POT O' Gold


     A long time ago there was a little girl, with sparkling brown eyes and a grin 
that lit up the room.  If I close my eyes I can still see her searching for her own 
pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow.  How special her search was and when she found 
the gold, her joy was wondrous.
     It has been a long time since I thought about this little girl.  I'd forgotten how 
much fun the search was for her.  She was about seven years old when she began the 
journey that would take her far and wide, drops of gold scattered along the path.
     The first seven years were the preparation years, the years that prepared her 
to go up and over the rainbow, to obtain great riches, riches that would make her 
wealthy all her life.  It was an exciting time, a time when she learned what was 
needed to obtain her goal, the gold that would only be for her.
     When it time to begin her journey, her mother took her by the hand, walked with 
her to the base of the rainbow, bent down to give her instructions, gave her a hug 
and stepped back to let her begin.
     If I close my eyes and look real hard, I can still see her in my mind's eye.  
Oh, just look at her.  Her little heart is pounding, the palms of her hands are wet 
with sweat and she's almost afraid to breathe.  She is so afraid that the powers that 
be will think she is not ready to find the gold.   She waits with bated breath for 
the keeper of the entrance to let her through.
     "Good morning, may I help you," quietly said the lady in the pretty blue dress.
     "Yes Please, I'd like to have a library card."
     The keeper of the entrance looked down at the little girl and spoke in that 
still quiet voice, "If you can write your name, your address, your birthday and 
your phone number on this card, a library card will be yours.  Can you do this?'
     Could it be so simple?  All she had to do was write her name, address, birthday 
and phone number on this little card and her journey could begin.  Her little hand 
took the pencil the lady handed her and filled out the information on the card.
      When she finished, she handed the card back to the nice lady.  It seemed like 
she waited ever so long.  Then the lady smiled and the little girl knew she passed 
the test to gain entrance.
     "Congraulations, you can check out three books today.  You have a temporary 
card right now and when you bring the books back, your very own library card will 
be ready.  You may keep the books for two weeks.  If you are late, there is a small 
fine," said the librarian.
     Can you imagine what it was like, being turned loose in the library for the 
first time?  The little girl thought it was magical.  Words, lots of words, like 
scattered gold dust, nuggets of information making up the hundreds of books.  The 
books were her end of the rainbow and she'd been waiting a long time to get to 
this time and place.
     She grew up, our little girl. Her love of the gold dust, and the nuggets of 
information in the books still thrill her.  It has been a long time, a very long 
time since that little girl with the sparkling brown eyes and a smile that lit up 
the room reached her destination.
     The riches of a lifetime have made her wealthy.  I know this to be so for 
that little girl with the sparkling brown eyes and the smile that lit up a room 
is known to me.  For you see, it was me.  I found my own pot o' gold and I'm rich 
beyond words.    
"Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that 
which is about us."
@--->---Chris---<---@
Momcma@aol.com

Let Chris know what you thought of her story!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just loved Chris's story.....  It brought out all the feelings that I have about 
the wonderful world of books.  It was at the library at the Clinton middle school 
where I picked up the book Forest Patrol.  It was a story about a young man and his 
adventures as a forest ranger by one of my favorite authors Jim Kjelgaard. I was 
hooked and began a life long love affair with reading.  (If anyone on this list has 
ever read a book by Jim Kjelgaard, I would love to hear from you!)  I read book after 
book in my study halls.  Even reading the same book 2-3 times in a year.  It was also 
at this age that I picked up a copy of The Sword of Shannara, by my all time favorite 
author (besides God) Terry Brooks.  It was an epic fantasy book along the lines of 
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books. (If you have read any of Terry Brook's 
books let me know also!)  Chris's story just brought back all those memories of 
reading as a young boy and the excitement that a library or bookstore gives me to 
this day.  I even have dreams about being places and finding these new books that 
I have never read before, only to be disappointed when I wake up and realize I was 
dreaming......  If you are not a reader, please, stretch your boundaries and find 
something that will interest you and experience the feeling of losing yourself in 
the pages of a great book.
  I myself have found that I have limited myself to three or four categories of 
reading.  1. My Bible
2. Epic Fantasy novels (Fantasy as in Elves, Trolls, Hobbits and such).  
(Or Frank Peretti who wrote: This Present Darkness - a great book that gives 
a fictional but biblical account of what goes on in the spiritual realm.  
Great reading!)
3. Outdoor adventures - fictional stories about wildlife, or the frontier.  
Mainly Jim Kjelgaard, Rutherford Montgomery, and James Oliver Curwood.)
4.  Christian authors, such as Max Lucado, James Dobson, Gary Smalley, etc.

