Does God Protect The Holy Man?

A few years ago, at work, I happened to walk up on a couple of coworkers having an intense conversation.  One of them turned to me and asked "Does God protect the holy man?"  That question, and the discussion that followed inspired my blog topic that night.

What with the recent church shooting in Texas, and the questions that follow -- How could God let this happen to his people?-- I thought it was time to post it again. 



Does God Protect The Holy Man?

Today at work, I walked up on a couple of my co-workers having an intense conversation.  As I approached, one of them turned to me and asked

Does God protect the holy man?

Well, of course, the short answer to that is no.  God allowed his own son to die, and you just don't get any holier than that.

My friend replied that God allowed that to happen to benefit mankind.  I had to agree with him.  God didn't protect his own son, because his death served a higher purpose, that being our redemption.   Sometimes, God doesn't protect us, so that our suffering can serve a higher purpose, and we may never know what that purpose is.  We just have to trust in God's plan.

My friend said, "But isn't there some verse in the Bible about God protecting his people?"  I couldn't think of one right at the time, but after I got home, I decided to try to find a verse like he was talking about.

After tearing up my house looking for my trusty concordance (yes I really do have my own concordance; it was a Christmas gift from a suitor trying to score points, and it almost worked), and finding it on the end table by my couch-- right where I'd left it, funny that-- I opened my Bible app on my iPhone and did a little searching.  I'm not sure which verse he was thinking of, but I did find John 17: 15, which says

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.

And another in 2 Thessalonians 3:3

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one

I think the most relevant one, at least in my mind is John 10:29

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

What these verses mean is that we have eternal protection in our salvation.  What they do not mean is that we will never face troubles in this life.  See, a lot of people have this false idea that if they get saved, if they trust Jesus, if they become a Christian, nothing bad will ever happen to them.  Their lives will be all hunky dory peachy keen, they'll have plenty of money, and will sail smoothly through life until they die peacefully in their sleep at age 101.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

Jesus even said it in the Sermon On The Mount:  Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  (Matthew 5; 11) 

Not if people persecute you.  When people persecute you.

He said it even more plainly in Luke 21: 12

But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you.

This certainly doesn't imply a life of ease and comfort.  When you look at history, and even at our present times, you will see that God offers no such promise.

Think about it...

Ten of the 12 original disciples were executed (Judas having hanged himself, and John being exiled to the aisle of Patmos so he could write the book of Revelation).

Stephen was stoned to death.  Paul was executed and --as I pointed out to my friend -- there was a reason the early Christians had church services in the graveyard.  They were regularly rounded up and fed to the lions, or used as bait in bloodsports in the great arenas.  One of the emperors ( I don't remember which one-- I'm thinking maybe Nero or Claudius) used to hang Christians on poles, douse them in oil, and set them on fire to make streetlights for Rome.

Streetlights, people.

Out of people, people!

There were times when the roads outside of Rome were lined with hundreds of crucified Christians for miles upon miles. For hundreds of years, people were tortured and executed for the crime of being a Christian.  Doesn't sound like God was protecting them, does it?

Oh, but that was a long time ago, you say.  That couldn't happen today, you say.  You might want to think again on that one.  According to The Hoover Institution,

Few people realize that we are today living through the largest persecution of Christians in history, worse even than the famous attacks under ancient Roman emperors like Diocletian and Nero. Estimates of the numbers of Christians under assault range from 100-200 million. According to one estimate, a Christian is martyred every five minutes. 

Every five minutes.

A Christian dies every five minutes.  The numbers are simply staggering.  All over the world, Indonesia, The Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere -- every day I read a new report of Christians under attack.  Christians murdered just for being Christians.

Christian persecution is at an all time high these days, even here in America.  What?  You're crazy.  We aren't being persecuted for our religion here!

Think about it.  We can't pray at school any more -- at least 49 states can't.  We can't say Merry Christmas any more.  Atheists are suing to have every last hint of God removed from our public lives (while at the same time screeching about us shoving our religion down their throats). They're even trying to get our national motto off of our money, and the phrase Under God removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.   Not sure why, because they don't allow us to say the pledge any more anyway.

Chaplains in the military can't express their Christian faith.  People are being fined for holding Bible studies in their homes.  Christian groups and clubs are being banned from colleges and high schools, even though they are totally voluntary and no one is being forced to join.  Voluntary prayer walks are banned from all public properties.

