Thumbs up for Companies doing good.

      Fred Meyer reports that every year more than 80 billion pounds of food go to waste in the US. Fred Meyer has a zero waste program, where they help reduce food waste by feedin the hungry and helping farmers. Annually Freddy's donates 200 million meals to local food banks. Another portion goes to farmers to feed livestock and to compost. Fred Meyer in their magazine invites us the homeowners to join by reducing food waste at our own homes. Check out FredMeyer.com for simple tips for preventing food waste.
     Kroger has a long history of hiring folks from the special needs community granting them dignity and a place to use the skills they do have. We were in QFC the other day and noted that they have begun to hire folks with physical limitations. Both employees we noted had walking challenges one was in a wheel chair, yet he was doing his best with the company broom.
      I know there are more companies out there doing good. City team is in Portland helping homeless folks feel and look good. Way to go City team.

I need help

      No one can do life alone and it is a scary place to be feeling like life is being done alone. I don't like to do life alone and I am uncertain as to where I fit in the scheme of things. There is no cure for stupid that is for sure. What a beautiful gift-too beautiful for my heart to behold and things moved so fast and I moved so slow. It had been so long since I'd played. One better doesn't work for the person who has the alcoholic like tendencies.
     One can lead a horse to water but it cannot make it drink. But can one still lead the horse? Didn't Jesus say the shepherd had 99 sheep and one lost. The shepherd looked for that sheep until he found it. I can identify with the lost sheep cause I have come to realize that I was/am completely lost.

A Silver lining on a lovely day

A silver lining on a lovely day

Conversation in the car
Junior, "Mom, do I have a step mom?"
Mom, "No, you have a birthmom."
Junior, "Oh good cause step mom are not good"
Little lady, "What are you called then the adoptive mom?"
Mom, "Yes, that is what I am called"
Junior, "No, you're called the awesome mom!"

Makes me want to kiss him all over his face, but he'd yell Mommmmmmmmm! So, I tuck that in my heart. I love that boy like a rabbit loves to run!

What a beautiful country we call home

     The ground is wet from rain in the night. The morning sun glistens on the leaves. Squirrels run from tree to tree. The sisters smile over breakfast. The mother sneaks to the porch for a cigarette. The sun is shining brightly on this NW city as the birds sing a melody. The azealas are beginning to bloom purple and hot pink. The parents were smiling and waving. The staff was busy.  We are so blessed.

Let's remember to pray for those who are in desperate need, may God bring them hope.
Focus on the family was great today retelling a story of a girl who at one time was in desperate need and the God of hope found her delivered her and she has a story, a beautiful testimony.

Pray for the safety of innocent Israelies from terrorist rocket attacks and other threats.

How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humnaity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.
You feed them (like the fish and loaves, or the birds) from the abundance of your own house.
For you are a fountain of life the light by which we see.

Just a question today

Share ways you have chosen to die to self so others might live. Thanks for your time.

Ephesians 1: 8&9

He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 

A gospel saturated life matters. It possesses the whole soul and penetrates the heart. Lord penetrate me with your gospel.
The Good News found in Christ's life, death and ressurrection. It is the truth of what Christ has done for us. You cannot be the sacrafice for your sin, you have to believe. We are saved by the gospel if we hold onto it firmly. Jesus came to bridge the gap between you and people.  Doing things don't save us. Saving is all Jesus idea. We have nothing to bring to the table but our sin and need. He paid the penalty of the love I broke. Now, that is a Lord worthy of celebration, glory and honor.

A man who passed

Just a moment to recognize an amazing life lived by a man who impacted my life with his vibrant love for enjoying life. A man with a bear hug and smile for you everytime you entered his home or he entered yours. He talked story and enjoyed a beverage with friends on a regular basis. His witness in my life helped me to stand up and walk when I would have rather crawled into a shell. He leaves behind many beautiful women in his life including a long time girlfriend, sister, 2 daughters and their spouoses and children. He was well loved. 

Sunday meeting Rueben

Sunday

     One of our friends joined us in going to church and she loved it. She wants to go again next week. After church I sat in a leader meeting for a class and met a young man named Rueben. Rueben is a newer member of the church. He has a 16 year old daughter that will graduate this year.
    In polite conversation I asked him did she have her driver's license and he said, she's done the class but she isn't excited to be on the road with other crazy drivers. He was very cool about it and has chose to allow her to be comfortable and supported in making her own decision rather than letting the dictates of time or the pressure of someone else living through her vicariously. How mature for a young man in his 30's who had a daughter by the time he was her age. And a proud papa he was too.

