4/27/2025 0 Comments Simple Sayings - Bible Bible: There are two parts to the Gospel: believing it, and behaving it.
This is short and to the point. I definitely can say I believe the Bible – but I guess I must say that more than I’d like to admit, people might not see me “behaving it” the way I should. This quote poked at my conscience about the times I groused about some driver when I’m travelling on the road, or rolled my eyes when I saw someone doing something I didn’t think very smart. God has shown me such grace – I need to learn to “practice what I preach” in many ways. I can be thankful for each new day to try again. The Bible is our roadmap. We just need to remember to keep checking that we are following the right route!
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4/20/2025 1 Comment Simple Sayings - Attitude Attitude: The pessimist says, “It can’t be done;” the optimist says, “It can be done;” the peptimist says, “I just did it.”
Easter Sunday – the perfect Sunday for this saying – Christ “just did it” for us! He is risen indeed, and He is the perfect example of right attitude. I don’t know about you, but I find it’s easy to have a good attitude when things are going well; however, when things go wrong and every time you take one step forward it feels like you’ve gone backwards two – well, Miss Groucho comes to the forefront quite quickly. Or have you ever started the day out in a good mood, and after 10 minutes with someone who is totally negative, you find yourself grumbling too? Why is it that a negative attitude can quickly pull the positive one down, instead of the other way around? Since it is Easter, it’s also important to understand that despite the ups and downs in life, Christians will end with a positive outcome. The grave is not the pessimistic finish for us. It’s the start of eternity! So my goal for this week is to try and be the peptimist (I like that word) instead of the other two. How do you rate your attitude? Are you the pessimist or optimist? What are guidelines you have to aim towards the positive outlook on life? 4/13/2025 1 Comment Simple Sayings - Anxiety Anxiety: If you brood over your troubles, you will have a perfect hatch.
I believe I can safely say at least 99.9% of mankind has had to deal with some type of anxiety. Some people struggle with it more than others. Unfortunately I am one of those that have a lot of anxiety. I don’t know if it is because of my vivid imagination, but I have no trouble coming up with “worse case scenarios” in the flash of a second. So this saying is very opportune for me. One of my ways to combat my tendency to worry is to look at the skies. I live in an area where God sends me the most amazing sunrises and sunsets. To watch the changing colors and vastness of the sky helps me to put things in perspective. Then I realign my thinking to the fact I serve an amazing God who is never surprised or caught off guard by events. Don’t let your troubles hatch. What do you do to cope when anxiety starts nipping at your heels? 4/6/2025 0 Comments Simple Sayings - AmbitionAmbition: No one is a failure in this world who lightens a burden for someone else.
Ambition is certainly a good thing to have as long as one doesn’t take it to excess. It’s a hard, cold thing when a person puts ambition to succeed above anyone or anything else. But where would we be without ambition? Our ambitions give us a goal and a reason to keep going. It doesn’t have to be complex. It might be as simple as getting out of bed some mornings! Perhaps it’s to graduate, to get a new job, to save money for something. Whatever the objective, ambition can help us learn something new, to challenge us to become better people in our personal lives and in our communities. You can also have short term or long term ambitions. As I am just ending my spring break, my newest ambition is to head to the classroom this next week and finish off the quarter well. What ambition might you want to challenge yourself with this next week or month? Even if it's simply to do something for someone, that's special! Whatever you choose, be a bright light on your horizon – someone may need that from you! Your light might start someone's else's light. 3/30/2025 1 Comment Simple Sayings - Advice Advice: We may have committed the Golden Rule to memory, but what we really need to do is to commit it to LIFE.
Do unto others….the most basic and best advice a person could receive. Sometimes that can be easier said than done, and not because we’re mean. Life gets busy and I know for myself that something comes up and I think, “Oh, I really should do this or that for a certain person.” The intent is there, but then I run off to school, or go help somewhere and the next thing I know a few weeks have passed before I realize I never stopped to do the kind thing I’d meant to do. Yet when someone does a kind deed to me, it means so much. I’d had a really rough week a bit ago with some deaths, surgeries etc among family and friends. Several in a row, so was feeling rather down. Then out of the blue, some flowers were presented to me. For a bit of extra effort on someone’s part, I will many times think about that gesture and thank God for their kindness. It also reminded me yet again to keep my eyes open to what I could do to lighten another’s burden. Of course, knowing what speaks to another person can take a bit of effort. Since I seldom get flowers, that was special for me. What are some of the things you would like someone to ‘do unto you’? 12/22/2024 0 Comments Connecticut!
12/15/2024 0 Comments New Hamshire!
