It IS A Good Life!: December 2008

Dec 31, 2008

Dec 30, 2008

We salute and love....Sonia...our guest from Spain...

Sonia as an 'American Teen-Ager' in 1998....

See reunion pictures below....

Sonia wanted family to share 'Mexican food' with her...

These two, Pops and his Joshua, are lifetime buddies....

Joshua has earned another 'reward' from Poppa...

This time he wants Nike shoes...way to go, JJ!

Mr. Tony and TuTu are up to something...they put sugar on tortilla chips!

Yuk, I had one from their basket and it was horrible...

Two CMF's...Sr. and III....the helicopter pilot student...

(ex-Marine now after 7 years)

Ash is 'sorta' hungry....she and Matt were served

3 plates of food...

that is what comes of having only

'corn dogs' in the freezer, Ash!

Sonia and Mama Hope...(Ash's Mom and my friend)

O.K. two nice young 'lovely' ladies, huh!

10 years ago as teen-agers they were calling each other

the B word....now the B stands for....beautiful, inside and out!

Sonia and her famous 'Queenie, Queenie' locks...

Sonia and her 'American Mom'..

Lynn is the reason we have Sonia in our lives...

because she rescued her from a very unhappy exchange student

situation and took her into hers and Tony's home.

We all have been blessed by that 'good deed'....

A Happy Family....Food always....Fun is a must...

and just being together makes IT A GOOD LIFE!

Hallelujah!

Dec 29, 2008

Family Everywhere....Our Christmas gifts were people we love being together....

Brittney, Sonia and Ashley...memories of

Bayshore Christian School are hilarious!

Ask Matt about some of his...

Do you know who these guys are?

Fairly obvious...they are 'twins 10 years apart'....

Their famous Dad, Mr. Richard a 'buiness man'....

Father and Daughter, Britt & Rich...he is a proud father...

and she is a proud daughter...

Ashley and Linda, Richard's wife and the mother of

brilliant, Kyle and wonderful, Ty....

Brittney and her sweet baby brother,Ty...a 'gung ho Gator fan' like Pops

Ash and TuTu/Dylan...

I asked him who was in the picture on my refrigerator

(it was him and his brother Joshua)

and he said, "That is Bubba and that is TuTu..."

Nicknames stick in our family.

Just ask 'Lil Turkey aka: 'lil Chuck'....

Sonia and I 'acting crazy'....

She is certainly an international woman...

Has 3 college degrees, traveled India and drove a

Volkswagen bus around South Africa for months,

Lived in Amsterdam for 6 years, etc.

and now resides in school and work in Barcelona, Spain.

Spain is her native country...

She is a NUT and we all love her to death!

Ty and Ash....

Linda, Kyle, Ty, Britt

Matt and Dad, Richard....Beautiful children are the 'presents' of life....

Dec 27, 2008

SURPRISE

Daily Word — Saturday, December 27, 2008

SURPRISE

I am enthusiastic about life!

To children, surprise may be their response to a fun party, an unexpected gift, or a new discovery. A surprise can be something fun, unforeseen, and new for me also.

At times I am so amazed by a turn of events that it leaves me feeling overjoyed and blessed. And when a situation turns out better than expected, I am delighted.

My feeling surprised about a good outcome is a kind of wake-up call for me to accept something wonderful. It jump-starts my feeling of enthusiasm for life and being thankful to God for it all.

Removing any limitations on the goodness of God, I welcome my blessings.

"All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him."--Acts 3:9-10

Dec 26, 2008

Welcome, Sonia, back to your USA family...

A very tired, Sonia, from Spain, returns for a visit after 12 years. She lived with Lynn and family as an exchange student and they have all kept in touch through the years.
We just met her at the airport and it was a great reunion...
Sonia says she has 3 degrees, has traveled over many parts of the world and is glad to see her 'American Family' and other friends.
We will have a party at our house tomorrow for her.
Thought we could serve some of our left-over turkey and ham BUT Sonia is a vegetarian!
Last time we saw her MacDonald hamburgers was her food of choice.
Welcome back, Sonia dear!

Dec 25, 2008

Merry "Family Fun" Christmas

Santa left his bag on the roof. Joshua and Lil Turkey

help Pipo & Chad retrieve it...

Lil Turkey carries Santa's bag inside to the tree..

Pops and Joshua laughing at all the silly people...as if they are not...

