After Thanksgiving Shopping Day...Family Tradition

Cindy, Marina & Faith....early, early morning ready to go
S H O P P I N G!!! This is our 'before' picture....

Marina & Cindy....MacDill BX...
still smiling at 7:00 a.m...

A little make up repair...Marina's boots were
a hit...several people asked where she bought them....

Marina, our girl in pink, groans when we
'act silly' ....everywhere!

Cindy & Marina remind us there are 27 days left till Christmas

Finally our 'driver' arrives....Lynn is so good with

knowing the street short cuts in traffic......

The hat girls are at it again!

Poor Marina is soooo tired by the time we

reach Burlington Coat Factory....

This gracious gift from dear sweet Marina is her way

of saying 'thank you' to Lynn & I and she does this every year...

We didn't even know when she bought them!

This is the 'after' picture...

Play.....and....Be Thankful!

The right time to play this........

http://www.cpmsglife.org/tg/2006tdm1..html

Giving Thanks for......Family....

See entire family album....click below... (Pulido Family too)

http://picasaweb.google.com/iwgfaith/ThanksGiving?authkey=1k2-ji1jQyI#

Thank You to All Our Military Heroes

Lizzie Palmer who put this YouTube program together

is 15 years old.

THIS IS WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL YEAR LONG....GO TO:
http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Giving of.....Thanks!

You Go, God!

The Best Use of Life Is....Love

Mother Teresa said,

"It's not what you do, but how much LOVE you put into it that matters."

True Friendship...cont'd from yesterday's post...

True friendship is NOT passive; it acts.

When Jesus asks us to love others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives clean, offer forgiveness, and bring others to Him....LOVE motivates us to.......ACT.

I must choose to value what God values.

This is what friends do---they care about what is important to the other person....

Have you ever had a friend or family member who always wanted to tell you about their life but had absolutely NO interest whatsoever in your life?

Somehow you don't feel 'valued' in that kind of relationship, do you?

In our 'friendship' with God, He certainly takes interest in our lives.

Personally I KNOW he cares about all the things that I care about and is willing to 'listen' as I pour out my heart's woes to Him.

He lets me 'vent' to Him all the time.

Sometimes, suddenly out of the blue, I get a glimpse of life, people, happenings from HIS point of view and I am absolutely astounded at the difference in 'His point of view' and 'my point of view'.....

I am thrilled when He then enables me to begin to change my way of thinking to His...

I genuinely begin to care about what He cares about .

What does God care about?

God cares about....people!

He cares about you and I.

That is what friends do, they care about each other....

Good, bad or ugly.....friends care.....

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - more important than developing a friendship with God........It's a relationship that will last forever.

Having God as a 'Best Friend' is our choice.

We are as close to God as we choose to be....

I remember my southern Mother saying the 'ole saying'...

"Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are."

Yep, it is true, friendship with God.....shows!

A wonderful intimate friendship with God is a choice, not an accident.

I am soooooo happy to say that

GOD IS MY VERY 'BESTEST' FRIEND!

"I'll Be Your BEST Friend!"

Have you ever heard 'kids' say this to each other?
"If you'll share that with me I'll be your BEST friend."

It sounds so touching and the purity of heart behind it is evident...
I'm reminded of this when I read today's devotion from the 'Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren when he talks about 'Becoming 'BEST FRIENDS ' with God.
God wants to be your....and my.....BEST friend.
This truth is spoken over and over throughout the entire Bible.
Jesus, Himself, made it possible for us to be FRIENDS with God...
(Jesus said in John 14:6....
"I Am the way - the Truth - and the Life.
No one can get to the Father EXCEPT by Me.")
It is difficult to image how such an intimate friendship is possible between an omnipotent, invisible, perfect God and a finite, whiny, flawed, rebellious, 'my way' human being
like you and I.
It is much easier to understand a Master-servant relationship
or a Creator-creation relationship
or even Father-child.
But what does it mean when God wants me...and you as a friend?
Just like we must spend time, alone, with another person in order to really get to know them intimately....so it is true with God...
When we 'draw close' to God, God will 'draw close' to us. (James 4:8)
Conversation flows on both sides as 'friends' get to know each other....we call our end 'prayers' but to me it is not really a ritual word description but more like talking to someone that loves me, cares for me despite my flaws...and He does talk back!
First, the Bible is full of 'his words' but on a more intimate level upon reading these words, they become alive and relevant when He is intimately present in my heart and mind.
His Spirit within me...or you....laser beams truth as it is being read from HIS Word...
(I call my Bible my FAX machine....)
He actually 'talks' to us....for instance recently I was seeking an answer to a specific goal or plan that was known only in my own mind....
Lo and behold, that day I 'just happened' to read in my Living Bible Psalm 119:130 as it said,
"As Your plan unfolds, even the simple can understand it!"
I burst out laughing for my 'friend' had amusingly reminded me that HE knew and was in the midst of 'my secret plan'...in fact, it was HE who placed the idea, the desire there to begin with!
This verified that 'his plan' was so simple that even I 'the big-dummy' could understand it.
Guess what I felt after this 'conversation' with my BEST friend?
Joy, Relief and....Peace.
Yet I would like to say....in this kind of friendship/relationship with God...
....God doesn't expect you or me to be perfect, but He does insist on...complete honesty!
He knows the truth of our life, our being.... good, bad or ugly, anyway so the honesty is for our sake in order to be REAL....genuine.
Now we have the makings of a 'great' friendship that will give life long pleasure to both persons.
Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege,
and being known and loved....is God's greatest pleasure!
In fact God speaks this in His Word in Jeremiah 9:24 saying,
"If anyone wants to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me...
These are the things that please Me."
Being BEST friends with God....pleases HIM....

