like a bandit

i certainly got some nice stuff this year. the beau rather showered me with gifts. a beautiful little glass dragon to go with my growing collection, and a beanie baby zebra (the character from ‘madagascar’) to add to my zebra collection. a new bottle of esté lauder spellbound, my favorite and signature scent. yet another gaming system, a ninetento ds. my mother sent me a black velvet cape with a red velvet lining. and a co worker of the beaus gave us a set of mel brooks classics and a couple of games for the beaus psp. what spoils!

i always feel i little twinge when i am so blessed with things, i think of the the people i share this planet with who dont have. im not being all righteous, and i dont feel guilty for being blessed. i would just like to bring everyone into my blessed state. there is more than enough to go around, and always has been. the God who created this planet is the God of more than enough, the God of abundance.

now today we have a forecast of 71º and thunderstorms. crazy weather pattern this year. i put our turtle outside. he has been spending time in a box because the beau likes to keep a turtle in the yard during the warm months. kramer, who we had for over ten years, and who died during the ice storm last year even though he was inside in a cage, was our resident turtle before. he had such personality, and was mostly friendly. this crazy ninja turtle is a different kind, and has a cranky temperament. we still like him, but we dont try to pet his head. we like our fingers too.

so i think we will be staying in today, most likely playing video games. did i mention i got two more games for ps3? the new prince of persia, and dead space. good thing i dont have to do homework anymore. id never get it done. have to tell the teacher i lost in space, or a sand monster got it …. never mind.

and just so you know, i havent lost the meaning of Christmas just because i revel in all my stuff. quite the contrary. i revel in the abundance of blessings that are mine through the covenant i have with God. these blessings came at a high price to Him, and reach far beyond the tangible items i enjoy. they also include health, protection, peace, and joy (which is my strength). they include a security in my ultimate future as well as my temporal present. these are things that carry me through the hard times when i face trials. the stuff can come and go, and there is always more where they came from. but the intangible things i never lose, and are the reason i have access to the stuff.

now let me leave you with a thought. God has given us great prosperity as part of the covenant. but no one said you have to keep it all.

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december 13

Ice storm leaves 1.2 million waiting for power – Weather- msnbc.com

this time last year we were in the dark and cold. i think the whole state was iced over. i had heat from a gas fireplace, and hot water from a gas heated water tank, so we were better off than many. my granddaughter sienna was born today last year. i certainly feel blessed not to be in the throws of an ice storm this time. i can appreciate what those in new england are experiencing, having been through it myself now. there was such a storm one year in portland, when i was a child, but i wasnt so bothered by it, seeing it through a childs eyes. i remember the frozen drifts of snow that covered cars and buried the city, solid enough to walk on – and talking my little dog out in the back and sliding him all over the ice hills in the yard. im sure he laughed when i slipped and hit my chin on the same ice. he was more a little brother than a pet.

this time, all i see are leaves blowing madly along the street, across the dry yards, and in mindless circles in the air. as much as i love winter, it isnt pretty here. but then, it isnt ever pretty here to me. many of the trees still have broken limbs from last years ice, because they often arent cared for unless they pose a hazard. there is much litter, and because it is often very windy here, and the land is rolling but flattish, trash is always blowing around. as is dust. ah how i long for the evergreen forests that cover the coastal mountains. the wind blows there as well, but the trees provide cover, and the mountains break the straight lines. the people there are more likely to secure their trash cans, so that they and the trash they hold arent strewn about haphazardly. one drives down the street in ones own neighborhood here, and has to dodge the big green bins rolling around in the way.

can you tell im homesick?

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