YOU CAN WIN WITH LOVE

This is another book I read and it tells about not taking enough time to love those closest to us and the tragic and devestating things that can come when we don't! Only GOD's kind of love can teach us that Love Never Fails!

SEND OUT LOVE!

ROSCOE/ JOE / PAUL / my brothers

Here are my brothers. All are special and have been successful in life. I already wrote about Bump{Paul} cause we grew up together. Bump went into the military and afterwards went to work at K-Mart and retired from there. His whole life has been K-Mart. Started as a young man and then worked himself up to manager. He did well.
About Roscoe, he was a big part of Bump and my life growing up. We spent lots of time at his home in the country or the gully as we called it. Loved his place and just had so much fun out there. Roscoe has a tree trimming business he owns back home in Indiana. He started yrs. ago when he was pretty young and now has made a name for himself in Vincennes. What stands out to me about Roscoe is that he had no formal education but WOW he has done good! He left school and no one came after him to make him finish. Why? that is a mystery! regardless he has done good and has picked up on things through the years that has helped him along. What I think has been the most help to him is that he is friendly, honest and is loved and thought of highly in the community! Today he can stand tall and be proud!

Joe has done lots of different things after retiring from Brown's shoe factory where he went right after high school, to selling motor cycles and riding them,{still does today at age 78 } to buying and selling property and cars. Joe spent much of his early yrs. after marriage racing cars. It was his life back then, he loved it! Bump and I remember going to alot of Joe's race car events. He has many trophies and it was a big deal seeing our brother out there. Bump and I sure would yell for Joe in the stands when we were lucky enough to get to see him race. I had almost forgot what a thrill that was to watch him race. Early in life , out of high school, Joe lost part of his leg while riding a motor cycle. It was a rainy night and the roads were slick. Although it must have been tough going for awhile , he picked himself up and went right on to do everything he ever wanted to do in life!
He never looked back!
Yes, Joe, Roscoe and Bump all are well known in the little town of Vincennes. Not so small anymore. Vincennes University has caused the once little town to grow alot!
Joe is totally devoted to that town and has said he will never leave cause "Vincennes has been good to me"he said. It certainly has been good to Roscoe also. Roscoe has been in the paper on different occasions for his work in taking down huge trees and donating the biggest tree trunk to the city to be curved and used for some kind of land mark for the city. Great work guys! You all are great men and have found your nich in Life! Proud of you guys!

SARAH/ THE GROWING UP YEARS & HER TWO CHILDREN

Here is my sister Sarah and her two children Kenny and Kim. Sarah recently sent me a letter telling me about things she remembered growing up so I decided to blog it. Sarah said she was named after Maw{ moms mother} and Dad's mom who I never met. My mom's mother was Sarah Francis Sullivan and Dad's mom was Maytle Idell Todd.
So it was that Sarah became Sarah Idell Todd. I love it! a pretty name.
Anyway seems no one recalls seeing grampa Todd much , Sarah remembers he gave us a bag of oranges once when he came to visit from Ft. Myers, Ind. Our Mom's dad died way back. Sarah was born 5 -29- 38. She like myself said best times were spent at Maw's. She said she would have to run her off to get her to go home. { we all wanted to be there}she would put her on a city bus for ten cent. She would ride that bus from 15th and Willow to 16th and Wabash. 1618 Wabash was our home address.
We had three movies in town , cost 25 cent and Sarah would see Roy Roger's. can you imagine that! Mom let her go to a movie once at New Moon theater and Sarah was to walk to Elk's Club where mom worked. After show was over at dark Sarah never showed up and they found her sound asleep in the theater . Talking of sleep

Sarah said she was afraid of the upstairs in the old house, hated sleeping there. Bump and I didn't mind it at all and liked all the secret cubbies up there. You could go in a cubbie and come out into a different room. Cool! All the older kids were taught to work. Sarah worked in a strawberry patch, watermelon field and baby sit. curb hopped at the Tick Tock Inn which was a restaurant where you hopped from car to car on skates waiting on people and serving them. it was a big thing back then. Was across st. from Gregg Park where we often went for get togethers as a family before everyone married. She went to work at Kramer's Drug Store when she was 13 yrs. old. can you imagine! Oh, she also was the only girl on a all boy softball team at No. 1 school
and was better than any of the boys. Mr. Belcher let her play.

