My sister, the Fabgrandma, has another blog that I write on sometimes too. The blog site is: Jogging in Turtle Time and each day has a theme that you write your blog about for that particular day. I am coping my blog and posting it here as well.....So here is my What if Wednesday Blog:

What if you had terminal illness...
I decided to blog on this subject today because the theme for the day seemed to fit. We had a little guy that worked with us here at ACE last summer, Mason. He was such a nice young man. Always polite, courteous and kind. He is the son of a teacher I had at Lithia Springs High School, Gerald Harper. Gerald and his wife had Mason and his sister later in life. I'm sure Gerald is close to 56 or so.

Mason had been diagnosed with terminal cancer (I'm not really sure what kind he had so I'm not going to guess here; if I find out for sure, I will post it in a comment)a few years back and last summer he had a relapse. He has been in both Dallas, Texas & Orlando, Florida Cancer centers. He and his Dad came home a few weeks ago from Dallas where the doctors had told them there was nothing else they could do.

So, my what if? for today is: What if you were 20 years old, with your whole life ahead of you and you were told that there is nothing else that could be done? Would you hold close the friends and family who have always been there for you? Would you spend what little time you had left making sure that those people knew how much you loved and appreciated all of the love, care & sacrifices that have been made on your behalf to have a comfortable and peaceful journey into the unknown? or would you be mad at God and everyone around you because they were going to live and you were not! Mmmmm, tough place to be.

James Mason Harper passed away today. He was twenty years old and had his whole life ahead of him only to be snatched like a thief in the night by the terrible, horrible cancer that lived in his body. From what I understand, Mason was mad. He was mad at everyone and everything that represented life. I had heard through some of his friends that they didn't think he was saved. I can only hope that Mason and Jesus were the only two that knew the answer to that. I will be praying for the Harper's and their loss of such an amazing young man.....I will also be praying that in the end, Mason was able to take the hand of his precious Lord and Savior for his journey home.

In Memory of James Mason Harper: September 7, 1988 - March 25, 2009

Annual DCCS Spring Concert 2009

One of the things I so dearly love to do is sing. Back in June of 2003, I auditioned and landed a spot in one of Douglas Counties finest Community Chorus, Douglas County Chamber Singers. I sing Tenor I for all that have a knowledge of SATB in the choral world. Over the past 5 seasons I have sang with the Chorus, many of the songs have moved me, but none like one of the pieces we are singing this Spring: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Mack Wilberg arrangement).

Wikipedia describes this piece the following way:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is a Christian hymn composed by the 18th century Methodist pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. The hymn is set to an American folk tune known as Nettleton, by attribution to the evangelist Asahel Nettleton who composed it early in the nineteenth century.[1] Robinson penned the words at age 22 in the year 1757[2]. The words of the hymn are in the public domain. The song has gained a degree of popularity in recent years, in large part due to an arrangement by Mack Wilberg, which appears at the end of the BYU Choirs concert "A Thanksgiving of American Folk Hymns," recorded in April 1994, which is rebroadcast annually by hundreds of PBS affiliates.

I have posted a link to the BYU rendition for your listening pleasure. I might add that we don't have as many members in our group as BYU, nor do we have a full Orchestra, but we do have an awesome Director and an even more profound young Accompanist. It is an awesome piece. The words to the revised version are:

1. Come Thou Fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of God's unchanging love.

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I'm come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let that grace now like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander,

Lord, I feel it,Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

It serves as a reminder to me that I am covered by the

Blood of my Precious Savior, Jesus Christ and I am

Eternally Grateful for the opportunity to do what I

love to do & that He has given me a voice to Sing

His Praises.

Show Me Your Fridge & Pantry

I haven't clicked anything out in a while so at the urging of my sister, the FabGrandma, I had to step up to her latest challenge...show me your Refridgerator & Pantry. So here are some pics of my cupboards and my pool Fridge (the one that keeps the wet bathing suites outside during the hot summer days):

Liquor & Overstock area / Outside of Food Pantry

Inside Food Pantry / Spice Cabinet

Miscellaneous Cabinet / Pool Fridge on back porch

Inside Pool Fridge - everything you need for

hot summer days.................