I don't read many other books other than these limited categories.  I need to 
branch out a little bit, but hey, I'm happy!

I have also started collecting books by my boyhood author, Jim Kjelgaard.  
He died in the late 50's, and almost all of his 40 or so books are out of 
print.  I have collected most of them over the Internet now, and read them 
again as soon as they arrive.  Even those I have read 10 times before!  I 
would like Caleb and Connor to have the opportunity to read them when they 
get older too.  
Oh well, I am rambling on....... just wanted to share a bit about my love 
for reading and the memories that the above story brought to me.  Besides, 
a book by Jim Kjelgaard arrived in the mail yesterday, and I want to start 
reading it, as it is one I have never read before!
Now go read a good book yourself!
Michael

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUR HERO STORIES!

This is not your ordinary hero story.  I had mixed emotions about sending it out. 
No one should ever, ever have to go through something like this.  If you are in a 
situation like this, you can get help, and you need to get out.  Maybe things can 
be worked out later, but don't put yourself or your kids through the abuse.  
Attittudes were different two and three decades ago and I can't imagine going 
through what this mother and daughter did. 

Read on........

Dear Mom,
   You are my greatest hero.  Not because you always did what was right, but 
because you always did what you thought was best for us.  I will never forget 
finding out later on how you endured years of abuse from Dad and all the while 
hid it all from us in hopes of keeping a house together for your five children.  
I will never forget all the little things you did.  Making sure we had that 
easter dress or having hot cocoa wheats waiting for us when we came down for 
breakfast before you sent us off to school.  Sacrificing your own needs to 
send us to a bible camp or on an overseas exchange program.  I will never 
forget the final day when it all came to an end and I walked in on a beating 
you were taking.  How shocked I was to see you there bruised and battered beyond 
belief and all the while reading your bible.  I will never forget how you told 
me of falling asleep with your hands folded across your chest and being beaten 
for appearing to be praying.  And yet through it all your faith remained steadfast.  

In the final episode when you knew you had to leave I watched as you took control 
of your life and went on to nursing school and to a new relationship and a new life.
How proud I am of you.  Maybe the psychologist tell you never to stay together for 
the children now, but then it was different.  So,  you are not only my hero for 
what you went through for me but also for what you have become.  
    Love,
       Wendy
WEN1742@aol.com

Note from Wendy:
Dear Michael,
    I did much soul searching before I wrote my hero.  My mother trusted in God for 
20 years to get her out of the situation and he finally did.  She is to be commended 
for how she pulled herself out of Satans Pit through the Lord Help.  You know,  
Joseph also suffered great at the hands of those who were supposed to love him.  
I learned long ago that even when Joseph was thrown in that pit,  God already had 
a plan, that being the caravan to carry him off.  For Every pitfall of Satan, God 
ALWAYS has a caravan on the way.  My hope is that someone else might be able to 
read that and learn about Gods grace.
   Wendy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok everyone!  It is time to make this little girl feel special!

Read on:


	On Saturday my 12 year old daughter Jessica did something very wonderful
and I just have to take a minute to share it with all of you.  

	Jessica has to do an assignment for Texas History where she has to do
three hours of civic/community service.  All the kids have to do this and
then write a paper on why they chose to do this where ever they did it
at, what they did, what they learned, who they helped, etc.  

	Jessica decided she wanted to do her time at the visitor's center at the
National Seashore Visitor's Center.  The people there thought this was
great and were going to have her help the visitor's with maps, and she
was going to help with the beach walk/talk, etc.  

	About 30 minutes into her "job" there were some major things that
happened at the Park.  Since we are only about 10 miles from Baffin Bay,
where Hurricane Brett may hit, the Park was put on yellow alert. 
Visitor's were being told that at any moment it could upgrade to a red
alert and the Park would be evacuated.  This lasted about 10 minutes - a
Park Ranger came in and told us that the Park was being evacuated and
that we should start spreading the word.  

	One of the ladies in the concession stand had to go down to the beach to
tell the people who had rented umbrella's, chair's, etc., to bring them in
and leave the beach.  Jessica chose to go with her.  When they got down
to the beach there were only about 3 people with rental's and about 50
people on the beach.  Jessica went one way with the lady from the
concession and started telling all people and I went the other way.  I
told an elderly lady she would have to leave the Park immediately as the
Park was being evacuated and she was very upset and concerned.  He sister
had left her about 30 minutes before walking the other way, and she did
not know where she was.  When I met Jessica and the other lady in the
middle I told them about this.  We could see some people quite a ways
down the beach that no one had walked to.  We figured we would see if the
Ranger could drive down there.