Her favorite job would come later in life when she became General Manger of Days Inn in Sullivan, Ind. and then a Operation Manager for Arlington Hospitality. She got to travel all over the states.
this was a blessing in her life for she was a single person and living on her own after having raised two children. She married in 1956 and later in life divorced when her children became teenagers. Retired at 68 and went to work part time at a health dept. and is there today.
The part of her story that touched my heart is that she remembered mom coming home late at night after work and giving her a good night kiss. A tender moment! Mom I reckon had feelings that perhaps none of us even noticed. I don't recall moments like that, but it was good to hear her say that.
Sarah's hobbies are knitting, reading , baking pie's for her family , spending time with her family. She quotes, "MY GREATEST JOY AND HAPPINESS IS MY FAMILY" tks, for sharing Sarah.

FORGIVENESS

I suspect all of us have been hurt in our lifetime, either by the words or acts of another. Its normal to feel in such situations hostility towards the person who hurt you. We carry whats called a grudge . Some say its a moral duty to forgive, others a worthy virtue, and others impose preconditions on the wrongdoer. Some say to forgive brings happiness,better health & peace. Some refuse to even think of the idea of forgiving because they don't think the person they resent deserves to be forgiven and don't want to appear to condone or excuse the conduct so no forgiveness here either.
To forgive is a voluntary decision. Do I want to abandon resentment , to let it go and move on? It doesn't require or imply condoning, excusing , or even forgetting. What it does require is EMPATHY! The capacity to forgive is related to how much empathy of character we have. Some of us have more than others, some have none. It builds up from life experiences! Not all possess it! Those who have had a few hard knocks in life usually have cultivated this trait. Hmmm... We usually get better at this as we grow older....and sometimes even grow wiser too. Written by Michael Josephson

MY HOME TOWN

Want to write a little about my home town"Vincennes, Indiana" where I grew up. Some of the areas had names much like the suburbs of today, except ours sounded kind of funny!
Pear Orhard - where I grew up
Bunker Hill - where dad grew up
North End - wasn't highly thought of as a great place to live
Pearl City - place where homeless lived
Bowman Terrace - low cost housing area
Burnett Heights- where the rich lived
Gregg Park- big park on 7th st. where we would have big family picnic's
Rainbow Beach - a big city swimming pool where Bump and I went to swim every summer. Orphan's Home- we would usually walk past the corner where this stood with was a big iron fence around the whole thing and children everywhere. they would come up to the fence and look through the bars and watch as you went by. So sad. You don't see that anymore. Guess they have a better system today.
Skating Rink-Sat. nights were a big deal with Bump and I. Its when we went to the skating rink . I loved to skate, even danced on skates. Such a fun time!
Uncle John's Kiddie Land was another good spot, rides of all kinds. Bump worked there once.
Drive Inn Threater- a favorite was going to the drive in. Went with Roscoe and family , took our own bag of popcorn and set sometimes in back of truck to watch the movie.
Bump and I would save bottle caps and go to movie on Sat. mornings. We had three choices:
New Moon Threater
Pantheon
Fort Sackville
We would walk to town which wasn't so far, we had a short cut, took a path that cut through some neighborhoods and walked over this hump and we always said a dead person was buried there. ha. Life was so different back then.
We would go to " Adams " a hangout for kids and drop money in the jukebox at" Mac's" and have something to eat or drink. The "Soda Fountain" at the 5 & 10 was also a big deal for me cause mom once in awhile would treat me to a coke and grilled cheese there. The jukeboxes were everywhere, just drop in your quarter ,playing those little 45 LPM records by your favorite singer. Poodle skirts were the inn thing/ went on to make Leslie, Stacey and Jenny each one.

Favorite Poem

The Red Rooster House

May you like the work that is yours to do....
May your purse always hold a coin or two....
May love fill your life, a smile light your face..

May the HOME where you dwell be a wonderful place!! mama

ALL PATHS LEAD HOME!

