee.  He could taste the chocolate and hazelnut though.

The third coffee he tried was Newman's Own Organics Special Blend Medium Roast Coffee.

He did not like this one at all!  In fact he took a couple of mouthfuls and threw the rest out.  Joe said this one was terrible.

So we opened the next one to see if that was better.  This was Green Mountain Breakfast Blend Light Roast Coffee.

Joe said this one was excellent and he would buy it.  I forgot to take the picture before he used it so there is a Keurig puncture hole in the label.

And the last one he tried was Caribou Blend.

He didn't like this one either.  It was too strong for his taste.  But if you like strong coffee, you might like this.

We are continuing on, one coffee pod at a time.  I'll show you more when he drinks more.  (Ha, ha!)

In the meantime, keep drinking something hot to keep warm and I will see you soon.

Until later...

Kathy

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Happy New Year, friends!  I hope you all had a great night last night and an even better day today.

We stayed up to see the New Year in.  My sister had given me a couple of bayberry candles and we burned one of them.

Do you know the bayberry candle poem?

“These bayberry candles come from a friend. So on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve burn it down to the end. For a bayberry candle burned to the socket will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.”

We burned it almost all the way down.  But since I couldn't find a candleholder and had tissue wrapped around the bottom to make it larger and shoved it into a little glass, I was afraid of having a big fire.  So, when it was almost done, I had Joe blow it out.  Now I find out that if you don't let it burn out on its own it will bring bad luck.  Oh my!  I do not need any more bad luck.  But since I do not believe in luck but believe everything is in God's hands, I am not too worried about it.

We set out some meat, cheese, crackers, cookies and yogurt pretzels and snacked on them for several hours.

We ended up watching "Frozen" which Joe loves.  Then at midnight we switched on Times Square and watched the ball drop.  It was a nice, peaceful evening.

Hope you had a peaceful evening also.  I hope 2022 brings all of you much joy.

Until later...

Kathy