My Poor Sunny

Sunny is my three year old kitty and he's fighting a bad eye infection.  Poor baby.
Today the vet told us we need to put drops in his eye EVERY HOUR during
waking hours. Honestly - that's what we have to do and I feel bad for him.
The poor thing just gets to sleep and we're disturbing him again.
They say this infection can't be caught by us humans, but will take a long time to heal.
Here's praying the meds work quick and his swollen, sore eye will heal in record time.
Thanks for listening to this pet lover and her kitty.  :)

Christ or Easter Bunnies?

I know it's fun to hide eggs and let the little ones hunt for them, but are we sending them a mixed message? 
I think so. 
I've taught Jr. Church and Children Sunday Schools for years.  Sometimes I only get kids once maybe twice a year, usually on Easter.  When I ask the question - What is Easter all about?  The usual answer shouted out is - The Easter bunny. 
Easter is so very much more. 
In fact, it is the sum of all we believe in because if Christ really didn't die for our sins, be buried, rose again the third day, and is seated in the heavenlies until His future return - then our faith is indeed in vain. 
Personally - I believe it's all true with every bit of my heart.
If you're intent on doing the egg hunting, then also take the time to tell them the true story of Christ on the cross and how very much He loves each and everyone of us.
Have a blessed and safe Christ-centered Easter weekend.

Isn't April Beautiful?

Spring is here! Yah! Trees are budding AND it's almost time
for me to work on my rock garden. Yup - that's right, my rock
garden. You have to time this stuff just right - other wise those
rocks can get too cold and then where will I be?!!
My rocks are special to me, for they represent places I've lived
or visited over the years. (I even smuggled one out of the
Grand Canyon, but please don't tell anyone! We don't want the
canyon carted away one rock at a time!)
Another thing I like about rocks is - they're cheap. I mean - -
how much cheaper can you get - than FREE? Although, I have
purchased a couple from a rock shop near Mammouth Cave.
But the greatest thing? My wonderful husband - who willingly
carts my rocks from hither and yond AND whenever we move.
He's quite a guy and I thank the Lord for him everyday; not to
mention the fact that the end of this beautiful month of April
we will be celebrating our 39th Wedding Anniversary.
Since we'll be celebrating it at The Shack B & B near White Cloud
I wonder if I should take a hike while there and find a rock to
commemorate?

Are You Ready for Christmas?

I am. This year is going to be a first for us. Tom is the Pastor
of a small country church and since Christmas falls on Sunday
this year, only 5 or 6 people will be attending service. So - - -
we've moved it to our home, which is conveniently located right
next door to the church. :)
I'm excited about this. I even bought a birthday cake for
Jesus and plan to not only sing Happy Birthday to Him, but
also will sing a special in our service.
So, what will you be doing Christmas Day?
It's curious to me that CHRISTmas is about Christ and yet,
when it actually falls on Sunday - few are planning to be there.
Something to think about, huh?
Anyway - Merry Christmas - AND - Have a Safe, Happy New Year.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!! YAH!!

Out of the Mire arrived today and is now available!
The orders come directly to me. I sign them and
mail them out.
This is the third in the Whirlwind series. Follow
Det. Quaid Williams and Abigail Turner as their
love blossoms. But then - Abigail is kidnapped and
Quaid needs to find her location before his love is
taken from him forever!

Get your signed copy while I still have some on hand!

Just What Is My Kitten's Name?

This is our baby - Mick Dundee. He's quite orange with very unique

tiger stripes all over his body. The other day, we took him to the mobile

veterinarian to be "fixed". When I went to get him later, Mick came with a birth

announcement, stated "It's a Girl!" Tom and I either need new

glasses or an anatomy refresher course! I felt terrible that for two months

I've been calling this sweet, dainty little girl a "HE". Do you think there

could be residual mental issues for her? :)

This is our sweet baby girl, Mick. After finding out, he was a she, I

entertained changing her name to something more feminine but sounding

close to Mick. I came up with Nikki. The problem? I keep forgetting

to call her by the new name, so since there are female Mickey's in this

world, I'm going to stick with the name she has. Besides, notice the "M"

on her forehead? What else can I say?

By the way, this is our older cat, Sunny who is 1 1/2 yrs old now. If you

notice, he too has the "M" on his forehead. Does that mean I should

change his name to something that starts with that letter?

A little bizarre, don't you think?

Michigan Author Expo

Hey you Michiganders. Saturday, Oct. 15th I'll be at the Lakeview Library
in Lakeview, Michigan with 15 other Michigan authors. I'm excited!

It will be nice to meet other authors from all types of genres, AND, we will
be all selling our books. There will also be drawings and someone will
win one of all of our books! What fun!

Hope to see some of you Michigan people there from 10 - Noon.

Stop in and say - HI to me.

My Mistake!

I need to correct something I wrote in my last blog. Accordingly to the

special last night on NBC re:9/11 - Tom Brokaw said that 343 firefighters

died that day! I was way off and it's important enough to correct it.

The program last night lasted two hours and was very, very good.

Parts of it brought tears.

May we never forget!