Oh, but we're not being murdered for being Christians in America.  Really?  Just this year, two men were murdered in New Jersey for the simple reason that they were Christians.   In Dearborn, Michigan, Christians gathering to pray were stoned by local Muslims, while local police stood by watching and doing nothing, because they said that no laws were being broken.

But these are kind of extreme examples, aren't they?  Doesn't God protect ordinary people?

I have a couple of friends, one of the Godliest couples I know.  The husband is suffering from a horrible debilitating illness.  It has robbed him of his most of his sight, and his ability to walk.  Soon, it will take his life.  The wife owns her own business, and works herself to exhaustion providing for them, and taking care of him-- often to the neglect of her own health.  As if that isn't enough, last week, their house got struck by lightening.

Another very Godly man I knew, died of cancer at age 33, leaving behind a wife and three small children.

And still another friend of mine died earlier this month of cancer.  She was my age.

I could go on and on listing examples of bad things happening to good people that I know.

These are common, ordinary people, yet God didn't protect them.  Or did he?

Look back up at that third verse I quoted above....

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  John 10:29

God never promised we wouldn't have troubles in this world.  He never promised that bad things would never happen, that we would never get sick, or die, or get robbed, or murdered, or raped, or have our houses burn down, or whatever.

What he did promise is that if we put our faith in him, he would be there with us through everything.  Everything.  That he would never fail or forsake us.

And that when the end comes, he would take us home.

No one, nothing, can change that.

So, the long answer to my friend's question is ultimately yes.  God does protect his children-- maybe not in the way my friend intended, but he does protect us, often in ways we can't even imagine.


On Christ the solid rock I stand...that's all the protection I need.

Readers Bearing Gifts

There I was at work, getting ready for my shift to start, when I saw Edna Who Loves To See Her Name In My Blog and another coworker, Linda, walking towards me. 

I watched them approach, and when they arrived, Linda said, "I have something for you.  It's not much, but as soon as I saw it in the store, I though of you, and had to get it for you."  She opened her hand, and gave me this:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  I love it!  It's even the same color as mine.  I guess I do go on about the chainsaw a bit, don't I?  What made it really funny is that I had intended to start today's post talking about -- surprise, surprise -- my chainsaw.  No, really, I was.

I was going to say that I'd planned on getting up Saturday morning and working on that pile of wood in my back yard, but it was too wet.  It had rained off and on Friday, and pretty much all night Friday night.  The wood was water logged -- get it, logged -- and the humidity was in the 95% range.  I stepped outside, and the hair instantly transformed into a giant ball of frizz, and I said, "Nope, not today."

Instead, I stayed inside and knit.  And did housework, but you don't really want to hear about my laundry, do you?  Knitting is much more interesting. 

At long last, I have finally finished the scarf from Hades.  Oh, the scarf itself isn't that bad.  It was the yarn.  This was the skein that had so many knots in it.  Final tally:  12 knots.  Twelve! 

I'm so glad to be done with it!  But it is soft and warm.  Somebody somewhere will appreciate it.

After I'd finished that horrible scarf, I was digging in my yarn closet, looking for something else to cast on, and found this ball I'd bought a year or so ago. 

It is Knit Picks Chroma in the Vermont colorway.  My first through was to cast on a scarf, but I remembered I'd only bought one ball.  OK, no problem.  I'll make a hat.  I just needed to find my circular knitting needles. 

While looking for said needles, I found this hat, which has been languishing on the needles since July.  Yes, I said July. 

I decided I needed to finish it before starting anything else, so that's what I did. 

So, that's done, and now I'm off to browse hat patterns. 

Laters.

Sunday Hymn

All across most of the Northern Hemisphere, and throughout North America, it is harvest time.  This past week here in my town, the cotton fields have been picked, and the bales await transport to the gins.  In other areas, corn, wheat, soybeans, and other crops have been -- or soon will be -- harvested.  Everywhere, fields are being cut, and hay stored away to feed livestock through the winter.

It is a scene as old as mankind himself, and is repeated year after year.  Summer and winter, and spring time and harvest.  An age old dance with life and death.

And yet. there is a much greater harvest awaiting, one with eternal consequences.  Jesus said:

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?  Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the regions: for they are white already unto harvest."  John 4:35

Then said he to his disciples, "Surely the harvest is great, but the laborers are few.  Wherefore pray the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers unto his harvest. "  --Matthew 9: 37 - 38

Lord of the Harvest, place your fire in me.
Servants you need now, Servant I will be.

