I hope it was fun...

Hi everyone,

As far as my title, I am referring to your Thanksgiving weekend.  Wherever you were, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving Day with family and/or friends.  My husband and I were with two of my daughters and their families and I so enjoyed myself.  Of course, we had turkey with all the trimmings, which was delicious.  My youngest daughter, Candy,  hosted our dinner and this year she decided she'd fix the entire meal on her own.  That was so nice of her and of course, I wouldn't have minded taking some dish for the meal. 

On Friday, I left for Ocean City, Md. for a girls weekend with my oldest daughter and six friends.  Although I couldn't do all the shopping they were doing, I enjoyed spending time by myself in our hotel room while they shopped.  Just being at the beach is very comforting for me.  So, thank you to my daughter Mari, Linda, Leanne, Lori, Grace, Judy and Isabel for a fun filled, few days for me.

Well, now it's time to start preparations for the Christmas Season.  Today I wrapped, in tissue paper, about forty hand crocheted scarves, which I made for a local nursing home.  I attached a Christmas card to the front of each and signed it, "A Friend!"  I also started wrapping some Christmas gifts for my family, plus I did two loads of laundry.  So, I guess I accomplished a few things today!  How about you?  I suppose most of you went back to work today.

Perhaps next week, I will start preparing some of my Christmas candy and/or cookies.  I definitely need to continue wrapping gifts.  I also plan on starting to address my handmade Christmas cards this week, but I won't mail them until about the 10th of December.  Do you all send Christmas cards out?
I believe Christmas cards are one of the few "greetings" that are mailed anymore.  So much of that type of thing (get well, birthday, anniversary and just "how are you" greetings) are mostly done electronically now.  That may be the way of the future, but it's not my way, it never has been and never will be.  I suppose I'm just old fashioned in that respect, and that's okay with me.

I hope you all have a good week.  Be safe always.
Susan

Hello everyone,

Happy Wednesday to all of you.  As you all know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day!  I want to take the time to wish every one of you a peaceful and grateful day tomorrow.  It is, of course, a day when many family members and friends get together to give thanks for all the good things in their lives.

I suppose I am wandering why we're all not "thankful" for those blessings, every single day of our lives.  Why is Thanksgiving Day, for many, the only day they actually stop and thank Our Lord?  I can't share often enough with all of you, how some years ago, I started living each and every day with Gratitude and Acceptance to God.  He has blessed me so much and I am thankful to Him for my every blessing.  My life now is, usually, filled with peace and contentment.  I can't thank God enough for giving this peace and contentment to me. 

Oh, there are times when I get a bit anxious, but those times don't occur very often any more.  Three weeks ago, I had surgery to have a new defibrillator/pacemaker implanted into my chest.  This is the third one of these I've had.  I've been pacer dependent to live, for over twenty four years now.  During this time, my anxieties kicked in and I was a bit of a mess, but I've gotten myself under control once again.  I know this was God helping me!  I prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day during the three o'clock hour.  He filled my heart and soul with His Divine Mercy and I finally got my strength, both physically and mentally, back once again.  Of course, the physical strength isn't much, but then it hasn't been for going on eleven years now.  But, I am not complaining, not at all!  I am thankful for the gift of life God has given to me.

I would like to take this time to wish each of you a very Thankful Thanksgiving Day tomorrow.  Enjoy your time with family and friends and take a few minutes to give thanks to Our Lord.  Without Him, we are nothing!
Susan

What do you see?

Hi friends,

This is a photograph of one of my seven Christmas Cactus plants.  I've had them for a very long time now and they mean so much to me.  Some times the Christmas Cactus plant only blooms once a year or not at all.  But, most of mine are different:  they bloom three times a year!  Once being right around Easter, another time is now, at Thanksgiving, and the third time is at Christmas time.  They don't like a lot of sunshine or heat and they like a nice cool, dark spot to grow.  This particular one sits on my sun porch, so this time of the year, it's usually cooler out there than the rest of the house.  I also have two more, which are in my living room, which are also blooming.  I have two sitting on each of my two front window sills, but the two that are blooming are further away from a light source.

As you look at this photo, what do you see?  I'll share what I see when looking at my three Christmas Cactus plants that are blooming.  I see not only beauty, but also peace and hope.  When I look closely at them, I have to smile, because they receive care and concern from me.  I suppose what I truly see is God in His glory!  What could be better then that?

  Now, what do you see when you look at this photograph?  The beauty of the sky, both in the morning as the sun is rising and in the evening as it is going down, mesmerizes me.  When I look at this photo I see God in all His glory.  He gave us all these beautiful things to stand and look at, but most people don't take the time to bother to see what's right in front of them. 

As human beings, we often get so wrapped up in our own problems and what's going on in our daily lives, that we complain about everything that's not going well for us.  So many don't ever appreciate what they have been given.  They always want and desire more:  more money, more fancy clothes and things, more fame, more love, more happiness, more of everything.  As for me, I have everything that I need, as long as God remains in my life and home. 

What we all need to do is to stop and see the beauty, peace and love, that God provides for us every single day of our lives.  Be thankful for what you have, and don't keep asking for more.  Practice gratitude and acceptance every single day of your life.  It's the only sure way to obtain peace and contentment within yourself. 