Lil Turkey is tired...so is Uncle Matt who doesn't feel well...

Our Family celebrating at the "Happy Birthday Jesus" Christmas party....

Dec 21, 2008

Dec 19, 2008

'Tis the Season...Peace on Earth Begins with ME...Good Will to Man, Woman & Child...

During this special season of Family togetherness, I have heard the cry of the heart of many who are 'alienated' from family members that they love.

Now is the time for restoring broken fellowship, resolving conflict and reaching out the hand of...PEACE.

Relationships are always worth restoring...in fact, if we want God's blessing on our life, we must learn to be a peacemaker.

Jesus said, "Blessings on those who work for peace...for they will be called the children of God." Notice that Jesus didn't say, 'Blessed are the peace lovers," because everyone loves peace.

Neither did He say, "Blessed are the peaceable," who are never disturbed by anything.

Jesus said, "Blessed are those who work for peace" - those who actively seek to resolve conflict.

Peacemakers are rare because peacemaking is....hard work!

...Peacemaking is not avoiding conflict.

Running from a problem, pretending it doesn't exist, or being afraid to talk about it is actually cowardice. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was never afraid of conflict in order to resolve and bring peace....

Peacemaking is also not appeasement.

Always giving in, acting like a doormat, and allowing others to always run over you is not what Jesus had in mind. He refused to back down on many issues, standing His ground in the face of evil opposition.

Talk to God before talking to the person.

Discuss the problem, the conflict with God.

If we will pray about the conflict first, we will often discover that either God changes our heart or He changes the other person without our

help.

As David did with his Psalms, use prayer to ventilate vertically.

Most conflict is rooted in...unmet needs.

Some of these needs can only be met by God.

When we expect anyone - a friend, spouse, boss, or family member - to meet a need that only God can fulfill, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and bitterness.

No ONE can meet all of our needs....except God.

Instead of looking to God, we look to others to make us happy and then get angry when they fail us. God says, "Why don't you come to Me first?"

Always take the initiative.

It doesn't matter whether you are the offender or the offended: God expects us to make the first move. Don't wait for the other party. Go to them first.

Restoring broken relationships is so important that Jesus expected us to even leave church and do it before worship...He said, "If you enter your place of worship and, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend or family member has against you, leave immediately, go to this person and make things right. Then and only then, come back and worship God ....."

Delay only deepens resentment and makes matters worse.

In conflict, time heals nothing; it causes hurts to fester.

Acting quickly reduces the spiritual damage to you and me.

Confess our part of the conflict.

If we are serious about restoring a relationship, we should begin with admitting our mistakes and asking God to show us our 'blind spots'.

Asking God to show us how much of the problem is our fault we say, "Am I the problem?

Am I being unrealistic, insensitive or too sensitive?"

Confession....saying "I'm sorry." is a powerful tool for reconciliation.

Often the way we handle a conflict creates a bigger hurt than the original problem itself.

Don't make excuses or shift the blame; just honestly own up to any part we have played in the conflict. Accept responsibility for our mistakes, ask for forgiveness and.....move on!

Cooperate as much as possible.

Peace always has a price tag. Sometimes it costs our pride; it often costs our self-centeredness.

For the sake of peace, adjust to others and show preference to what they need.

Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution.

It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything.

Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem.

When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often become irrelevant.

We can reestablish a relationship even when we are unable to resolve our differences.

As Christians we often have legitimate, honest disagreements and differing opinions, but we can disagree without being disagreeable.

God expects unity, not uniformity, and we can walk arm-in-arm without seeing eye-to-eye on every issue. This doesn't mean we give up on finding a solution.

We may need to continue discussing and even debating - but we do it in a spirit of harmony.

Reconciliation means we bury the hatchet, not necessarily the issue.

In 1 Peter 3:11, it says, "Work hard at living in peace with others."

So as we can see.....to be a peace-maker.....is WORK....HARD WORK!

......Romans 12:18 says, "Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everyone."

(Some parts taken from Rick Warren's book...What On Earth Am I Here For? series)

Dec 17, 2008

Prayer Girls Celebrate.Christ+mas...

Today Nancy, Abby and I had our annual Christmas lunch and it was so good

to get together at Maggino's.

We all agreed that ...'no, life is not perfect...and as we spoke of the 'happenings 'in our various family members we suddenly realized that because of our faith....

we are, indeed, very happy!'

This is what "HAPPY" looks like....