“The RoseBouquet”

Perhaps you get tuckered out just reading about my home reno projects? (Gulp! I just swallowed a desire to defend myself).

But if you want to know what goes on at my place when I’m home, this is the MAIN THING on most Saturdays. I know the seasons will change and then it will not be so possible. I spent a second Saturday on the stairwell project because a friend from the mission (WTM) agreed to come and help since he is tall and has long arms. I had hinted that I needed such a friend to help get the plaster out that I could not reach the previous Saturday.

Wayne Senger brought along his landlord, Jake, who had a weak arm from a recent accident, but they worked without complaining for about 2 and a half hours.

The plaster came out and when I asked about the slats they tackled that too! God bless them!

Wayne had worked a night shift at a warehouse and by 3:30 he really needed to go home to rest, but fortunately I could reach the lower slats that were left, and then I had to do the clean up. If this peaks your interest, I’ve added a few photos to last week’s photo story page; Stairwell-plaster-out!

After Ernie’s visit, I’ll be away at a genealogy workshop the next weekend, so it will be mid-February before I get back to my reno projects. I like to think that I may get the worst of the dirty jobs done by the end of March.

Yesterday a number of things came to a head at the office.

1. The data recovery I’d started for our Director here at WTM on Friday, finally finished. We had to put the hard drive from his bad laptop into my laptop (which often crashes), and then using a Knoppix CD, I was able to upload the files he wanted saved to one of my websites. From there I downloaded it to my main desktop computer. Tomorrow we will format and load his new laptop and add his old files that I recovered. Jondalar had already worked on this for two weeks, so this is quite a victory.

2. I got this next issue of Reflections ready to print, including some last minute corrections. This is the quarterly newsletter of which I am the layout editor and key writer.

3. In the morning I discovered that Ginny Dye has stopped - ended - MyPowerMall. I saw a video last week in which she hinted at this, so I wasn’t totally wiped off my feet, but I had been working on a new site that would drive a lot of traffic to MPM and that is now stopped in its tracks too. I should be able to shift gears, but I’m glad I haven’t lost more than a couple of months work on that. It was foundational though, to a huge dream I had of helping non-profits. I guess lots of people signed up but only a handful were really shopping online through the mall.

This means I’ll have to go through a lot of my sites to remove those MPM links. Hopefully I can find something else to replace them so I don’t have to go through those motions twice.

4. Last week I’d received a letter from Betty, a client, whose prolife website I was hosting. They had moved as a family to follow her husband to a new job. They are in a place in Mississippi where she can’t get phone or internet access. Her domain had gone down for lack of registration renewal. Since I couldn’t reach her any other way, I wrote to her, and yesterday she got to a phone and called me. We worked out a plan whereby I would register a similar domain name, and set up what I have as a backup to her site. I managed to get that done yesterday yet. The site still needs fine-tuning as some of the links don’t work, but if you had been looking for or linking to http://children-of-the-heart.net you need to change that now to http://Children-of-the-Heart.com (one that had not been available to her a few years ago when she first started her site).

Here’s a chance for you to give me your opinion or recommendation. In checking to see if there are any other sites with a shopping rewards program similar to MyPowerMall, I’m discovering that there are quite a few out there!

Just today I’ve been looking at BigCrumbs.com, Ebates.com and UPromise.com. All are free to join. Some have more stores, and some have less. BigCrumbs allows those who have a store on eBay to list it and thus get traffic to their own store. It also has an active forum and it appears that the users are enthusiastic about it. If they are all free it may not hurt to sign up for each of them.

However, it occurs to me that there may be still others out there, and I should do further research. So rather than me offering you tips and solutions today, I’m asking YOU to let me know what methods you recommend for great deals and frugal shopping online. I might just sign up under you. - and provide a link here next week.

King Solomon started out so nobly with such a fine request when God said, “Ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” He asked for wisdom to be a wise ruler. God was so pleased with that request He gave him wealth and fame and honour besides.

However, as often happens when we ride on the air stream of success, we soon take some mis-steps and end up tumbling into the gutter.

In Solomon’s case, he had a weakness for women. As he conquered the foreign kings around Israel, he usually worked into the deal, besides the heavy taxes he charged them, that he should get one or more of their princesses to marry.

I Kings 11:3 tells us that he had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. That’s a lot of women friends to love! (Or don’t wives count as friends?)

As he grew older they begged for altars and temples to their own gods and he yielded to them. This led not only Solomon but many Israelites away from worshiping the one true God. The Lord became angry at Solomon for this and promised to wrest the kingdom away from his son.

