EUCHARISTEO - "You-Kra-stay-o"

Eucharisteo.........
My Study on Thankfulness......

Friends, I am starting a a new study this week........a study on Eucharisteo........a study I have been quietly doing for the past year......I just didn't know there was a defining word for what I was doing.  It means to daily search for His blessings.....to fully experience these blessings......to write them down.....to snap them with my camera.....to see God in everything.....and to thank Him for everything........everything!  Even the not so good things.....because those are the things that change us.....that draw our eyes and heart away from ourselves and directly to Him.....

Because "life change" comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change......So, thought I'd share a few of mine from this morning......

1)  My beautiful granddaughters who are amazingly full of spunk......full of looniness.....full of giggles.....who have blessed my life and who I will never, as long as I live, tire of hearing scream "LELE" when I walk into the room.

2)  This beautiful hat that reminds me of my dear Mom each time I see it.....I can't bring myself to wear it.....yet.....but some day I will wear it with a smile as big as she had that day my sister and I placed it on her head at Wal-Mart.....

3)  This hat that my nephew, 2nd Lieutenant Lance Calloway, gave me.......because it has his wonderful DNA on it......and is a constant reminder of the boy he used to be.....and the man he has become.........

4)  My sweet, funny, crazy friend Patsy who always made me giggle with her rib-tickling, infectious laugh ......her beautiful smile.....and her forgiving ways towards others.  I will forever miss my sweet friend.....but will always chuckle when I look at her gardening hat and remember her priceless ways.....

5)  All of my Sisters.......of which I have many.....My birth sister, Debbie, who I would gladly, willingly, freely give my life for.  She has brought such happiness, joy and yes, many tears to my life.  God blessed me with this incredible woman whom I love dearly.  

And my Sisters in Christ.......those who have walked down difficult roads with me.....holding my hand....many times carrying me through tough times.....and loving me all the way back to healing.  God dropped these remarkable and amazing women into my life at just the right times and some, He took out of my life at just the right times.....You know who you are......and you know you own a portion of my heart.....and I keep you on a chain around my neck so I can reach up and hold you in my fingers whenever I need you.

Want to try it with me?  I'd love to hear what you're thankful for today......

I promise your life will never be the same..........

Just One of Those Days........

October 22, 2012

Today has been one of THOSE days......

One of my Meals on Wheels clients, who has been "mentally slipping" over the past year, decided she didn't want me delivering her meals to her anymore after 6 years.  I must admit; I was devastated.  I asked her "why" and she said it was cause I made her "nervous".  I make a lot of people nervous, but after asking her "how I made her nervous", she said, "I don't really want to talk about it, but its because you didn't show up two weeks ago."  Now, two weeks ago, I was headed to the doctor for poison ivy covering the left side of my face and couldn't deliver my meals that day, however, someone else took my route that day.  Bless her heart.....although I knew she wasn't thinking clearly, I still left there with tears running down my face....

Tears resolved, Chuck and I headed to Wal-Mart.  I hate Wal-Mart.......but it's all we got, folks.  As we're checking out, the credit card machine won't accept my debit card.  My heart skips a beat......I feel myself starting to panic.....wondering "why" won't it accept my card.  As I nervously try to access my bank account through the tiny little 3"x2" screen on my iphone while pushing a grocery cart out to the parking lot, I can't get my bank account to pull up.  My mind is racing as I fly down the country roads, dodging squirrels and deer, to the house where I am able to finally pull up our bank account and see that someone in Pennsylvania is buying boots.....LOTS of boots.....on our bank account to the tune of several hundred dollars.  AGHHHHH.......

But today wasn't totally a waste of a perfectly beautiful day.....oh no.......after my little incident with my Meals on Wheels client above, another client I hadn't seen in several months was finally home.  Ohhhhhh.....it was so AWESOME seeing my sweet friend Jewel and her son WB.  They are like family to me.....so much so, their family invited me this past Mothers Day, a week after losing my own mother,  to spend Mother's Day with their whole family.....Did I mention their mother, Jewell, is going to be 106 in December??  Awwww......seee.........life is goooooood.......

Oh ya, and finally......I learned tonight that if you put your ipod buds in your nose, the music will come out your mouth!!!  Really....Try it.......WAY COOL!!!!

Our Friend Jim.......

October 17, 2012

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” 

– Tim Cahill

With Jim in Mesa Verde, CO

I have SO much to tell you guys!  

Remember back two years ago (ya right....I"m sure you remember that) when Chuck and I were on the road and were in Moab, Utah and parked next to a guy from Florida that had just lost his wife to cancer and he made me cry.....no....BAWL???  Of course you do......here's the link to that Blog:

http://murphys-mom.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-77-steeeeeep-ramp-and-man-that-made.html

Anyway, two years and many thousands of miles later, he was returning home from his 3rd trip since that chance-meeting in September 2010 and stopped in to the Etheridge house in Mt. Vernon, Texas for the weekend!  We have kept up with this sweetheart-of-a-guy all this time and were thrilled that he made time to visit with us!

We showed him Countryfest here in beautiful East Texas and introduced him to our friends.........

Took him for his first ride on the trike.....

And helped him get all 468 photos from the past 4 months of traveling off his camera (He's a lightweight....thats the amount of pictures Liz takes in a day......!)

How blessed....BLESSED.....are we to have had the opportunity to meet people like Jim throughout our travels??

Blessed Indeed!!!!

"Adventure is a path. 

Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - 

forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. 

The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. 

Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. 

In this way, you will be compelled to grapple with the 

limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - 

and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. 

This will change you. 

Nothing will ever again be black-and-white." 

- Mark Jenkins

GREAT NEWS!!!

Monday, October 8, 2012

GREAT NEWS!!!

My ITCHY-SCALY-RED-CRUSTY-ZITTY looking bumps on the left side of my face 

aren't shingles......

It's POISON-SOMETHING!!

Poison Ivy.......

Poison Oak.......

Poison Sumac.......

Poison Crape Myrtle.......

Poison Pine Trees........

Poison Grass......

Poison Obama.......

who the heck knows......

All I know is the left side of my face looks like I'm going through puberty all over again.....

And the good news.....yep....there's good news......those 4 bumps on my knee I thought were connected to the Poison-Whatever above.......nope......SPIDER bite!  AGHHHHH!!!!!  

Awwwww.......Country-Life!!!!