“The RoseBouquet”

More renovation work, or site make-overs. On the Ruthes-SecretRoses.com site I’ve just re-done all the book review pages, and linked them to bookstores to help make it easier to find them.

However, at Christmas my sister-in-law gave me a box full of her old children’s books, and I’ve been reading through them in my “Reading Room.” Now I want to sort through and see which ones to review, and which books might be of enough vintage to see if they’ll sell as collector items. I must say, most of those old books were a treat to read. You’ll be hearing more about them.

Work on the RoseBouquet Place, and the Resources and Gifts section still has a way to go.

I have one, perhaps two sections to make over yet at my business site, BouquetofEnterprises.biz, and I might expand another, and then I want to start promoting my products and services in earnest.

The genealogy site, AGodlyInheritance.com, basically needs the forms fixed to work, and then it’s a go, and I can move on to more book updating projects.

I have three ministry sites for others that I’m actively working on too. It’s nice to see progress there as well.

See? It IS possible to do many things if you budget time for them all. If you’re looking for my secret, I just told you.

(from a Forwarded email)

A group of rapists and eight rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who’s clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing.

3) They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.

4) The time of day men are most likely to attack and rape a woman is in the early morning, between 5 and 8:30 am

5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked at is grocery store parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages. Number three is public restrooms.

6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to a second location where they don’t have to worry about getting caught.

7) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.

8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn’t worth it because it will be time-consuming.

9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. They are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you’re not worth it.

10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk, I can’t believe it is so cold out here, we’re in for a bad winter. Now that you’ve seen his face and could identify them in a line-up, you lose appeal as a target.

11) If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell Stop or Stay back! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they’d leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back.

Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) yelling I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.

13) If someone grabs you, you can’t beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the upper inner thigh — HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands-the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it hurts.

14) After the initial hit, particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy’s parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you’ll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble, and he’s out of there.

15) When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as much as possible.. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.

16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts. You may feel a little silly at the time, but you’d feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.
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Ruth’s P.S. Remember if you panic and freeze: the Bible says to cry out aloud. God will hear your cry and come to your rescue.
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I’m finding new value in affirming every morning as I begin my prayer time, who God is, and how He has proven His love for me in sending Jesus. I repeat my position in Him. This has recently become my staring point for worship. It lays a foundation so when I start praying about other things and other people my faith is fresh and at the ready, to believe God will answer my prayers.

It’s not that God needs to be reminded. It’s easy to say or think, “Oh, I already know this is true. It hasn’t changed from yesterday, so why go over and over it?” So if God knows, and you or I remember this, then why bother?

Simply because we are human and although our mind may know certain things are true, our heart or emotional base tends to forget when over-crowded with many other things. Our sub-conscience needs to be saturated with this wonderful truth.

Of course, when it gets to be dull rote repetition, then the usefulness is gone. But it is our attitude that must change, not the repetition of the truth.

If you’re floundering with anxiety and questions and doubts start affirming what you do believe about God. Slowly it will sink in to your sub-conscious spirit, and gradually it will really believe these profound eternal truths about God. When it really takes hold you’ll notice a different mind-set and attitude welling up from within you.

I’m speaking here from personal experience and not scientific studies. I only know that whereas I used to pray fretfully and urgently as if I needed to persuade God to spare me a favour or two, (and I often felt I was more effective at praying for others rather than myself), I am now finding that I have greater confidence in God’s love and power in my life. I spend more time thanking Him for all the little evidences of His help in my life, rather than pleading - or, yes, even whining like a helpless toddler.

Just last night in a group of Christians discussing the work and future of a mission, I noticed that while others saw change as a possible end to our work, in my heart I saw it as coming to the brink of miracles and exciting new direction God must have in mind for us. Suddenly I recognized that I used to think like they did.

Another relative was expressing anxiety about a decision to confront someone about an old wrong. He wondered if he should go to court over it. My first reaction was, “Oh no! Just turn the matter over to the Lord. He will work perfect vengeance for you, and you don’t have to lift a finger to do that! God is more than big enough and loving enough to keep His word!”

Again it came to me that I had a different mindset exactly because I take time in the morning to tell God what a wonderful Creator-God, and Father-God He is. What a marvelous plan of salvation He had in sending Jesus to die for us. But better still, that He raised His Son up to new life, so we could share it with Jesus through the gift of His Holy Spirit.

I don’t use exactly the same words every morning, but ad lib until I have praised God for those key truths. Only then am I ready to start making requests for situations and problems and people in my life today, that I am aware need a touch from our Awesome and Marvelous God.

You don’t have to restrict this just to your first prayer time of the day. Start every prayer with a few words of thanksgiving and reminding God (as well as yourself), that you believe in Him and are ready to obey.

To read sample chapters of my first book online, start at The Book’s beginning

To order the e-book to download and read on your computer; go to the order page
(or if you email me, we can make a deal and I’ll send it to you on CD).