WHAT HAPPY WOMEN KNOW

America beauty and fashion industry is a hundred billion $$ a year business in the U. S. with money from advertisers and marketers whom job is to make people feel "NOT RIGHT" about how they look unless they buy the consumer goods. You will need earplugs and a blindfold to miss it.! This money making scheme is everywhere. Who cares if this goal is unrealistic and unattainable if 199,999 women are buying into it! that is just what the companies , spas , and surgeons are hoping for. There sign are out there, Want to look Great? Botox , lasers, hyaluronic acid , meso therapy, mini -tucks, tummy tucks, nip and tuck, face-lifts, liposuction, breast implants, vein zapping , just waiting to be plucked from the tree of instant beauty for a price$$$$$$$! they 're all out there with the promise of instant happiness by this product or process. Just sign on the dotted line. ---------------
Curture has this call to perfection and its playing havoc with the physical and mental health of our young people and some older ones too. Young kids today are suffering from eating disorders , anorexia , bulimia, compulsive exercising, and they are starting younger every year. How sad that our young girls are buying into this! and the sad thing is its a trap to keep women pouring $$ into the consumers pockets and its working. boys don't tend to have a problem with this as much as girls do , they tend to be more competitive and when they achieve it feeds their self -esteem. If they are not good at one thing just move on to find something they are good at, chess, football , computers and etc. They build from that. they get out of their comfort zone and like a new puppy jumps into life to enjoy it. Girls on the other hand have brought into the culturally programmed myth of perfection and it will play havoc on her self -esteem. Don't buy into it! No one is Perfect, thats the reality of being a human being. Anyone can act and say and do but no one is perfect. Happy women know this!

Here is the list of what Happy Women know:

Happy women know they can have a meaningful life regardless of circumstances
Happy women know that good enough is good enough
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THEY HAVE THINGS THEY CAN LOVE ABOUT THEMSELVES THROUGHOUT THEIR LIFE CYCLE.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THEIR WORTH IS NOT DETERMINED BY WHAT THEY HAVE OR DON'T HAVE OR HOW THEY LOOK

HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT ADMITTING A PROBLEM EXISTS IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS CHANGING IT.
HAPPY WOMEN DON'T PLAY THE COMPARISON GAME CAUSE THEIR WILL ALWAYS BE OTHERS THAT WILL HAVE MORE OR LESS THAN YOU
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW POSSESSIONS ARE NEVER ENOUGH TO DELIVER HAPPINESS.
{LOOK AROUND}
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THEY CAN BE RICH IF THEY FORCUS ON WHAT THEY HAVE/ NOT ON WHAT THEY WANT.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW IF YOU WANT TO TAKE CARE OF OTHERS , YOU MUST FIRT TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW, THAT TODAY IS ALL WE CAN BE SURE OF SO MAKE THE MOST OF IT. [ I TRY]
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO SAY NO TO OTHERS AND YES TO OURSELF.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT DOWNTIME IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR WELL-BEING. [GARAGE SALE HERE I COME]
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW OUR LIVES BELONG TO US.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW WE CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL OUR DESTINY BUT WE CAN PARTICIPATE IN IT.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT FORGIVING LETS US OFF THE HOOK.
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW AND RECOGNIZE LESSONS LEARNED/ WE ARE ALL IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF OUR LIFE , KNOW WE WILL MAKE MISTAKES.
HAPPY WOMEN ARE NEVER ALONE BECAUSE THEY DON'T ABANDON THEMSELVES.[LOVE THIS]
HAPPY WOMEN NEVER SEE A SITUATION AS PERMANENT , THEY DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY.
HAPPY WOMEN TAKE ACTION IN SPITE OF FEAR
HAPPY WOMEN TRY TO RESPOND WELL WHEN TROUBLE STRIKES
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT WITH EACH PHASE OF LIFE THEY GIVE UP SOMETHING AND THEY GET SOMETHIING NEW IN RETURN

HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT GRIEF IS NOT A TRAP, YOU CAN TRANSCEND FROM IT
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN HAPPINESS .
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT NO ONE CAN BE HAPPY ALL THE TIME
HAPPY WOMEN KNOW THAT TO HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE MAKES FOR A BETTER LIFE .