......my house is your house ;)

My Sister the FabGrandma

My sister has started selling her wares on a web-site called Etsy. You can view all of the trendy things she has made on her page at Etsy. I especially like the Wait Book she made. If I had Grandchildren, which I don't, I'd buy them. I personally think she should try to find someone that would be willing to mass produce the Wait Book and sell them everywhere. I think it is just the neatest thing I have seen for small children. Here's a pic of it:

Swing on by her site, she has other things for sale as well. Perhaps you need a homemade apron or some beaded jewelry. She used to make the beaded necklaces when we were kids, but nothing like she is making now. Tell her Linda sent you ;)

The one thing I like about Fall is all of the beautiful colors that God puts on his canvas. Our peak Fall color was here last week, the 2nd week of November. I can’t remember when the trees and shrubs have been as beautiful as they have been this year. Perhaps it is due to our drought situation here in the South, but everything has just been stunning. The oranges, reds and golden yellows have been so vivid, it’s just hard to describe their beauty. Here are a few pics of some of the trees right here in my own yard:

stages of color

The one thing I don’t like about Fall is all the leaves that fall down after they have put all their beauty on display. It’s as if they just peak their color and then immediately terminate themselves from the branches from where they have hung all summer long. The bare branches will provide a better view of things that have been masked all Summer by their ever gently rustling in the hot breezes that are now just a memory.

I love all the Seasons, but I have to say that this Fall has been the prettiest we have ever seen. I’m just a little scared of what Winter will be like as we have had an abundant crop of the biggest acorns I have ever seen. I raked up just a very small area in the back yard, about 8 square feet, and was able to fill a 5 gallon bucket to over flowing. I didn’t make a dent in the acorns. Even the Squirrels and Chipmunks can’t keep up with the supply that covers the ground. I’ve always heard that when we have acorns like this, we are going to have a rough Winter….we’ll see. I’ll get back to you on this one.

Ear Candling

Have you ever heard of ear candling? Well, I had not either until about a month ago when my girlfriends and I were at a North Georgia Mountain Spa retreat weekend trip. One of the girls was talking about how she had to take her ear candling equipment with her every year on their “family” vacation. What in the heck is ear candling, I asked. Donna proceeded to explain to us what is involved.

First, the person lays down on their side and a long, hollow candle made of cloth dipped in bees wax is lit on the large end. You put your finger over the hole on the small end until the smoke is drawn down the candle then you stick the candle through a hole in a paper plate or tin plate, then into the persons ear.

Donna lighting the candle.

Linda's ear gunk!

As the candle burns down, trim off the burnt end and extinguish in a bowl of water. Gently massage the persons sinus cavities as the candle is burning. Once the candle burns down to about 5 inches long or so, take the candle out of the ear and extinguish in the bowl of water. Then you proceed to unroll what is left of the candle. As you unroll the candle, you will see some powdery substance and some honey colored ear wax. You might even get a big hunk of “gunk” out like I did when I did my husband’s ears.

Alan's ear gunk!

It sounds weird I know, but you will be surprised at what you get out. It’s just amazing. My girlfriends and I had one of our outings at Donna’s house and she did each of ears. Once she finished with ours, I candled hers. I didn’t have much “gunk” at all, in fact none of the girls had a lot. I was able to find the ear candles at my local health food store and I used just an ordinary paper plate for the shield. I would suggest that if you are going to do this, that you have at least 3 people around…..just in case you were to set something on fire.

All in all, it was a neat experience. I have to say, my hearing has improved…I still only hear what I want to though. ;) Happy Candling!

Bunni the Hunter

One of the things that our little Bunni does, and does quite well I might add, is hunt. Last week she came across the wild rabbit that lives in the back yard. I was on the phone with one of my girlfriends and I noticed that Bunni was chasing the rabbit. Around and around they went. It was really funny to watch as the rabbit found various hiding spots just to have Bunni come along and pick up it's scent.

The last "pit stop" the rabbit made was underneath the camper. I was very surprised to see it stopped there with the "mighty hunter" so close by, but sometimes Bunni has to be right on top of something before she can smell it. Well, the next thing I know, here comes Bunni. She ran right past the rabbit and then did a one-eighty and off they both went behind the shop. The next thing I know, the rabbit is letting out this blood curlding squeal. I quickly hung up the phone, hollered for Stef's assistance in rescueing the rabbit and quickly ran to it's aid.

I'm sorry to say that Bunni had already made the rabbit victim number 4 on her list of varmits she is collecting on her resume. By the time I got to them, the rabbit was barely breathing, Bunni had her "jaws of life" around it's neck and fur was flying everywhere. I felt terrible, how could this sweet little loving dog do such a horrible, terrible thing to that sweet little innocent rabbit. Bunni had the rabbit's fur all over her mouth, in her eyes and the rabbit's blood was on her mouth and paws. I told Stef to take Bunni in and bathe her to make sure she wasn't hurt and I proceeded to take care of her trophy.

What I found out is that I didn't have the heart to even touch the rabbit so I called Alan and he came home and took care of it. I guess from now on, I'm going to have to make sure there aren't any little critters in the yard before I unleash Bunni. Along with the rabbit, she has two mini badgers (chipsters as we call them), one squirrel and one half of a baby squirrels tail. I'm nicknaming her "killer".