Friday Sloth

When I first started taking my vacation days, I  had so much stuff I was going to get done on these long weekends.  For the first few weekends, I was pretty industrious.  Here lately, though, I've been beset by sloth.

I have all this stuff I still need to get done, I'm just not doing it.  The only thing I've done today is to tidy up my front flower beds a bit.  Turns out it's not as dead as I thought.  Some of the plants which were sheltered, or close to the house, are still showing signs of life.  I trimmed off the dead bits, and left the rest.  It won't last long, though.  Soon, we'll have another frost which will finish them off for good.

Other than that, all I've done is watch TV and knit a bit. Yes, I lead a sad life.  You know how I know?  I'll tell you. 

You know you lead a sad life when the biggest adventure of your week is going to the store.  An d this is how it started...

I use this shopping list app called Out Of Milk.  I've used it for years, and have been generally pleased with it.  However, with the last update, they started automatically categorizing your list.  I needed kitty litter.  I didn't know it was considered make up.   You learn something new every day. 

All righty, then. 

Moving right along.  I found what I want for my birthday.

I told you, some sort of long dormant tool user gene has been awakened within me.  The hardware department has become a dangerous place -- for my budget, that is.  I put this back on the shelf, walked to the next aisle, and found an electric staple gun I also want.  I don't know what I'm going to do with either of them, but I want them.

While I was in the hardware department, I remembered that I needed nails.  I couldn't for the life of me remember what I needed them for, but I knew I needed them.

So, now I have nails, but I have no idea why. 

I'm sure you will all be very proud of me when I tell you that I walked down this aisle, and didn't buy a thing.  Nope, not one single item. 

Then again, they didn't have the cherry cordial or mint truffle Kisses out yet.  Once I find those, I'm not making any promises.

I needed some honey.  I don't use honey a lot, but every so often, I use it.  Since my beekeeper cousin has gone out of the beekeeping business, I had to break down and buy some.  I was looking through all the honey on the shelf, and found this one.

Texas honey, it's the next best thing to being there. 

And lastly, the photo challenge:

Seven days, seven pictures in black and white of my everyday life.  No people, no pets, no explanations.  Day 2.

Upheavals

There has been a great upheaval at work.

OK, not quite yet, but we had a meeting the other day in which they gave us fair warning about upheavals that will take effect in January.  And the changes aren't that great, but saying there have been some mediocre upheavals doesn't sound nearly as dramatic.  And I'm all about the drama. 

One of the changes is that we will now be subject to random drug screenings.  Yeah, way to boost employee moral there, by treating us like criminals.  Edna Who Loves To See Her Name In My Blog said, "Half the plant will probably be fired if they do that."  Just to be on the safe side, I'm making a list of all the vitamins and supplements I take and keeping it on my phone.  I'm sure screenings have gotten a lot more accurate, but back in the day, many of those herbal supplements could cause false positives.

Second big change is that we will have to carry clear backpacks.  This one aggravates me.  For one thing, a clear backpack never stopped a criminal.  If someone is determined to carry a gun or knife into the plant, he'll find a way.  Clear backpack or no.

But what really aggravates me is that the stupid things tear up in a month.  One of my coworkers said her daughter has already gone through two just since school started.  I'd just spent $40 on a high quality canvas bag because I got tired of replacing mine every six months.  Now, I guess I'll have to add New Tool Bag to my monthly budget.

There's a stock tip for you:  invest in clear backpacks.

Probably the biggest upheaval involves on of our Key Component Areas.  See, somebody wanted to put them on a trial schedule of working 10 hours a day 4 days a week.  They started that Monday.  As soon as they announced it, I wondered how it wasn't going to work out.  You see, the assembly lines are still on a five day schedule.   What would happen if someone needed a Key Component on Friday when Key Component Area wasn't there?

Eventually, the bosses figured this out, too.  I went and talked to one of my friends who works in Key Component Area, and she said they've already told them to come in tomorrow.  I told her, "Yeah, as soon as peak season hits, and we start getting behind, we'll all be back on 6 days anyway."

There is a challenge going around Facebook.  It's seven photos in black in white.  No people.  No pets.  No explanation.  I've posted mine on Facebook, but I'm going to post them here, too.  This is day 1.

Oh, and before I go, Baby Addlyn got the leggings I knit for her.  I was concerned that they would be too small, but she sent me a picture.

They fit perfectly!  She even has a big of growing room in them.  Yay!

We Are

From unimaginable devastation

to unbridled jubliation

Texas Tough

Houston Strong

and now,

World Champions. 