September 11, 2001

I think one of the main things I constantly hear, is that people remember

exactly what they were doing when the news broke about the first jet

flying into the Twin Tower.

Tom and I were eating breakfast, when our daughter Rhonda called telling

us to turn on the TV. We were shocked at what we saw, and then . . . within

minutes of turning it on, we saw another jet headed for the other tower!

I can't accurately describe what we felt while watching that jet blow into

the tower and then seeing bodies and flames shooting out of the other side.

Like everyone else says - this is something I will never forget!!

Nor should we!!!

Thousands died and I still hear Tom's words stating, "While everyone is

trying to get out of those buildings, the firefighters and EMT's are trying

to go up!"

I don't know the exact number, but of the thousands who died, over 100

of them were purposely running INTO those buildings to see if they

could somehow help!

The last few days I've been doing searches on the internet. I wanted to

look at photos of those four sites and what happened - The Twin Towers,

the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania.

May we all take a moment to remember the Fallen and the loved ones

left behind to pick up their lives and continue on.

At the beginning of this blog, I posted a photo. May it be a comfort to

all of us that Jesus was right there with all the people. We don't know

why He allowed it to happen, but we can take great comfort in the fact

that He is still in control and that nothing takes Him by surprise - - even

evil people who want to do us harm.

MY BIG CRUSHES!

My daughter-in-law tossed out a new game topic and I've decided to join in.

I'm not the best with the photos and these will be smaller than most, so

please bear with me. I will name my "crushes" from when I was youngest

on up, but don't ask me for years - I can't tell you.

First of all, I remember having a big crush on Davy Jones, the lead singer

with a British group called the Monkees. Many of our local bands modeled

themselves off of his and the Beatles hairstyles. I thought he was the "cat's

meow" (A phrase from my day. :)

The next two came on the scene close to the same time - Pernell Roberts

(played the oldest son on Bonanza) and Lee Majors (who debuted on the

series Big Valley as the youngest son). While most of my friends were

enamored with "Little Joe", my eyes were stuck on Adam. I even liked

the way he walked! Lee Majors went on to play the Six Million Dollar man.

It was mainly his eyes that caught my attention.

Interesting enough, when my hubby Tom and I were dating, occasionally

he was mistaken for Lee Majors. I guess I've always been a sucker for

handsome, dark haired men. Which is why I've included an earlier photo

of Tom with my group of crushes!

The next one on my list was there for many years - the one and only - Elvis.

I know, I know you younger gals are saying - the one with the rotating hips

and slicked back hair? Don't get me wrong - I was never a groupie wanting

his sweaty hanky, but there sure was something sexy about the man!

Unfortunately, his fame got away from him. Even as a married woman with

two young children, I cried when I heard that he'd died.

What a sad way to go. He was only in his mid-forties, but he looked awful!

Even though there are a couple I'd like to repeat from Gretchen's blog -

like George Clooney and Brad Pitt - (I may be older, but my eyes still work

and I'm not dead yet!) - the last one I want to mention is Mel Gibson.

I know lately he's not been getting good press, but you all have to admit

that in his younger years he was a very good looking man! He still is -

but wear and tear are taking their toll!

Well, that's my list. It's been fun playing along. I'm sorry the

photos are at the beginning, but I'm still a rookie when it comes

to adding photos to my blog.

Thanks for letting me play.

MEMAW & SKYPING

Who ever invented skyping - I thank you! My name is Memaw.
At least to my four wonderful grandkids, anyway. My actually
name is Pam Bush.
I got married when I was 18, had our first child, Rhonda Kaye
at the age of 19 and our son Paul, at 20. Of course, I assumed
they'd follow in my footsteps by marrying early and providing
me with grandkids while I was still young. I had visions of competing
with Tammy Wynette. Not!!! Would you believe our two kids
waited until they were pushing 30 before getting married? By
then, one was living in KY; the other in IN; with me in Michigan.
I do have to give them credit though, they did start providing us
with grandkids quite quickly. I think Rhonda & Gretchen's
biological clocks were ticking overtime! Within five years we had
four grandkids; now ranging from 6 to 4.
That's were skyping comes in! My hubby, Tom & I love, love, love
sitting in front of our camera talking live to our grandkids! It's
such fun and helps us feel more a part of their lives with so many
miles separating us.
So those of you who are grandparents and aren't skyping yet . . .
give it a try. I promise you'll love it as much as we do!

My Favorite TV Shows

Okay I'm game. My two favoritest shows are - The Mentalist - this guy is a police profiler. Sometimes he's unorthodox but he's always creative and entertaining. I like the back and forth with the detectives. Also, did you ever watch the commercials with the two guys and their tv? The one was an idiot and the other was serious? Well, he's one of the detectives on this show and I think he's great! :) Castle - Do I really need to explain this one? He's a writer learning how to be a better one by trailing behind the detectives. I also like the relationship he has with his teen daughter, plus his Mom is played by Susan Sullivan. She's quirky and funny. I used to be addicted - yes - addicted - to American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, and other reality shows, but like my daughter-in-love, Gretchen, I OD'd on them and lost interest. Wipeout - This show is too funny! People are absolutely hilarious on this! I also like the two John's who emcee it. So, there you have it! Mainly what we do now is Netflix. I've saved my hubby tons of money by streamlining to our computer or getting them in the mail vs renting for $3 - $4 for one night in this area.