You can have too many friends, at least if they are of the kind that will lead you astray from God.

Some people have a great need to be liked, so they are friendly and outgoing and get excited whenever they make a new acquaintance who seems to admire them.

Yet such of us are in a unique danger of being misled by these new friends, if we do not have the moral stamina to stand by our convictions. Knowing this, it is better to limit our friendships to those few individuals that we know will not lead us astray but will strengthen our faith in God and us in our walk with Him.

Ultimately, making the Lord our Best Friend, and giving Him quality time to teach us through His Word and His Holy Spirit is the best safe-guard to keep us from going astray. If we know we are weak and easily swayed, we can give ourselves extra protection by avoiding time spent with those that disregard our Best Friend, the Lord Jesus. Let our motto be: I’ll be polite to everyone, but I’ll only associate informally with friends of my Best Friend, Jesus.

Leave the friendship evangelism to those who are stronger in faith and practice, or seek to grow and become more mature first yourself.

On Saturday I was determined to break down and carry out all that old-fashioned plaster in the walls of my stairwell to the basement. My brother Ernie is coming from Winnipeg the first Saturday of February, and I’m hoping he’ll help me nail paneling into that stairwell. I want to have the messy clouds of dust cleared up by then.

Well, it was seriously dusty, dirty work. I carried out about ten pails of broken plaster pieces and dumped on the ground behind my car, hoping it will work like gravel there, and keep the grass from growing in my parking spot.

However, I didn’t get a chance to try backing out over that stuff because it snowed and snowed all day Saturday and Sunday morning, though I spent more than half an hour digging out my garden path to the car, I decided that it was probably wiser to stay home. No need to put myself or others in danger of an accident. Traffic was moving, I could see, on 22nd Street, just half a block away, but I doubted that the snow plows would get to all the streets I needed to take to get to church.

I took a few photos after I stopped shoveling snow, then went inside, settled down to pray until noon, and worked at fine-tuning my computer’s new operating system. (See photo story here)

That’s another thing I did on Saturday. I wiped my hard drive and installed the newer openSUSE 11.2. (I had the 10.3 for about three years). That kept me busy the rest of Sunday, so I didn’t really mind being snow-bound.

When I got up yesterday I fully intended to walk to the office, but listening to all the weather reports on the radio spooked me a bit, so I called ahead to see if Anne and Priscilla had made it in. Priscilla called me back moments later and advised that I stay home. The snow was knee-deep on the sidewalks in that area.

Well, I had everything I needed at home, so I was happy to take her advice. I still needed to do some trouble-shooting on my computer, and had to set up my emails so I could receive and answer them. That took until late in the afternoon.

Today however, I bundled up in my down-filled coat with the huge hood, big boots with 2 pairs of socks, and two pairs of knit gloves inside of fur-lined jumbo gauntlets (mitts). My stuff in my backpack and off I hiked. I managed okay and only found a few spots where the home-owners had not cleared the sidewalks in front of their homes.

Things are returning to normal, but everyone has their stories of how they coped, and of course the farmers and gardeners rejoice at all that moisture that will sink into the soil for the summer.

The main things happening in my business sphere is this matter of installing new operating systems on computers. Then fine-tuning them the way I like them. Big beautiful roses for backgrounds, windows in my shades of pink and green, and larger fonts, is just the start.

I did the one at the office a couple of weeks ago, and seem to have things working smoothly here. The one at home on Saturday seemed to go by so much faster, because I was using a fully loaded DVD rather than the netinstall which had not worked the previous weekend at home.

However, I found there was much more fine-tuning to do and some things have gone really buggy. Firefox and OpenOffice.org, two programs I depend on all day long were acting sluggish and unresponsive after a few hours. I love to multi-task and have several things open and happening at once, but I couldn’t click or do anything until one error message had shown up, and everything was taking long minutes to show up rather than the split seconds I was used to.

I went searching online with other browsers (and also phoned Jondalar) and tried several “fixes.” All the programs became more cooperative, but one of the fixes may have messed up Firefox because by evening it would only open my home page, for BBN, my favourite online radio. So I started using Konqueror and Opera. The creative resourcefulness I have inherited from my Dad really got a workout as I kept looking for answers.

KMail wouldn’t let some of my email accounts SEND until I discovered that I had to tick TLS instead of SSL for the security method. Things like that.

In the evening I wanted to finish up this next issue of Reflections so it can go to press this week. (Sigh)! What a merry-go-round of problems to work at. I couldn’t access the already proof-read pages, and had to re-do some work from last week. I’ll have to really dig in this afternoon to catch up and do all that I had hoped to do last night!