Halloween

I was trying to think of something witty and clever to post for tonight, but my brain has been scattered all day.  I thought if I looked through some old Halloween posts, I might find inspiration.

In reading those old posts, I'm astonished at how many times I told you that we don't do much for Halloween, because Cody is adamant we not celebrate it.  Almost every year, until he grew up and left home.

Then I'd show you a picture of my fake light- up Jack O' Lantern, and tell you that in the morning, I'd turn it around and it would do double duty as a plain pumpkin for my Thanksgiving decorations.

Then, I would end all the posts with my traditional Halloween prayer:

I'd thought I would do something different this year, but then I said, "Why mess with a good thing?"

So, here you go!

We don't do much around here for Halloween.  Cody is adamant we not celebrate it.  I did put out my fake light-up Jack O' Lantern, though.  In the morning, I will unplug it, turn it around and it will do double duty as a plain pumpkin in my Thanksgiving decorations.

And now, I will leave you with my traditional Halloween prayer:

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long legged beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
May the Good Lord deliver us!

Strange Things

I made it to work bright and early this morning, only to discover the entire computer system was down.  I couldn't clock in.  I couldn't run off schedules.  We couldn't run the lines because we couldn't scan our work complete.  The component areas couldn't make our components.  We were pretty much dead in the water. 

That's a nautical phrase, y'all.  Dead in the water...no wind...can't sail...anyway...

There was some hopeful talk about them sending us home -- as they'd done third shift -- but alas, it was not to be.  It took about an hour and a half, but they eventually got all the computers back online, and we worked a full day.

It was during that full work day I felt the need to answer nature.  I usually go to the restroom closest to my work area, but it was being cleaned.  I went up front to the other restroom, and was met by someone coming out of the break room.

"Becky!  Becky!" she called.  I stopped to see what she wanted, and she said, "Santa Claus said to tell you 'Hi'".  I gave her a puzzled look, and she responded, "He said you'd know what he meant."

I didn't know what he meant, or who she was talking about, but that's not the strangest part.  You see, the lady who'd called my name, I didn't know who she was either.  In fact, I would swear that I'd never seen her before at all.  But she sure knew me.  How, I don't know, but she did.

Strange things just seem to happen to me.

Let's move on to something I can count on:  knitting.  After receiving Baby Addlyn's sweater, her mom asked me to knit some more things for her.  However, it's hard to knit for someone when you have no idea how big she really is.  Besides that, by the time I got something finished, she'd have probably outgrown it anyway.  Over the weekend, I whipped her out some wee little leg warmers out of leftover sock yarn.

Hopefully, they'll keep her wee little legs warm until she grows into some regular pants.  Even if they don't, she'll look mighty cute in them.

A few weeks ago, while I was cleaning up, I found an old knitting pattern I'd handwritten out on a scrap of paper.  It was for a scarf I'd adapted from a blanket pattern.  Once I'd finished the wee little leg warmers, I cast it on.

I've made a few tweaks to the pattern, and once it is written up in a way that makes sense, I may offer it up as a freebie on the blog.

Yesterday was the perfect day to stay inside and knit, as we woke up to our first frost of the year.

It got the rest of my annuals, so I'm going to pull them up and get the beds ready for winter.  And start planning what I'll plant next spring. 

Sunday Hymn

Great is they faithfulness
Oh, God my father



I have to admit, this has never been one of my favorite hymns.  I love the message, but the tune has always been so dreary to me.  However, I wanted to post it for you today, because I've been reminded of God's faithfulness this week.

You see, there was this certain baby sweater that I thought I'd messed up.  As it happens, it fits the baby perfectly.  Not only that, at the moment, it's the only article of clothing she has that fits. 

The whole time I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong, God had a plan all along. 

Great is his faithfulness. 

Wild Hair

Every so often, I get a wild hair, and end up doing things I wouldn't normally do.  This is one of those times.

I go through this every few years.  What is it, you may ask?  I buy a pie pumpkin and cook it down.  When I do this, I remember why I just buy canned pumpkin.  Then a few more years go buy, and I say to myself, "Self, you ought to buy a pie pumpkin and cook it down."  So, I do, and I go through the whole process once again.  And remember why I just buy canned pumpkin.

This was one of those years.

I bought a pie pumpkin to cook down and make fresh pumpkin puree'.    That was my project for today.

