A Random Post With No Pictures

1.  It's Saturday.  It's raining buckets of water and little ponds are springing up all over the campus.  We had a tornado watch for a while but that has passed us by, thank goodness.  Despite the weather one of the local residents brought lunch to those of us who are "long term" volunteers.  They were having a family gathering and thought of us - they plated up grilled chicken, red beans and rice, rolls, and cake.  And then apologized because they didn't bring forks!  As you can imagine it was delicious and we had a wonderful time eating together and visiting without thoughts of work calling us back to our duties.

2.  In Bible study this week we've read about spiritual gifts.  It was a great reminder that each of us has gifts, different from everyone else.  Too many times we women say..."oh I can't do anything special" but the fact is that who we are is unique and special.  I remember one time teaching a women's Sunday School class - the class was for "older" women and I was at least 40 years younger than anyone in the class.  We talked about gifts and one woman said over and over that she had no gift.  Finally another spoke up and said "you make the best banana nut bread ever and you always share it!"  Banana nut bread might seem to be a simple thing but when taken to someone who is needing to be lifted up, it can be everything.

3.  A friend's son became suddenly ill on Tuesday and his father was told to say his goodbyes.  Twenty four hours later this young man was off the ventilator and chatting with his mother.  An answer to prayer?  Certainly.  But it was a reminder to me that I must cherish every single moment that I have with people I love. I know it but too often, in my busy-ness, I forget it.   I want to focus on the moments I have with them, whether in person, on the phone, in a text message, or in an e-mail.  I want to be sure they know that I love them - let there be no doubt.  It's up to me to make that happen.

4.  I love Google.  It allows me to have a blog, completely free to me, so that I can read and write and share with people all over the world.  I am grateful for all that they do.  Well, not all.  The new word verification doesn't work for me.  My eyes aren't bad for someone my age - my distance vision is still quite good but of course I have to have readers.  I wear one pair for the computer and another for reading.  No matter which pair I put on nothing helps with the new word verification.  So if you use that feature on your blog please let me apologize right now that you won't get many comments from me.  It's not because I don't want to, it's simply because I can't.

5.  I have every intention of staying inside all weekend and enjoying the rain being outside.  But if tomorrow proves to have better weather I'll be attending another Mardi Gras Parade after church.  Let the bead throwing...and catching...begin!  I hope your weekend is one filled with people you love and lots of laughter.