12/8/2024 0 Comments Vermont - tiny but neat!Ps 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
I can’t help think of this verse whenever I get to these small midEastern states. Vermont means green mountains, and it is a small but scenic state – at least in the summer. I’m not sure I’d like to drive there in the winter! Although their capital, Montpelier, is the smallest state capital in the country they can be proud of their state. It was the 1st state admitted to the union after the original 13 colonies (1791). They are the #1 producer of maple syrup in the US and have more covered bridges per square mile than any other state. They are so neat to come across unexpectedly. Driving through on Hwy 2 is something I have done a couple times. My dream would be to get there during the autumn and run the eastern side of the continent during leaf season! Skiing and water sports are also big in this little state. 12/1/2024 0 Comments PA - Go with the flow!![]() Act 21:15 And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem. This verse just seemed to fit as PA has the #1 settlement in all of USA for Amish. You can’t drive through Lancaster County without seeing buggies and carriages everywhere. Besides the Amish, PA also has the largest Mennonite settlement as well. Since farming is the biggest occupation for these people, PA is full of farms. However, farming there is very different than I’m used to. There’s lots of rolling roads and valleys as the Appalachian Mountains run through center of PA. The Allegheny and Pocono Mountains are in the NE while the Waynesburg Hills in SW have the coal mines. Going to a singles retreat the other summer I didn’t get car sick, per se, but after 12 hours of driving and going up and down and around curves – I was so dizzy, I couldn’t get the world to stop moving for hours after I stopped. Thankfully by the next day I was ok again! PA also have 4 nuclear power plants so have huge energy resources. But my favourite memory was going to the Hershey’s chocolate factory when Dad took our family to visit friends one year. It’s the US Chocolate capital and we had a 30 min tour with taste testing and everything! :0) One of this state’s claim to fame was they had the first baseball stadium built. I wasn’t into baseball, but when I taught in Delaware I coached girls JR volleyball, and we had an intense competition with some rival PA schools – so several times went into PA for weekend tournaments. I don’t think it’s bragging to say we walked away with a no-lose season as that wasn’t due to my coaching – I simply had some amazing girls that could REALLY play! 11/24/2024 1 Comment Ohio = Great River |
CategoriesFebruary 26, 2021
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What a week! As a teacher on a Hutterite colony for grade 5-12, life is non-stop from 9:00-3:30. This coming Friday is the end of quarter, so report cards will be due. So that always makes one extra busy.
But I had 2 highlights in this week. The first: I came home and stumbled over something on my step. When I picked it up and entered, I found out I was holding MY copy of my book! I felt like a mother receiving her first child. The awe and wonder of holding something I'd created and labored over for - yes, about nine months- well, that is quite the feeling. The second: Last night the doorbell rang. I answered and a man stood there with a floral arrangement. I was sure he'd come to the wrong house, but he had the right name. Imagine my amazement when I saw that friends from the States had arranged these lovely roses to be delivered to celebrate this milestone in my life. In today's Covid restrictions, such a thoughtful, kind gesture means SO much! I never get flowers, so I'm still just smiling over it. |
January 5, 2021
How many of you make New Year's Resolutions? How many of you don't because you know you won't keep them?
As I look at 2021 and wonder what this year will bring, I've decided to try a couple resolutions.
A poet once said, "It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." I feel that can be applied to resolutions too. As I start this year as a new author, I'm scrambling to figure out what I'm doing! This has definitely pulled me out of my comfort zone. I've asked the Lord, "What have I done? Am I stepping off this cliff to float or fly?"
So my New Year's Resolution is to have a website and put a blog on it. Will this last? It will be interesting to look back in December 2021 to see what has happened here! Tech stuff is NOT my thing. But as a teacher, I always tell my students, "Just try. You never know what might happen." So how can I do less than I preach? I will try this. No guarantees, but I've made a start! Happy New Year to you all!
As I look at 2021 and wonder what this year will bring, I've decided to try a couple resolutions.
A poet once said, "It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." I feel that can be applied to resolutions too. As I start this year as a new author, I'm scrambling to figure out what I'm doing! This has definitely pulled me out of my comfort zone. I've asked the Lord, "What have I done? Am I stepping off this cliff to float or fly?"
So my New Year's Resolution is to have a website and put a blog on it. Will this last? It will be interesting to look back in December 2021 to see what has happened here! Tech stuff is NOT my thing. But as a teacher, I always tell my students, "Just try. You never know what might happen." So how can I do less than I preach? I will try this. No guarantees, but I've made a start! Happy New Year to you all!