Throughout all that though, I was aware that I was blessed with good health, I was in a safe, warm place, and God cares for me. These troubles will help me to help someone else eventually.

Amazon Settles with Booklocker! I just learned this outcome yesterday. Booklocker.com is the publisher with whom I published my novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. Angela publishes the widely read weekly ezine, Writers’ Weekly, and have often been known to go to bat for authors to get a fair deal from traditional as well as POD publishers.

Here’s the start of their press release:

“As many of you probably remember, in March, 2008, an Amazon / BookSurge representative called us on the phone and told us we (and other Print on Demand publishers) must start paying Amazon to print our books. If we didn’t, they would remove our “buy it now” buttons from Amazon.com.

Our publicity efforts forced Amazon to finally make public what targeted POD publishers claimed to have been told through what some considered intimidating phone conversations. Until that point, Amazon hadn’t appeared to want to put anything in writing. . . . .”

You can read the rest of this release here.

David, the shepherd boy, had to deal with rejection many times in his life, so his friendship with prince Jonathan, son of King Saul, stands out for all its sharp contrasts.

David’s father forgot him when he was presenting his sons to Samuel at a feast. (The one where God wanted David anointed as the next king of Israel). His brothers picked on him when he was sent by their father to their army camp, with food and a need for information about the war.

After David killed the giant Goliath with his slingshot the general public praised and sang about him, but King Saul grew more and more jealous and cruel - even vindictive, throwing his spear at David when in a foul mood. Saul did that more than once.

Yes, in the midst of all this negative pressure from authority figures, David was blessed with a friendship with Jonathan.

Jonathan grew up in the palace, as heir apparent, and had lots of self-confidence and liked adventure. Once, he and his armour bearer made a sneak attack on the Philistines’ camp - ‘just in case’ they would be successful. (They were!)

Another time in war, his father, King Saul, had decreed that no one in the army would eat until the evening. Jonathan had not heard this, so when he found some honey he had some and his eyes brightened with fresh energy. He shared some with the soldiers near him. When his father discovered this he wanted his son killed, but the soldiers defended him and credited the day’s victory to his deed. So he was spared.

Jonathan admired and respected David. They became good friends.

David told Jonathan that Saul was out to kill him, which Jonathan didn’t want to believe at first, but they agreed David would not show up at the king’s table for a couple of days. Jonathan promised to pay attention to his father’s reaction, and come to this field to give David a message by how he shot an arrow and sent a boy to fetch it. Jonathan also asked David to spare his life and those of his family if this should be true.

The second day King Saul was so furious about David’s absence that he hurled his spear at Jonathan! The prince left the table without eating and knowing in his heart, that David was going to be the next king. They met in the field and played out the game with the arrows, but then Jonathan sent the boy home with the arrows and stayed for a tearful farewell from David.

From there David went into the hills and rallied a small army that moved around and tried to avoid King Saul’s raids. Eventually David’s patience and faith that God would bring him to the throne in His time paid off, and in a battle with the Philistines, King Saul fell on his own sword and two of his three sons, including Jonathan, were killed in that battle as well.

David mourned their deaths, and in the course of time was anointed king of Judah. When things settled down to peace, he sent to look for any of Jonathan’s descendants. One small crippled boy was found, and he was brought to live in David’s palace like one of his own family. It was David’s way of honouring his dear friend Jonathan.

When I study the Bible I look for personal applications or lessons to draw from it. What is more obvious here than this example of loyalty to our friends?

From Jonathan I learn the humility to admit when a friend is a rising star and will eclipse me in what I had thought was to be my own role or position. He did not resent or envy David when he realized that God intended to put David on the throne next. Nor do I think he dishonoured his own father, the king, when he went to warn David that it was not safe to come back to the palace, that his life was in danger. It was simply the right thing to do.

David honoured his friend by seeking out for anyone left from Jonathan’s family to whom he could show kindness for his friend’s sake. This reminds me to be kind to the family and friends of my dear friends. I may not choose them as my intimate friends, but I want to show respect to them because of my love for my close friends.

What an illustration this is of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who gave His life so that we could come to live in His Father’s Palace - in Heaven! It is possible for us to have this Prince for a friend too. He will always treat us royally and be a devoted, never failing Friend.

Do you help your friend get ahead, even at the cost of your own position, especially if you can see it is God’s will? Do you honour and respect those your friend loves, for the sake of your friend, or your memories of that friend?