   

Gingery Lentil Soup

     Gingerly Lentil Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
3 medium carrots
1 medium onion
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 pepper
2 (14 oz cans) less-sodium chicken broth, plus enough water to equal 4 cups
1 cup brown lentils
1 can diced tomatoes

Heat oil in a large saucepan add carrot, onion cover cook 3 min. Stir in ginger, garlic, salt and pepper 1min.
Stir in diuluted broth and lentils; bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer, cover 20-25 minutes until lentils are tender. Stir in tomatoes: cover and simmer 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Synergy

     We know a man who trains and supports police chiefs, he has found that the new recruits are soft and unable to handle the pressures of the crime, attitudes and chaos of the inner city. His wife and I spoke on this subject often as we mother our boys tenderly and our spouses carry much bigger sticks when it came to working with the boys. No doubt, in the beauty of God's design for children to have both a mother and a father by God's grace, our boys will grow to be strong and courageous, yet kind and understanding. 

     If such a large percentage of crime in the inner city is black on black crime, would it be best to have black officers and black jurors who preside over the cities? Of course not everyone in the inner city is black so there would be folks of other races who also need to be represented in the city.  

     Our government needs to hear ideas as to how to reintegrate folks after release from the penitentary (programs like pitbulls and parolees)?  It occurs to me that when I hear that some folks who enter the system say things like this is the first hot meal I've had or it's the first time we've had electricity. Or the story last year, about a man who had never had a pair of socks in his life before an officer purchased him a pair during the winter.  That there is a serious disparity between wealthy and poor America. The introduction of more and more technology only widens the gap. Are we getting computers into the classrooms of the inner city schools with the same passion we are into the smaller villages? And if not what good is no child left behind? There are children left behind because they lack access. Shoot some of them lack doors on the bathroom stalls in the bathrooms. Tell me, if a child has to use the restroom and has to have an adult follow them into a restroom without doors on the stalls. Is that child comfortable and ready to learn?  No, that child's dignity is infringed upon. Every child should be able to use a public bathroom with a door. If the school cannot afford a door for a restroom stall, how will they afford to keep the children up to speed through technology? The desks, and books at the school I am writing about were similar to what I had 25+ years earlier as a child myself. Where our wealthier schools are purchasing Houghton Mufflin and Scholastic books with regularity, this school was using Dick and Jane books-with noone who looked like any of the children in the class I was in for the day.

     There are some excellent schools out their in the black community that encourage excellence. Some are private schools. Can we create more opportunity and access of this type throughout the nation? 

     Another oddity and less than wise use of government spending, recently there was a study done on gas (flatulence) why anyone wanted to study this or how they did it is halarious to think about. But seriously, how important was this  study and what did it lead to in our learning. Wouldn't money for studies like this be better spent on assisting some of the schools that are in need of opportunity. 

     The drop out rate is very large in the inner city-what if opportunities were made available to work after the age of 16. Maybe the student isn't motivated to rise to college attendance, but these same students could be motivated to put in what it took to achieve one of the other options available to them. Could we revitalize a farming industry,community gardens, mechanic industry, arts, private shops, training in computer repair, apprenticeships, parenting classes etc. Because just maybe the best thing, the successful thing someone can do is be a good parent to their children.  And outside the city in the country many folks might also appreciate this freedom in the form living off the land like they do on Alaska the last Frontier. I remember multiple times a year while I was being raised living in a rural area, that the hunters took off school during hunting to fill their freezers for the winter, and farmers took off to harvest/etc during certain seasons.  

      A couple years ago, there was a program on tv where white folks traded places with black folks for a week or so. Some folks ideas were transformed through the experience, others ideas were not. How often or have our billionaires dressed down and walked through town and experienced what those who live there experience. I'd like to see Donald Trump leave his bank roll and home and go dressed down into the city, compete for a job and while there come up with some brillant ideas that would help America's inner city population. That would make some great reality tv but only after he began coming up with ideas on how to lift those who are lower. 

Rory's birthday 2015

It is that time of year again. Rory's birthday so we made cream cheese filled cupcakes which he loves.

Make a chocolate cake of your favorite (fresh or box-up to you)

Blend:
Take one bar of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1egg

Fill muffin cups 1/3 full of cake , 1/3 full of cream cheese, 1/3 full of cake
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
Enjoy!
**If you use a box cake mix avoid ones with pudding.

We are also having tacos, which everyone enjoys.
The princess was jumping rope today and tripped. She twisted and impacted her knee on the gym floor. She has an injured MCL. She was highly disappointed she won't be able to finish the basketball season. But, on the bright side she's decided she will cheer for her team. I am so glad she was able to find the cup is half full even in this situation. Her leg is taped up and she has crutches. We have to ice it up to 5 times a day and ibuprophen for times when the pain is intense.