The hardest part is cutting the stupid thing up.  This time around, I had an epiphany.  After using my big knife to hack off the stem, it occurred to me that I have a hacksaw.  I went and got said hacksaw, and went to work with it.  That thing cut through the pumpkin rind like butter.

I was tempted for a moment to go fire up the old chainsaw, but restrained myself.

Anyway, I got the thing cut up, then had to scoop the goop out.  I'm telling you, I think the more you scoop, the more goop there is.

It's like the pumpkin is producing more and more of it in one final act of defiance.  The reward for your persistence is pumpkin seeds to roast.   After you separate the seeds from all the goop, that is. 

At long last, the pumpkin was cut up, the goop was scooped and the two halves were in the oven to cook down. 

And I was once again remembering why I just buy canned pumpkin.

They're still predicting temps in the low 30s tonight.  In anticipation of the impending freeze, I spent a few moments with my marigolds, zinnias, and vincas.  If it does frost/freeze, that'll be the last of them. 

The bad news is, my heater seems to have gone out.  It's always something isn't it?  It blows, it just blows cold.  We'll be OK until I can get it fixed.  I'll just swipe the space heater from the snake room when I take a shower.  Other than that, my little wood stove will keep the house warm enough.  It got the house so warm today I had to open a window. 

The good news is, I got the lights in my shed fixed.  One of the maintenance men from work came out and fixed them.  Turns out it was just a bad switch.  He replaced it and we're good to go. 

One step closer to getting my woodworking hobby going. 

Winter Has Come

I am pleased to report that I have survived yet another inventory.   I'm thinking next year, I might do like my friend Edna and ask to be taken off the list.  I've done inventory for nearly 20 years.  I'm ready for a break. 

I am also pleased to report that the long awaited cold front has finally arrived.  At 2:30, the temperature was 75'.

By 7:30, it had dropped to 47.

In anticipation of the expected freeze, I went ahead and settled the plants into their winter home.

There they will stay until spring.  I brought the plastic shelf I'd bought last summer inside to put the Christmas cacti on, so I don't have to move them every time I want to open the deep freeze.  The little black table that was in that spot has been moved back into the shed, and the grill that was in the corner sits upon it.  Finally, right?  It's been sitting there since July. 

I kept telling myself I needed to put it back into the shed, I just didn't do it. 

Wood has been brought inside, and the birdfeeder has been filled.  I have plenty of hot chocolate, tea, and coffee, and knitting to keep me occupied. 

I think I'm all set for the cold. 

I'm Old

That's it.  I'm officially old.

See, tomorrow is inventory, and all day today, us old school inventory employees found ourselves talking about inventory "back in the day".

Back in the day--

We went in at 5:00 AM and sometimes didn't get off until 6:00 or 7:00 PM.  Remember that time they kept us so late they bought us supper?  Yeah, back in the day...

They bought us donuts for breakfast, and pizza for lunch.  Remember how people would go in and get a whole stack of pizzas and put them out in their cars and some people didn't even get any?  That's why they stopped buying us lunch.  Back in the day...

The food.  Oh, the inventory snacks.  Remember how we'd put two buggies together and have them both just covered in snacks.  Cookies, cakes, chips and dip.  Sausage balls.  It was just like Christmas.  Back in the day...

Remember how they used to stop production a couple of days before and actually get organized for inventory?  Now they run the lines right up until the day of, then we have to walk in the next morning and try to inventory chaos.  It went so much more smoothly, back in the day...

Yep, I'm officially old. 


It would seem winter has decided it might make an appearance this year after all.

 I broke down and turned the heater on this morning.  It's supposed to warm up the next couple of days, then be back down into the 30s over the weekend.  I went ahead and stacked the wood box ahead of time, so I won't have to get up early and go outside to get wood.

Squeaky is already snuggled in on the love seat.

It cracks me up when they sleep like that.  

So, you know that dishcloth swap I'm participating in?  It's sort of an unwritten rule to add a little something extra along with the dishcloth.  Or whatever you're swapping.  I'd originally thought to add something Mississippi themed, but couldn't find just the right thing. 

In a fit of insomnia (I get those a lot) I got up and dug through my gift drawer to see if there was anything in there I could send.  I didn't find anything, but in the drawer was a large white envelope.  Oh, I'd seen it in there before, and just assumed it was Cody's graduation pictures.  Last night, in the middle of the night, I said, "I'm going to see what's in here."  I opened it up and found...

my boot camp photo!