Have a great weekend.  Perhaps you'd enjoy going for a drive either at sunrise or sunset and look at God's beauty which is there almost every single day for us.  Be safe!
Susan

In all things, give thanks to God!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all are doing well.  I'm sorry I haven't been on my blog for a few days, but my recovery, after my device change out, has not been as quick or as easy as I'd have liked.  I suppose my age has a bit to do with that, also.  Today is the first day since the surgery, twelve days ago, that I haven't taken any pain killers.  Also, I actually ate most of what I normally eat for lunch today. 

I haven't had an appetite since before the surgery.  I would start eating something that I like, and after a few bites, I would feel sick in my stomach, or just not hungry anymore.  I've lost a couple of pounds because of this fact, but I'm sure when my appetite comes back, so will the pounds. 

I was not prepared for the amount of pain I was having and the long healing period.  This was my third defibrillator/pacemaker implant, but I never had this length of healing the other times.  When I went back to have the staples removed, the P.A. explained to me that after each device is removed, there is a great deal of scar tissue, which becomes hard.  Thus not allowing the doctor to be able to place the device in the same place. 

Before, the devices have always been down into my chest, so that if I laid my hand over the device, I could feet it, but it didn't stick up out of my chest.  This one does, and it's quite a bit.  This will take some getting used to for me.  At least the pain, swelling, redness and heat that was present up until yesterday morning, is now mostly gone.  What disturbed me most, was that I was so emotional about  everything.  I'm not used to crying over nothing, but for the past ten days, that's what was happening.  Hopefully that too is gone now. 

I do give thanks to God for staying with me throughout this whole time.  His presence was so important to me.  But then I am confident that He is always with me!

I am so happy that I am not hearing all the political adds on TV anymore. I was so fed up with them.  I am not real happy with the results of the election, but we need to move on with our lives and pray that God will protect the USA, as well as, the entire world.  No matter who is our president or ruler, God is in charge of us all! 

I hope you have a good Monday, as most of you are probably at work.  Try to find some joy in whatever job you have and be thankful that you do have a job.  Enjoy your families and friends and give thanks for everything that you do have in your life.  Remember that tomorrow your entire life could change, either due to illness, death, loss of job or many other things.  Don't take life for granted because in the blink of an eye, your life could end, or change entirely.  Believe me because I know this is true.  Practice gratitude and acceptance every single day.  It's the only way to achieve perfect happiness because material things and money will never bring true happiness. 

Be safe and may God bless each of you as He has me, all my life.
Susan
PS:  Check out my newest novel, "Returning Home" here on my blog and at www.amazon.com.

Will there ever be peace in this country?

Hi folks,

How's your week been going?  I hope a bit better than mine, but I'm not complaining as some good things have occurred.  Since I had surgery last Thursday, each day has gotten a bit better.  I'm not so sore anymore, but I still have some pain.  Tomorrow I go to have the staples removed.  Maybe then some of the pain will subside.  At least I hope so.

I have been so sick of all the commercials regarding the Presidential race for the last couple of months.  The closer it got, the worse they became.  I have never understood why a person has to put down another person in order to be elected to anything!  If you are an honest, good person, with some good plans for whatever office you're running for, shouldn't you be able to win on your own good attributes?  Apparently not!

Now it's the violence that has erupted across the US since the election.  When does it all stop?  I admit I'm not real happy about the outcome of the election, but we need to move on now.  I haven't been on social media much the last two days because I can't stand all the negativity. 

On a brighter note, the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday Seasons are fast approaching.   That definitely excites me!  I truly love this time of year.  It should be a time when we give thanks for all the many blessings we've been given by God and also a great time of joy as we look forward to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  I can't believe that we're almost into the middle of November already.  How about you?  Do you share my love of these two seasons?  I sincerely hope so, because I believe that this may help to settle some of the unrest within our country. 

I hope your upcoming weekend is a wonderful one, filled with family gatherings and fun times for all of you.  Love each other because we never know how long our lives will last. 
Susan

Happy Saturday, folks.

Hi everyone,

This won't be a long blog tonight, as I'm not feeling too well.  I have a defibrillator with a built in pacemaker because I'm pacemaker dependent to live.  Thursday morning, I had to be at the hospital to have a new device implanted.  The procedure went well and for that, I'm so grateful.

Since I've had my device changed, I am having a good bit of pain in the left side of my upper chest and breast.  I'm very sore, bright red and black and blue in that area.  Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that this is a procedure that they can do, otherwise I'd be dead.

I haven't slept well for the past two nights, so I've been so tired all day.  This morning I woke up feeling nauseous.  That stayed with me until late this afternoon.  I'm thankful that it finally went away.  I'm used to sleeping ten hours each night, so I suppose it's a good thing that we gain an extra hour tonight.  Hooray!

I hope you all are having a great weekend and I wish each of you a happy Sunday.  Don't forget that Sunday is the Lord's Day, so take some time to give Him praise and thanks for all your blessings. 

Well, that's all for tonight, as I'm tired.  I'll post again very soon.  I'll accept any prayers you would like to offer up to God for me. 
Susan