A Brief Message

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE OUT THERE!!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have had quite the week as I look to put in close to a 60 hour work week and I have also been working on my course. Also, I have been doing my Christmas shopping. Amazingly I have not had to pass out from exhaustion yet ( HEE HEE).

Just A Lot Of Snow

Other than the pile of snow we have gotten here over the past week there is nothing really new to report. This is why I have not been writing very often here.

A Christmas Tale

Here is something my fiancee sent me.

>> An early Christmas tale.... In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone.The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries. Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either. nothing about it I scrubbed the kids until they looked brandnew and then put on my best homemade dress, loadedthem into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. No luck.The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever wouldlisten that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in t hat had been converted to a truck stop.It was called the Big Wheel. An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11at night until seven in the morning.She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could startthat night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for findingMommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar ofmy tip money-- fully half of what I averaged everynight. As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage. The tires on the old Chevy had the consistenc of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires. Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? Iwondered. I made a deal with the local service station.In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires. I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started prepairing for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon theywould be too far gone to repair. On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver's side door,crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans,sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes.There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, piefilling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and onebeautiful little doll. As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer: 1. "Yes!"2. "Not yet.3. "I have something better in mind."God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar. You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine. My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless, and I picked you. Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me. This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards

Nothing New

Just worked another weekend and am resting today. Also, nervously waiting for winter and already experiencing the colder weather up here. The sooner the snow stays away the better.

A Pittance of Time - Terry Kelly

YouTube - A Pittance of Time - Terry Kelly

A little something for Remembrance Day today.

Just Another Rant

A few nights ago I watched the Rick Mercer report as my finace moved into a new apartment minus cable and all she gets is the CBC. I got to see how bad CBC programming really is these days(Hockey Night In Canada excluded). Actually it wasn't the Mercer report that was awful but the other shows on primetime (although the political jokes got old real fast and I don't find Mercer very funny). One was After Mercer and Before the Tudors formerly known as This hour Has 22 Minutes which sucked and the Tudors which was unwatchable. All I have to say is thank goodness for DVD's.

An Almost Post

I wanted to post something here as I received it on my Facebook profile as it was on YouTube but for copyright reasons I can't anymore. Somehow, it doesn't surprise me at all. It was a motivational speech given by a cancer patient on Oprah who basically says live for today. So true, so true.

Cold And Windy

Spending a quiet day here at home today as I have the day off after working the weekend. I would have gone for a hike accept it is cold and windy out. But as I have said a few times before it is nice to do nothing once in a while. Besides with winter being around the corner I better get used to the indoors.

An Untitled Rant

Not much new here but i am beginning my program in November so we will have to see how it goes. Also, this cold weather is starting get to me and means only one thing. That winter is around the corner.

Lazy Day Today

I got a chance to have a lazy day at home as I had the day off after working a six day week.. I got to catch up on some reading and work on a sermon for next month. Other than that I got to just hang out and relax. I could get used to this.

Briefly....Some News

I have spent the past weekend at work and got some much needed help from the Lord as He helped me combat some stress I was having. I'm also hoping to be starting an accounting program that I will be taking through Ontario Learn and the first course I'm taking is to start next month. Other than that there is not much going on.

Thanksgiving

A late Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I had a great weekend as we got to go home and have a turkey dinner with family and hang out with them. Also, I got to enjoy the hot weather and Monday which needless to say was shortlived as things are now what they should be weatherwise. I'm thankful all went well.

Indian Summer

There is not much going on right now in my life but I'm going back home this weekend for Thanksgiving and in enjoying this nice weather outside as I have been walking some of the trials in this area. Hooray for this Indian Summer!!

Weekend Recap

I got to check the new Walmart Superstore in Bracebridge with my finance yesterday. I have to say there are a lot of good things in it and it is big and I mean BIG. It is larger than some of the Walmart's I've been to in the GTA. We also went to a show on Saturday night called Canada Rocks which a musical by a troupe that sings Canadian rock songs throughout the whole show. I enjoyed it and it is my finance's way of introducing me to musicals. I just hope there is no High School Musical or Grease in our future. I got to relax as well and am enjoy having days off for a change.

Invictus

Here is an old poem by William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me.
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

I am the master of my love
I am the captain of my soul.

New Interest

I got a book when I was back home last weekend containing my family tree. Apparently, my ancestors on my father's side of the family arrived in North America in 1820 where they settled in Lanark County which is now located in Eastern Ontario near Ottawa. This is just the tip of the iceberg as I still wil like to do more reaseach on the matter and find out more about my ancestors. This hopefully will be something to keep me occupied.

Untitled

I got to go back home for a few days which was very nice. It was great to see the family and to actually have a weekend off for a change. I also had yesterday off and did next to nothing which nice to do once in a while. I go back to work but by the looks of things it will be a pretty easy week for me.

Nothing New But I'm Still Standing

I finally have some time to make an entry in this blog. Last month was chaotic work wise. Come to think of it the whole summer was. Anyways, I have the day off and I'm going to chill and get caught up on a few things. I hope to make more entries in the future and get this going once again.

Very Brief Update

There is not much going on right now as I have been very busy with work among other things. I hope to able to post more often in the future. For now there's not much.