" HAPPINESS" IS A GIFT YOU HAVE TO GIVE TO YOURSELF DAILY!

LOOK AROUND, MARRIAGES BREAKING UP,

FRIENDSHIPS BREAKING UP, RELATIONSHIPS BREAKING UP, FAMILIES BREAKING UP, ALL BECAUSE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE OR SOMETHING TO

MAKE THEM HAPPY! IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT.

WE MAKE OUR OWN HAPPINESS!!

I'M OUT THE DOOR NOW,HAPPINESS HERE I COME!

MAMA

The Sunflower/ by Richard Paul Evans

Angie gave me a book called "THE SUNFLOWER "while in Ca. for my Birthday. I started reading it just before I left her home to go to Leslie's. I got so into the book that I read it every night before I went to bed while at Leslie's and on the way traveling back to Fl. and within two days after got home I had finished it. It was small print and about three hundred and thirty four pages long. The story is about two people who find themselves in the amazon's in South America. A trip that meets up with crocodiles, electric eels and leeches and all kind of strange animals. "THE SUNFLOWER" is an orphanage where children live that are found on the streets. Its a refuge for these children and the two people who end up here find a whole different take on life. This book touched my heart deeply and took me into the deep amazon and kept me engrossed up till the very end which tells you how good it is. Its tells how two people on a quest to leave the pass behind find that these childen need. They find a purpose for life and hope in a rundown hacienda called "The Sunflower."
The main people Paul { a doctor , who had two people die on his watch at the hospital in U.S.} one a not so old husband and the other a small child } it was a emotional start from the very beginning. It grabs you right away and pulls you in. Thats why I liked it. Paul upset leaves his practice at hospital. Christine had a fiance who left her at the alter crushing her life dream. Both find a new way of looking at life and love and what is most important, they forget themselves in the quest to help the children.
Interesting and never a dull moment!

Curves / Moving It

Believe it or not, I joined curves and go three days a wk. Mon. Wed. & Fri. I meet with a group of" old ladies" ha! like myself and we go round a circle working out on these machines. Thirty minutes is all its suppose to take but I go around twice because I feel I need it. Haven't lost one pound! baa! but enjoy going. No bathing beauties there so I feel right at home. The oldest lady there was eighty seven and I told her she was an inspiration to me. She said tks.! Actually she could hardly do much but I was impressed that she even came! So I am kicking along thinking this is good, going to get toned up. Well two wks. into my little routine , Karen{manager} says gals got some bad news,we are going to be closing this Curves the end of the month. WHAT! I was so upset . I had found something I could do without feeling intimidated and now they are closing! I ask, would it help if we all called in and ask them to keep it open, she said no. Not enough money coming in. pooey! I got to go free since dad had insurance that covers it. Otherwise I wouldn't be there. Not the greatest insurance but it did cover this. No othe curves in the area, one in Leesburg but its way on the other side, much too far!
Well , I will look around but hear everywhere else charges too much. So much for my girly figure! ha !

Relief Society

Flowers in the garden of life/we are all different
Potluck/Hat contest
Christmas Program/Progressive Dinner
Umbrellas /Be prepared for the unexpected/ 4classes
Food storage/ showing us how /teaching canning
Comfort Baskets/love requires action

These are just a few of the programs I have put together for the ladies at church. This is my calling in church, plan a evening every three months for the ladies
with thought in mind to uplift another and to serve one another.

I try my best!