I'd thought it had gotten ruined in Hurricane Ike, but there it was.  I was so excited.  I don't have much of my Navy stuff left.  I have an annual around here somewhere, but I can't find it.  I have the one I sent to my dad.  It got ruined in Hurricane Rita, but I still hang on to it. 

Then I thought, "That's sad that you measure your life by which hurricane something got ruined in". 

But like I said, it's called weather, and despite our technological advances, we are still pretty much at its mercy. 

Winter Is Coming

Up inside the plant all day, you don't always know what the weather is doing outside.   I got off work to find the wind had been kicking all day.  All my plants on the back step had been knocked over.  Well, it was supposed to be cold tonight, so I decided to bring them all inside.

Just to be on the safe side, I brought in the Christmas cacti, too.

Just for kicks, I checked the weather forecast.  Wait, what?  Low of 51'?  They changed it again.  It's not going to get down into the 30s after all, and I lugged all those plants inside for nothing!  Then, I checked the top of the page.

It was the page for my home town.  Swipe left and get to the local page.  Still in the 30s by the weekend.  Whew!

What?  Of course I have a page on my weather app for my hometown!  And one for where my sister lives, and one for where my brother lives.  Doesn't everybody?

Moving right along...One of my Christmas cacti has a bud on it!  It's got several buds, but this is the biggest one.

I know I'd said the next project will be to paint the living room, but after thinking a bit, I really need to get my mantle put back up.  Before I do that, I'm going to paint these bricks.  First thing, I've got to strip that old, gloppy paint off.  You can see how thick it is, with the drip marks and all.

I'd originally said I was going to strip them down to the bare brick, but now I'm thinking I won't. All this I'm doing right now is just cosmetic fixes anyway.  Sometime down the line, when I get the whole room remodeled, I want to get these bricks replaced.  I really prefer smooth bricks.

That'll be way down the line, though.  People keep asking me if I've got my house finished, and I'm like, "Uh, you know this stuff costs money, right?"  That is what I don't have.  I thought I was going to get my credit card paid off this year -- or close to paid off, at least.  Then I had all this dental work done, and that put an end to that.  One day, though. One day...

Back to the bricks.  You can see on the right side of the photo how there is some black showing through.  I bought some new sanding belts for my belt sander.  Last night, in a fit of insomnia, I got one of the belts and just scraped it down the bricks by hand.  Looks like it'll get the paint off pretty well.  Once I use the actual belt sander, that is.

I went back to bed, and mentally rehearsed all the steps to getting my mantle back up, including mentally going to the store and buying the hardware with which to do it. It didn't help me fall asleep, but I think I might know how to get my mantle up now. 

This post seems to have taken on a life of its own, and I didn't get much sleep last night, and I have no idea where this is going to end up, so I'm just going to jump off this train right here and say good night.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

She's Here!

She's here!  She's here!

No, you're not experiencing deja vu.  This time, I'm talking about Cody's niece Mackenzie.  She arrived yesterday, right on time, weighing in at a healthy 8 lb 11 oz.  Angie (the grandma) and I cracked up when the new mom Taylor said, "Hard part is over now."  Angie was quick to inform her that giving birth was the easy part of motherhood.  The hard part has just begun.  I chimed in to add that it doesn't end when they're grown either.  You worry about your kids for the rest of your live. 

Indeed, Taylor's brother is still putting gray hairs into my head.   Yeah...

So, today...

I got to work bright and early this morning, filled my cooler, and put all my stuff down on my table by my brazing stand.  I headed upstairs to run off copies of the schedule, when my coworker stopped me wanting to talk.  We chatted for a moment, then I went upstairs and got the schedules done. 

I headed back down and passed them out, then another coworker stopped wanting to talk.  We chatted for a moment, then I went to the PPE machine to get gloves.  There was a line, so I stepped aside and spoke to my supervisor while I was waiting.  I got my gloves, headed back to my stand and was stopped yet another time.  All this before the shift even started.  When did I get to be popular? 

I don't like it. 

Let's move on to more pleasant topics, like my flowers.  My latest chrysanthemum is blooming.

I got some new winter flowers.  I was going to get some pansies, but I saw these violas in LSU colors.  I got them instead.  

I started to put them into the bed that has my marigolds, but decided against it.  They're in a couple of hanging pots.  The tag says they're hardy to -29'.  Good thing, because check out this forecast for the week -- especially next weekend.

Looks like all that wood cutting is about to pay off. 

Sunday Hymn

All hail the power of Jesus' name
Let angels prostrate fall
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown him lord of all!