Say, do you have a friendship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus? Do you seek out those of His family to be kind to them?

[Note: if you missed any articles in this series of article on Friendships in the Bible, and want to read them, you'll find them all linked from this index which is about Friendship]

This last weekend I was convinced that Snowflake was initiating a game of Hide n’ Seek. Normally, when I’m ready to close the computer and get ready for bed, I pick him up and give him a last hug while I carry him to his room for the night. However, on Friday night he wasn’t at any of his usual places. I began to hunt for his new cozy spot.

I could not find him. My house is only 610 sq. feet, and I know every nook and cranny fairly well.

Finally I went to his room and pulled out the bag with the cat food and rustled the yogurt cup inside which I use to measure out his food. Whoa, immediately he came running. I just don’t know from where.

The next night, same thing. I hunted high and low, and and in places it should be impossible for Snowflake to get into, and then hunted through most of them again. No Snowflake.

After more than half an hour of searching I gave up and got ready for bed, but decided to close my door, so he could not surprise me during the night with a leap onto me. (He did that twice at the beginning). I was in bed with my glasses off, and lights out, when it occurred to me that I had not checked the basement. I had assumed that he came up when I did after folding and bringing up my laundry - but did he really? Maybe not…

I got up and stepped into my slippers, took along a flashlight for dark corners, and went downstairs, calling and hunting for my white cat.

From somewhere, it seemed to be high on a shelf, he made pathetic little mewing sounds. Thinking he might have got himself stuck somewhere in the rafters, I began to hunt in earnest. Still no success.

Going back up I brought his bag of food and tried to lure him with that. No go.

Well, I decided, he has no litter box down here, but he could survive a night. It was going on 1 am, I should go to bed.

I had put away the food, turned out the lights in the basement and was shutting the door, when suddenly Snowflake was at the the foot of the stairs. I called out to him, but he just rolled over on his side, which usually means I’m suppose to come pick him up.

With a sigh I headed down to do so, but he got up and went out of reach. Fortunately, when I clapped my hands, he scampered up the stairs on his own initiative and straight to his room.

It was a relief to us both, yet I had to smile at how long and hard he played at Hide n’ Seek.

It’s also been a surprise to me how many people really liked my Christmas gift booklet, “Beggin’ for Hugs.” Snowflake really made a number of friends with that. If you didn’t get to read it or download your copy, it’s here;
Christmas booklet - Beggin’ for Hugs

No doubt you have heard about the earthquake and devastation in Haiti, which is just part of an island in the Caribbean, but oh the awfulness of the event, and the suffering and hardships going on there since then.

I don’t have a TV, so I’ve been following mostly by radio, but I’ve also taken a bit of time to go online and see some pictures and videos, so I am aware of happenings there.
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So far I have not had the time, or taken the time to sit down and think things through. What should our response be?

Yes, nations are almost competing with each other to send plane and ship loads of aid, and millions, even billions of dollars, and we should be generous too, but how much of that is going to be wasted while organizations find a footing and a way to be effective? Is generosity good if it is given foolishly?

Some people give a little bit to everyone who comes begging, or who puts on a fund-raiser, but after a while they feel overwhelmed and start complaining that the world is full of hands held out, and they start avoiding all charities - unless they are truly moved by the news media’s pictures.

Personally, I feel an obligation to check things out, look for missions and missionaries that have a good, working plan in operation, and who manage the gifts they receive very well. Furthermore, I like to take time to pray and listen for the prompting of God’s Spirit in my heart to know when and how much I should give. I do not like to be pressured or shamed into it by outside forces.

There will be a need in Haiti for a long time to come. For now, I’d like to pray that the aid that is rushing in there will be wisely distributed, and that cooler heads, with skills to manage situations will organize the searches, the medical work, and the restoration of that torn and broken place. But I’ll watch for the right moment to step in to help with cash.

Just in the last few months I have become aware of other needy spots in the world, like Pakistan and a number of African countries. Without seeking God’s guidance I really don’t know whom to send the small gifts I can spare.

Beyond that, I do pray and plan for a way to have much more to give. And, I want to have a spiritual filtering system in place, so I can determine my giving more promptly. If you have such an evaluation or filtering grid for making such decisions, I’d love to hear from you.

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Feedback from last week’s RoseBouquet:
David S. wrote;
Thanks for this very focused, refreshing and lively RB.
So good to see the weaving of suggestions, ideas and new thoughts or re-igniting old ones. Like the imagery of the weather….. Be encouraged….
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