“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”    Philippians 4:19

It was 22 degrees outside this morning and 56 degrees in my family room when I got up.  I put on a double layer of fleece to begin the day since we don’t heat part of our home at night to save money (don’t try this in any room that has water pipes because they might freeze, break and flood your home.)  When I looked outside my window, I discovered that our yard was covered with sparkling diamonds of frost.  Their beauty along with the memory of my grand kids laughter and smiles reminds me that I am very rich indeed!

Fun Stuff for Kids

Last night for Cousin’s Night we took all eight of the grand kids skating at Triangle Park.  None of them had ever been skating before and I had only gone skating once in the last 44 years.  I thought seriously about wrapping myself up in the roll of bubble wrap that we had bought for Shepherd to play with popping the bubbles.  Thankfully after much prayer and most likely a guardian angel holding me up on each side, I didn’t fall.  The grand kids were amazing!  The boys, not caring how many times they fell, took to it immediately.  The girls were a little more cautious but after about an hour, they were all skating.  Shepherd, our fearless two year old went right out and started walking on his skates with no problem.  Everyone loved skating and another fun thing about our trip to the “city” was hearing Shepherd exclaim “WOW!” over and over again.  “Look at the tall buildings with all the lights, Grammy, look at the towers and look at the church steeple all lit up.”  He especially liked parking in a parking garage with all the cars and riding in an elevator with a window over at Victorian Square and walking across the sky walk and seeing the cars go under us.  How wonderful it is to see life through the eyes of a little child!  No wonder Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”   Mark 10:15  It takes childlike, fearless faith to believe that which we can not see.

Housekeeping Fun Tip

This is the most fun way to clean your wood floors.  First wax your table and chairs with some lemon Pledge (I like lemon because it smells so good.)   Next put on some good skating music like Skater’s Waltz.  Then put on an old pair of clean socks and have all your kids or grand kids put on socks also.  Then everybody skate around the floor.  The kids will love it and you’ll have a nice shiny floor from the little bit of Pledge mist that fell on the floor when you waxed your furniture.

Kitchen Drying Mats

Have you tried the new drying mats for pots and pans and stuff you wash by hand? My daughter gave me one with snowflakes on it for Christmas and I love it.  So much nicer than spreading out a kitchen towel and you can throw it in the washer if you need to clean it.

Mind Illuminations

I’m playing “Words With Friends” which is like scrabble only better (you play at your own convenience over the internet.)  Right now I have four games going and two of them are with my grandsons.  They keep me busy trying to come up with words and hopefully it will keep my brain sharp!

Best Friend Celebrations

Shepherd wanted to celebrate his best friend Raffy’s birthday so I took two candles and some matches with us to the bakery and we had “fire on the doughnut” as he called it and sang happy birthday to Raffy.  Shepherd talks to Raffy like a real person and takes him everywhere he goes.  We’ve discovered that the best way to get Shepherd to go to bed is to tell him that Raffy is sleepy and then ask Raffy who he wants to sleep with.  Of course all the names we suggest are met with a big “NO” until we say Shepherd.  This pleases Shepherd so much that he happily goes off to bed with him.

Other Best Friends who have blessed our hearts through the years:

Happy was one of my best birthday presents ever.  My daughters surprised me with him by placing a large picnic basket with a big red bow on my kitchen counter for my birthday.  You can imagine my surprise and delight when the lid started to lift up and a darling puppy poked his nose out.  It was love at first sight.

My son Jim is a tech genius or maybe I should say wizard because he patiently taught me a lot of new skills on the computer so I could start this blog.  Here he is pictured with his former best friend, Morgan.

This is Bobby with his best friend Oscar. He owns Wombles Transportation (more later about our trip with Shepherd down to see his big buses.)

This is Mary Ladd with one of  her best friends, Sampson when he was still a puppy.

When Sampson came to our house to live, I thought he would be a great guard dog.  But the only person that he ever ran off was the U.P.S. delivery man who he chased down our driveway.  We still can’t get U.P.S. deliveries to this day.  Great Danes are very playful and the only problem with them is that they are big as a small pony.

I forgot to mention that one summer Sampson jumped into our neighbors pool.  I received a call to come get him immediately!  I never found out who was swimming when this happened.

Christy fell in love with Sidney when she first got married to Chad and they took her to Beaver Dam with them.  On a weekend visit home to our house Sidney became Happy’s sweetheart.  Later she became the Mother of first Bailey and eventually Sunshine.  Sidney use to disappear and eventually Christy would find her in the bath tub behind the shower curtain.  She loved to take  baths.

We’ve had so many best friends through the years.  Dogs are a gift from God to men and provide us with “good medicine” when we are lonely, hurting or sad! (more about this later)

Health Tip

Tonight when I was plugging up all my tech stuff that needed charging (cell phone, Kindle Fire,and camera), I suddenly realized that I felt like my own battery was needing to be charged.  So before I fall asleep tonight, I intend to plug into God knowing He will energize me for tomorrow.

Mind illumination   “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”   Psalm 119:11

Three of my grand kids said their Bible verse to me last night and what a special blessing it is to hear them and receive the big hug they give me when I tell them how very proud I am of them.   If you haven’t learned a new bible verse for January yet take a look at the Challenge For Great Riches in my Jan. 14 blog and put a smile in your heart today by memorizing a verse.