	When Jessica talked to the elderly lady who was worried about her
elderly sister she never even hesitated.  She looked me right in the eye
and said "I'll be back."  And off she went.  I started to stop her, but I
knew that the only Ranger on duty was very busy and it would be quite
awhile before he could get down there, so I let her go.  
	Close to an hour later, her comes my precious baby girl.  Hot and
sweaty, with the biggest smile on her face I have seen in a long time. 
She not only found the lady she was looking for and sent her back to her
sister, she walked/ran almost two miles past this lady telling everyone
she could see that the beach was being evacuated, due to the hurricane
and the rising water.
	On our way home I asked her what she was going to say about her
civic/community service project in her report, and she was devastated. 
She said, mom I will have to redo it next weekend because I didn't work
three hours, only about 30 minutes.  She had no idea that what she had
just done was a major civic/community service.  Now she can't wait to
write her report.  I am sure she will be the only one in her class with a
"real" story to tell.
	She is so proud of herself for finding the "sister" she is beside
herself.  And of course I am SOOOOOO proud of her I just had to share.  I
would like to ask a favor of all of you - if it's not too much trouble
would any of you be willing to send her an e-mail note to give her a pat
on the back?  She can't know that I asked this of all of you to write,
just that I told her story.  Her address is dragonfly51@juno.com.

Thanks,
LeAnne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

REQUEST
From a reader.....

I'm up because I cannot sleep.  We have a couple of family situations that are 
tearing us apart.

Your children are still your children no matter how old they are.

Our son-in-law has a bait and tackle shop.  At 1:50 a.m. on Tuesday morning the 
shop was raided and they found a meth lab in a locked room.  Our daughter had 
stopped by there earlier and so they think she knew what he was doing.  She is 
not involved with the shop in any way, has never been and does not have her 
name on any of the papers.  She works with special needs children in a group 
home and as a sub in the school system.  We have 3 grandsons, 18, 16, and 11.  
The oldest one tells us that there have been a lot of arguments in the past 
months and that they have not been sleeping together for quite some time.  
Bob is gone a lot at night and Kari thought he had a girl friend.

She has been jailed along with him.  She has told them repeatedly she 
knew nothing of this, he has told them that she knew nothing and it does 
not seem to matter.  She is quite distraught, can't keep any food down, 
says she can't stand it over and over and doesn't understand why she is 
being held.  She is in a lot of physical and mental pain and we are so 
worried that she will try and take her life.  

We have been praying without ceasing, am trying to put her in God's hands 
and let Him care for her.  We are encouraging her to do the same.  The 
problem is that I keep wanting to take it back and handle it and I know 
that I'm not trusting the One who loves her the most.

We were called home on Friday night by My Bob's Mother.  They have 
found 5 new tumors in Dad Huddle's brain.  They did radiation the 
last time, and chemo for the ones in his liver and lungs.  They cannot 
do the radiation again, we will find out Tuesday if they will do a stepped 
up version of chemo.  

Our plate is full and we need prayer.  
Chris
Momcma@aol.com


No Story At All
(Momcma)

     No funny story, no serious story , no happy story, no sad story, no story at all.  
There are times when we struggle with forgiveness.  The Good Book tells us many times 
and in many ways that forgiveness is a must and yet our family is suffering through 
some of the roughest days we've ever had to face.

     It is difficult to forgive someone who has wrecked havoc with those you love and 
when this someone has destroyed a reputation, a family, a home and a future, forgiveness 
is hard to come by.  When beloved grandchildren are involved, forgiveness for the one who
caused the grief is doubly hard.

     I know in my heart that I must forgive, that as I forgive, so shall I be 
forgiven.  Then why does it hurt so much?

     No funny story, no serious story , no happy story, no sad story, no story at all.  

  
    
"Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is 
about us."

@--->---Chris---<---@




Thought For The Day:

"The superior person stands erect by bending above the fallen.  You rise by lifting others."

Verse for the Day:

"And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, 
be patient with all men."
1 Thessalonians 5:14

Kid's Thought for the day:

"You can't always be first."

Parent's Thought For The Day

"Children are God's apostles, day by day sent forth to preach of love and hope and peace."

Coach's Thought For The Day

"Hustle is:  doing something that everybody is absolutely certain cannot be done.  Earning 
a position because you learned it first, or stayed with it when everyone else gave up.  
Getting other players to say yes when they have already said no.  The sheer joy of winning.  
Heaven if you are a hustler, torture if you're not."


Deep Thought For The Day:

"When someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown, but only 4 muscles to extend your 
arm and whack them upside the head."