Here is a new way to look at a deck of cards!!

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.

The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

Just then an army sergeant came in and said, 'Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?'

The soldier replied, 'I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord.'

The sergeant said, 'Looks to me like you're going to play cards.'

The soldier said, 'No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country,

I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards.'

The sergeant asked in disbelief, 'How will you do that?'

'You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments

The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John .

The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth..

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for.'

The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, 'Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?'

Please let this be a reminder and take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting

Prayer for the Military.

Please keep the wheel rolling.. It will only take a few seconds of your time, but it'll be worth it to read on.....

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.

Protect them.

Bless them and their families.

I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

When you read this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our servicemen and women all around the world.

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS
GOD BLESS

Silent Night.......I wish

Holy Infant so tender and mild.....sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

16 years old this January.......help..I need somebody....help

"A teen's 16th birthday marks an important transitional year."


Andrew will be turning 16 this January 2nd. Only a few weeks away. It’s such a busy time of year to plan an event but it's got to be done. I have no idea what to do for his birthday. It’s a special birthday for sure, and what to do? My original plan was to rent an arena and have a family friends hockey game, something he would have loved but do to unfortunate events we can not play hockey. Andrew is working with only one arm and trying to heal. Hockey is out of the question, I thought of bowling but also not a good idea. He does not want to have a friend party, he is not really into that....thank goodness I cant and am not ready for the teen stuff that most kids are doing at this age. So what to do. Sure there is the restaurant thing yes its fine and dandy but it’s his 16th birthday. Come on Mom put your thinking cap on but I just can’t come up with anything.
If anyone has any ideas please please please let me now. I NEED HELP!!!

A bit of this and a bit of that

Andrew is still home from school. Poor kid must be going out of his mind with boardum. He is going through withdrawals right now....Not from the drugs, from video games. He cant play with one hand.....its gonna be a long few months...ha ha ha. Dillan can start to catch up and he can rub it in and boy does he ever. He is also rubbing it in that Andrew cant beat him up, na na na na na...you cant catch me, I love it :) Its about time that Dillan get him back.

They are calling for a big snow storm tomorrow, early morning start about 4am, 20-30cm by the end of the day. Looks like it may be a snow day. Lord help me! If I didn't have the daycare kids all would be fine. The little one's and the big one's don't mix so well. Dillan loves them and they love him don't get me wrong, its just he gets them all going. My nice, normal, peaceful day will be no longer if its a snow day. I may just have to stay in bed all day:) We will be singing "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas and let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" I will post some pics for you all that want to see, probably on Thursday.
Stay Warm!

A Holiday recipe

*4 cups love
*2 cups loyalty
*3 cups forgiveness
*1 cup friendship
*5 spoons of hope
*2 spoons of tenderness
*4quarts faith
*1 barrel of laughter
Take love,loyalty & mix it thoroughly with faith,blend it with tenderness,kindness & understanding,sprinkle abundantly with laughter,bake with sunshine & serve daily with generous helpings.

A beautiful email that I got today

I got this wonderful email today from a wonderful friend. I just wanted to cry while I read it. Sometimes you read things that make you cry or that you love so much and never want to forget it, this is one of them. I hope you enjoy it too.

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big 'F' at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.'

His second grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.'

His third grade teacher wrote, 'His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.'

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.'

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, 'Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.'

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her 'teacher's pets.'

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honours. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, 'Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.'

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, 'Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.'

(For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Warm someone's heart today... pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today. Tomorrow? Just 'do it'.

Random acts of kindness, I think they call it!

'Believe in Angels, then return the favor

Did you see that!!????

My boys is recovering slowly but surly. His bruises have now turned to the ugliest shade of yellow, I like the purple red and blue shades much better :)

Andrew's swelling is starting to come down now, you can see bones again. He is still in a fair amount of pain and is starting to get so board. I could find plenty of things for him to do unfortunately they are things that require 2 hands not one.
Oma wanted to get Andrew a little get well gift. She wanted to get him a fruit basket….Andrew & fruit, two words you rarely see in one sentence  so today while shopping she saw something he would love. Something his Opa would have loved. Since Andrew is doing nothing but watch TV and he only has one hand this gift was perfect. Incase the medication made him see funny. (This week he was seeing smoke….where that smoke was coming from was beyond me. Denis asked him if he saw the pink cow that ran by us in the living room….hahaha, poor kid. We are not laughing at you we are laughing with you; you are just not with it to see yourself laugh……haha. Oh ya back to the get well gift:


The biggest remote you have ever seen. He loves it. It’s already got the TV, VCR and DVD all programmed into the remote. How guys know how to do all this stuff is beyond me. He does love his new remote. Denis said if he ever hears anyone say we can’t find the remote that he would hit them with it.

Poor Justin is wondering why his big brother hasn't and wont pick him up. Justin misses his big brother Andrew. Check out Andrew's new PJ's. That's all he has been wearing all week. Sometimes he is a little grouchy (but who wouldn't be) so these PJ's are perfect for him.