Brothers Joshua & Dylan....Nena's 'Heart'....

Sacred Gift....Bless You, Don....

My Cousin, Don Fortner, Playing TAPS Yesterday for the "Veterans Day Ceremony" in Apalachicola.

Wonderful Slide Show...

http://www.military.com/veterans-day/veterans-day-slideshow.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

Girls Day Out...Annual FS Community Garage Sale

'Being silly' is FUN...some people just don't have any
'sense of humor, mon'..... WE DO!
Cindy, Lynn, Donna & I laughed our way through treasure
hunting today...Donna is a wonderful driver...she can pack
a vehicle without damage, listen to 3 girls give 3 different
directions and still remain 'cool'....Awesome day!
See all pictures at....
http://picasaweb.google.com/iwgfaith/GarageSaleDayAnnualEventFeatherSound#

What Is Happening? Que Pasa?

WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?

Reading "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren...the 'What On Earth Am I Here For" edition certainly illuminates the questioning during these 'tough' economic times...

One section caught my eye...entitled...

Many people are driven by....materialism....

People driven by materialism has a desire to acquire which becomes the whole goal of their lives.

This drive to always want more is based on the misconceptions that having more will make me

more happy, more important, and more secure,

but all three ideas are untrue.

Possessions only provide temporary happiness.

Because things do not change, we eventually become bored

with them and then want newer, bigger, better versions.

It's also a myth that if I get more,

I will be MORE important.

Self-worth and net worth are NOT the same.

Your value is not determined by your valuables,

and God says the most valuable things

in life ARE NOT THINGS!

The most common myth about money is that

having more will make me more secure.

It won't!

Wealth can be lost instantly

through a variety of uncontrollable factors.

Real security can only be found in that which can never

be taken from you - - -

your relationship with God!

......

Nothing matters more than

knowing God's purposes for your life,

and nothing can compensate

FOR NOT KNOWING THEM....

"God says, 'I know what I am planning for you...

'I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you.

I will give you hope and a good future.'"

Jeremiah 29:11

Show me the 'evidence'...Show me the 'proof'...

Helping others.....

"Those you help will be glad not only because of your generous gifts to themselves and to others,

but they will praise God

FOR THIS PROOF THAT YOUR DEEDS ARE AS GOOD AS YOUR DOCTRINE. "

(2 Corinthians 9:13 LB)

Rejoice....and again I say....Rejoice!

Yesterday the 'prayer girls'...aka: Barbara, Faith, Abby & Nancy were together again.
Barbara was our 'honored' guest as it had been many years since all four of us had prayed together.
....seemed like we just picked up in the next sentence we were speaking 5 years ago when Barbara had to leave....
you know how 'life-long friends' can be like that, huh!
Our prayers, they were all about needs and praise reports.....Family, of course...
Same as it has been for the last 12 years or so....
But these are not 'ordinary' girls.....
There is such life....such light....such delight in these 'girls'.
There is....J O Y!
Abby's college star grandson, Geo, came along and we grabbed him to take our picture...
Nancy brought her 1 yr. old grandson, 'Peanut', along and we enjoyed Abby & Al's golf course patio view for our salad lunch.
Yep, it certainly is....a Good Life....
and God is still a prayer hearing, prayer answering,
MIRACLE working God....just ask any of these 'smiling faces' below.....
AND THEIR FAMILIES!

'Grandma, this pie is soooo good!'

Finally it is OVER......and today is the day after the election.....we did survive!
Looking at today's newspaper there was one article that really 'spoke to my heart', written by Connie Schultz of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer........
It was called....'Mend the hole in partisan hearts'....
Paraphrasing the article it boils down to this for me...(using some of Connie's words)
...."There are many lessons to be learned but the one I choose to focus on is , 'even the best among us struggle when things don't turn out the way we'd like.'
Take the presidential race.
Most of us were attached to a particular outcome, which means a lot of us are mighty disappointed right now.
Remembering the 2004 race, there were people who, for months after the election, insisted they still hadn't recovered from the outcome.
The election is behind us....it is time to look forward and....move on.
During the past few months, too many people told me they never, as in NOT ever, would speak to this relative or forgive that friend because of their choices for president.
They used phrases such as 'dead to me' and 'out of the will'.
Maybe you were one of those people.
It felt so right at the time, didn't it, that righteous anger?
It was hard discovering that people you love harbored no affection for your judgment.
And they weren't always nice about it, either.
Well, you'd show them!
Here we are, though, only hours after the election, and this forever thing already is starting to sound a little silly, don't you think?
For one thing, Thanksgiving is only, WHAT, three weeks away?
Maybe you're dug in.
All I ask is that you imagine that the person you're so sure you never want to see again....
..... just dropped dead.
Boom!
On the floor and in the ground.....
You (and I) would cry and cry and cry and wish that he or she would come back to life...this life!
So take down the yard sign and pick up the phone.
Say 'hi' to your friends, your family, your neighbor....
And go tell Grandma you LOVE her 'ambrosia' and tell Aunt Terry you can't wait to eat her sweet potato pie on Thanksgiving.
Despite our differences, we all just survived the longest presidential campaign in American history. The nasty ads are gone. So are the robo calls.
Take a deep breath, and savor the joy of....silence.
Remember....you still have your health and all of your teeth....and you still live in this great and wonderful place called.....
AMERICA....."

I LOVE......America!