The Richest Caveman/ by Doug Batchelor

I read a couple pages of this book and was hooked. Eldina wanted me to read it.
Its about a young man who was always in trouble in his youth. Fights at school and on and on. He had a beautiful mother and a very rich father. They divorced when he was very young and his only brother went to live with his father leaving Doug with his mother who was always too busy with her friends , actors, writers and parties. Doug often wondered, who am I , where did I come from and why am I here. Well he left home after many times thinking he would end his life. He thought about it many times but everytime thinking what if it didn't work and left me messed up, and I lived! then I'd be worse off. He had read where this person jumped off a high building and lost his arm and suffered a broken back but lived. He decided he would wait till another time. think goodness he did. Well, Doug gets bailed out of trouble alot as a youth with the help of his parents. They didn't recognize this misbehavior as a cry for love and attention and if they did how different his life would have been. His parents had sent him to a academy school and that worked for awhile , then it flopped and he went on a ship and worked and traveled and the same results and then a school in N.Y. and then he and couple pals went off to Mexico, he took LSD, drugs, pot, drinked , smoked and continued in his own world of freedom . He met good and bad people and then there were the Christians. He was sour about religion as his father was. Saw his share of violence in the N. Y. streets. He takes you into the world of crime and being chased by a crazy man with a gun and other situations. You wonder how he survived like this. I can't tell whole story here but he finds a cave and lives there. He decides its the right place for him. Inside the cave someone had left a dust covered Bible. He eventually gets around to picking it up and starts to read. He ask himself many questions, Is this Jesus a liar, I was a liar and they say it takes one to know one. No, I believe he Was Not a liar. well then that left only one conclusion, Jesus had to be who he claimed to be. He fell right there on his knees in the cave and ask Jesus to help him , "show me how to follow you." I could feel the forces of good and evil right there wanting me to feel I was a hopeless sinner!! and that there was no hope for me. Well he said " Jesus, I know I've done alot of mean and stupid things and I'm sorry, will you please forgive all of them and will you please change me." Well his story goes on and Jesus did change Dougs heart and his life.
He eventually married and the toughest battle he said he fought was giving up smoking. He wanted to win that battle also. Itwas not easy and he found only the Lord could help him. When his wife had their first child, he ask the Lord to help him to stop. He put them down and never picked them up again.
A teenager son of a millionaire father and a society mother, Doug had everything money could buy, everthing but happiness. He used drugs, fought at school, entertained suicidal fantasies. Disgusted with himself and convinced that life held no purpose, Doug was determined to grab all the fun and excitement he could find. Before his search ended , a cave in the hills above Palm Springs became his home. Although his father owned a yacht, a Lear jet and an airline, Doug would eventually scavenge for food in garbage bins. the happiness Doug wanted eluded him until the day he began reading the dust-covered Bible a fellow searcher had left behind in his cave. Later a friend who was a in-active 7th day adventist said he could get him lots of books and so he did and he later joined the seventh day adventist church. What happened to Doug shows God loves all his children no matter what! Once that life ended, his son wanted to see the cave where his dad had once lived and so one day he took him there, and he ask " Daddy do you ever think you will ever move back up here?" his dad said " No son, God didn't call us to run away from the world and our troubles, he wants us to go into the world and preach his word." and so thats what Doug did! He is a 7th day Adventist Minister today.

Dad loves this song

SHOULD YOU GO FIRST AND I REMAIN

By A.K. Rowswell
Should you go first and I remain
To walk the road alone,
I'll live in memory's garden, dear,
With happy days we've known.
In spring I'll wait for roses red,
When fades the lilac blue,
In early fall, when brown leaves call
I'll catch a glimpse of you.

Should you go first and I remain
For battles to be fought,
Each thing you've touched along the way
Will be a hallowed spot.
I'll hear your voice, I'll see you smile,
Though blindly I may grope,
The memory of your helping hand
Will buoy me on with hope.

Should you go first and I remain
To finish with the scroll,
No length'ning shadows shall creep in
To make this life seem droll.
We've known so much of happiness,
We've had our cup of joy,
And memory is one gift of God
That death can not destroy.

Should you go first and I remain,
One thing I'd have you to do:
Walk slowly down that long, lone path,
For soon I'll follow you.
I'll want to know each step you take,
That I may walk the same,
For someday down that lonely road
You'll hear me call your name.

Baby To Be!

Boy or Girl?

We're bringing a child into this world,

Don't know yet whether boy or girl;

Some say tis wrong, tis a crying shame,

In a world full of hate, suffering, pain.

Whether good or bad, our hearts are glad,

Such love for a child, yet to be had;

A bundle of joy, sent from above,

Expecting parents, filled with pure love.

So let the journey begin, of sleepless nights,

And countless days, made joyful and bright!

Don't know yet whether boy or girl,

But we'll love this child, more than all the world!

REMINDER

"How far you go in life
depends on your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the struggling,
and tolerant of the weak and the strong
~because~
someday you will have been all of these."