Fun at Grandma's

Sally's Aunt Jeannie spent Thanksgiving with us this year.


Sally and her sister, Mary, enjoyed a game of Scrabble.

Audrey and Emily put up Grandma's Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving Day at the In-Laws'

We spent Thursday with my wife's family in Vinita.


Sally cooked the turkey this year. It was GOO-OOOOD!


Sally's mom made her famous "Parker House Rolls" - my favorite bread!

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord for:

• My family: Sally & the girls, my parents, my sister, my grandmother.
• My church: from the tiniest baby in the nursery to Mabel, the oldest member.
• My friends: Martin, Randy, Bill, Todd, Tim, Becky and too many others to name.
• My blog buddies: Steve, Kevin, Art, Quinn, Michael, Camey, Dorcas, Neil, Debbie, Terry, Les and others.
  
• My former colleagues whose names I cannot mention because of their security status in foreign lands.

But most of all, thank you for Jesus Who gave His life that I might live.

May God truly bless you who read my blog! Happy Thanksgiving!

$19.00 Fill Up

That's right. Gas is $1.54 here in Wagoner, OK! This is the cheapest I have filled up God's Cadillac since I've had it!

Please Fell Free to Contact

I received this in my email box today:

Dear Sir/Madam:

We are one of the leading Public Relation agency working in Central India.

We will be delighted to render our services to you, as we are well connected with almost all leading Print and Other media.

More over we have a good alliance in several states to execute the sensible PR work on your behalf.

Would you require any assistance from our side please fell free to contact.

--

Regards.

Amreysh Dubey

099701 66747

Pune - 01.

Oh yes! I want this company to represent my public relations needs! (Red lettering for emphasis)

A Life of Significance

What will your life count for?

Lottie Moon 2008

Won't you consider what you'll give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to support International Missions?

(The boy in the boat (@ 0:25) with Rankin is his grandson, Zachary. My older daughter was in the same class with him in Thailand.)

Pain is Relative

(and you should see some of my relatives...)

Have you ever heard someone say, "It hurt so bad I thought I was going to die!"? Everyone has a different threshold for pain; that is obvious.

I have, for the past 20-25 years, judged my own wellness on a scale of 0-100% On any given day, I am at 100%. I don't use this scale for emotional or spiritual well-being; only for the physical elements. One a very few occasions, I have rated my physical condition (which includes pain, strength, etc) at 25%. Most common sicknesses get a 60-70%.

This past weekend, I encountered a new kind of pain that I had to judge down around the 35-40% range. To me, that's pretty bad.

The worst pain I have ever had is that of a kidney stone. That was definitely the 25% time! The first time I had them was when I was 21 years old. I ended up passing 10 stones and it took ten days to do it. For half of those days, I prayed, "God: heal me or kill me; I can't take any more of this!" My next door neighbor called me to "encourage" me. She said, "I've had 3 kids and 4 kidney stones. Given the amount of pain, I'd rather have a kid any day!". Thanks so much for your encouragement! In my life, I have now passed over 35 kidney stones. I know, I know: TMI.

Another bad pain was when I had malaria and Hepatitis A at the same time. I got Hep A from a meal in China and malaria from a short vacation to the Philippines. Their incubation time, unfortunately for me, happen to coincide. That was back in 1990.

Other severe pains have been when I fell on the ice and sprained my back or when, overseas, I ate something bad and it felt like you are trying to "digest broken glass". Giardia is bad, but the cure was worse.

This weekend, I ended up with stomach flu of some sort. No "bathroom troubles"; only a severe stomach cramp. I'm not one to complain about things, too much (I hope). But this weekend, my stomach REALLY hurt!

It started hurting last week sometime, but it felt like I had done too many setups or something (trust me; that wasn't the case). I had put up Christmas lights on the house and I thought perhaps that climbing up and down the ladder had made me sore. Sunday morning was bad, but it was a big Sunday at church and we had our Church Thanksgiving Dinner and I needed to be there. As the afternoon went on, however, the soreness got worse. As time for the evening service came, I thought to myself, "surely I can last an hour". But I was wrong.

At 15 minutes til time to start, I came to the realization that if I couldn't even stand up straight, there was no way that I could bring the evening message. Several around me perceived that something was wrong and everyone told me to go home, that they would take care of the evening service. Finally, I agreed and made the longest 100 yard walk of my life! About 2/3 of the way home, I didn't think I was going to make it. I hurt so bad that I had to hold on to the electric pole. That 100 yard walk to me about 10 minutes!

I found that I could sit in my recliner without too much pain, but anytime I moved, breathed deep, or coughed, the pain was incredible. Monday was spent in my recliner. I improved slightly as the day went on.

Today, I am at 85%. My stomach is sore and I am kind of weak. At least I don't have a headache and fever like yesterday!

I sure hope you don't get this stomach flu; it really hurts. But, then again, pain is relative.

Missions in Eastern Europe!

Come, Join us in Europe from CEE Admin on Vimeo.


[HT: Trey Atkins]

Oklahoma 65 - Texas Tech 21

All I can say is "Wow!" The last touchdown by Tech came after a very bad call. Even OU Hater, Brent Musburger said it was a bad call.

Looks like we earned some BCS "style" points.

TT - "Guns Down!"

Boomer Sooner, Baby!

ROFL

[HT: Monday Morning Insight]

Happy Birthday, Brent

No longer the little boy, but now a father yourself, may God grant to you His wisdom and protection. May He give you grace and show you mercy.

Happy Birthday, Brent.

OK - this is freaky...

I saw this ad on Facebook today. "Obama Holiday Gift Tees?" How freaky is that?

Speaking of Scams...

I just got this email today:



The Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma

Contact: For Immediate Release
Taprina Milburn
Director of Communications
405.949.9500, tmilburn@bfok.org



Fundraising Solicitation a Phone Scam

The Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma has learned that someone is calling individuals claiming to be the Baptist Foundation. The caller asks for monetary donations and requests credit card information.
“We would like to alert our Baptist constituents as well as the Oklahoma community in general to this phone scam,” said Taprina Milburn, Foundation director of communications. “The Foundation does not conduct telephone fundraising campaigns.”
John Rinehart, an investigator with The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said, “Fraudulent fundraising is on the rise—especially during the holidays. If you do receive one of these phone calls write down the number that appears on the caller ID—even if the number appears as the Foundation’s number (scammers have the ability to use organizations’ telephone numbers)—notify the Foundation, and report the incident to The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office at 405.521.2029.

You may contact The Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma at 800.949.9988, 405.949.9500 or visit our website at www.bfok.org.

A Buck Sixty-Five

$1.65. That's what we are now paying for gas in Wagoner!

What are you paying where YOU live?

[HT: Sally]