ONLINE INTERVIEW

I'm excited to report that March 16th & 17th you can hear
an online interview at http://TheChristianAuthorShow.com
The interview will loop throughout those two days and I hope
you will give a listen in.
Tell your friends, too! This is a first for me. I'm not sure
myself how it will sound.
We never think our voice is right when we here it from a
different source - do we?
Come join the fun!

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I may have some Irish in me, but I still don't
believe in luck, the little leprechauns, or
pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.
What I do believe in is my Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Christ has made all the
difference in my life and I thank Him all
the time! He's always with me, which is
a huge comfort during times of frustrations.
So, even though I thoroughly enjoy watching
the oldie - Darby O'Gil and the Little People,
more importantly, I have a true faith and
trust in what's real - the birth of God's Son,
Jesus Christ, who was crucified for all our sins,
was buried and rose again on the third day
and is alive and well in heaven above.
Thank you, Jesus.

OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSugcrsjXRc&feature=player_embedded
This so impressed and moved me
that I wanted to share it here.

MICHIGAN BLIZZARD 2011

This is what it looked like after Tom

pushed the snow away from the porch

with the back door, shoveled his way to

the garage and got out the snowblower.

Today the sun is shining beautifully and everything looks so white and clean!

BUT, this morn the temp was

-10 degrees. Although now it's all the

way up to 26 degrees.

I don't know about you but I do love

the winters in Michigan.

Of course - I'm not the one out there

doing the work either, am I!?! :)

THANKSGIVING

Even though I have a winter scene on my website, I don't want to overlook
Thanksgiving. The stores and world already do that too much!
Thanksgiving is a time for us to all pause and reflect over our last
year and take a few precious moments to be thankful for all the
things the Lord has done for us over the year. I'm extremely
thankful for my loved ones, especially my best friend - my husband
Tom. He was recently away from me a full week and I've come to
the conclusion that the older I get the less I like being separated from
him. I know - I know, some of you are saying right now - what a baby!
Get a life! What's a week?
It seemed like a really long time to me AND it has given me a greater
appreciate and sympathy for all those widows/widowers out there who
have lost their loved ones.
Thank you Lord Jesus for all the special, wonderful times you allow
Tom and I to have together.

FIRST DAY OF FALL

So much for keeping current with my posts! Man - I can't believe it's

already nearing the end of Sept and my last post was the 5th! The

good news is that the last couple days have been beautiful, with the

sun shining and windows open. Fall is my favorite time of the year.

I love the maple trees turning, caramel apples, and candy corn -

especially the ones with the chocolate. :) I'd like to hear what some

of you like about Fall - or maybe don't like. Let me know.

September Newsletter

Hi Everyone,
I've not been consistant about posting info on this
website, but plan to change that in the future. In this day and
age, it's too easy to lose our priorities and the unimportant
suddenly seems to be so important. Keeping contact with all
of you got lost in the shuffle and I'm sorry. Back when we
were foreign missionaries in South America, we saw the
importance of maintaining monthly contact with our family
and friends.
So, that is now one of my new priorities - to keep this website
up to date.
Hopefully with interesting and humorous parts too. :)

Are We Thankful Even When It's Difficult?

This past Saturday, Tom & I drove 3 hrs round trip to attend a
booksigning at Horizon Books in Cadillac, Michigan. My signing
ran from noon until 3 p.m. and during that time I sold three, yes,
three books. As we headed our car south toward home, we talked
about how those three sales didn't even cover our gas. Needless
to say I grew very thoughtful and a little discouraged the closer we
came to our home.
And, as you can see - it's now Monday morning and I'm still thinking
on it.
But, there's a difference now. Two things happened yesterday that
rearranged my thinking. One - I was reading one of Karen Kingsbury's
novels and it convicted me about not being thankful for EVERYTHING!
Instead of the poor me's - I should be thankful for the privilege to be
invited to bookstores for signings AND that this store was like a mini
Barnes & Nobles with the coffee shop. The mgr gave me a free caramel
machiatto latte! :)
Seriously thought, what an honor to be an author signing books! Who
would have thought that would ever happen to me.
The 2nd thing that happened was a movie we watched last night called
"Faith Like Potatoes". A lady from church brought it and said we needed
to watch it.
Now, I didn't particularly enjoy the first part of the movie, but hung in
there. Then the Lord caught my attention and even though, I'm still
wrestling with some of the movie, the Lord used it to further chastise
me about my attitude and to stop looking at the book sales numbers.
Instead, I need to focus on the people and how I can touch them for
Him.
So, the Lord willing, on July 10th, we go to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for
another signing which is about an hours drive away. This time, I'm not
going to dwell on how many books I sell nor how much money I do or
don't make.
This time I'm going with a thankful heart to the Lord for the privilege
of being an author for Him and with excitement about who He will have
cross my path while I'm there.