To order the softcover paperback from Booklocker use; my Booklocker page

Western Tract Mission, (where I am a Board member and web-master, and layout editor), had a fundraising 65th Anniversary Concert and Dessert night. It all turned out much better than we’d hoped. Weather ran the greatest interference. We had a heavy snowfall on March 1, again on Saturday, March 4, and then early yesterday morning it was freezing drizzle over a wide-spread area. Radio news was warning people to stay off the roads if they didn’t have to go.

We had lined up a family of ten, the Fosters, to be our headlining music group. They live quite a distance north of us; would they be able to come? While one half of me expected a call or email saying we were canceling or postponing our event in Saskatoon, my other half - perhaps my truer self - had promised God I’d accepted which ever way it went. All I could do was prepare.

As a Board member I’d baked a number of fruit breads, and two kinds of peppernuts So I got my platters of desserts arranged and covered, and I kept checking email, while I found packing boxes for all my trays and stuff. By 4 pm there was no email, and no phone call to cancel; I was dressed and packed so we headed out for the 30-40 minute drive to the city.

To our amazement, the highway was dry. No problem driving. The daytime temperatures and the traffic had dried it off. In the city we found wet slushy streets. Others of the Board were already at the church, so I joined them to set up and arrange squares onto round platters. We laid everything in readiness for the Dessert after the Concert.

7 pm starting time came, and no Foster family. We all worried that something had happened to them, but enjoyed small talk with various people. We were surprised at the turn out. About 145 to 150 people! Patiently they sat and waited and whispered to one another. Suddenly they arrived, but it took the Dad another 45 minutes to set up their sound system. Finally, about 7:45 they were ready to begin. The Dad explained that two of their boys had to finish an important basketball game, so they had started out late. No road problems.

Arnold, our Director, had lined up a brief program of reports, mostly praise items at answered prayer, but most of the program was given over to the Foster Family singing package. They did excellently! They have six boys and two girls. The very youngest boy didn’t feel inclined to sing this time, but all the rest have excellent voices, and threw themselves wholeheartedly into their songs. It was well worth the wait!

In due course I had my two minutes at the mike to extol and invite everybody to our web site. A few others did as well. There was a song by Beryl from Alberta, and the Peters Sisters, scattered locally in the Valley area.

Afterwards I helped carry our trays and platters of goodies to the buffet table and to replenish as necessary. I sneaked a few pieces of the Black Forest cake squares, and a bit of this or that. Otherwise, I kept going. Well, I stopped to chat briefly with various people too, and tried to make them welcome.

Then it was time for clean up. You should have heard Helen D., the Board member we usually look to for organizing the food part. She was chortling with delight when she saw how much less clean up there was compared to when we put on a Soup & Pie fundraiser. What’s more, she kept discovering just a bit of cream left over, just a few of these squares, etc. It was all evidence that we’d had enough, but not too much! Just right! I can see us doing this kind of thing again.

When Dad and I left to go home, there was a light misty drizzle. Before we got half-way home it turned to snow! This morning I found about two inches of snow over a layer of ice on our driveway. Fortunately, we can stay inside the rest of this week.

By the way, Dad has his last seven teeth extracted on Monday. He’s toothless for now, but that doesn’t stop him from knitting his alpaca mittens.

Still doing make-overs at the web sites. I do feel good about the progress, and hope for a few dull, quiet weeks in which to make some larger strides forward on all fronts. Got some new ideas for the Gifts and Resources section, and am eager to get going on that as well as RoseBouquet Place.

In fact, the article in today’s Ruthe’s Roses blog is going into that new section. It’s all about thinking creatively and resourcefully when you encounter a problem - just like the heroine, Ruthe Veer does in my novel. This section will most likely also begin to have gift and gift-making ideas. We’ll see. Maybe I’m running too far ahead…

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Ruthe Veer, the heroine of my novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses, is quite a resourceful and creative-thinking person. Her family is not in the habit of praising her for such things though, so she only discovers this from her new friends in the city, as she helps them out of their difficulties.

Some of this style of thinking can be inherited, I’ve discovered, but much of resourceful, creative thinking can also be learned. It’s a lot in the kind of questions you ask yourself when confronted with a problem. Finding answers to those questions causes you to solve the problem.

Now don’t fool yourself into believing that this is going to be as easy as memorizing the questions, or hiding them on a card in your pocket, and ever after that you’ll clear up all mysteries and work every tangled situation into a perfect scenerio of peace, harmony and success. It takes practice to make this a way of living. It takes trying again and again. You see, the easy answers don’t come until you’ve become quite familiar with the ways that don’t work out.

Sometimes you get to study and think on a problem a long time. Often you don’t.

For example, in the novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses, Ruthe struggles for courage to go enter a pulsating disco dance hall - because she feels there is someone in there that needs help. As soon as she enters she does find a girl crouching under the coat rack, who has been stripped of her clothing. Ruthe helps her to her car and drives around and then parks for a long talk. She really doesn’t know what to do, but by prayer keeps following the ideas God speaks into her intuition, and after a long talk about God and knowing Him as a Confidant, she takes Muriel to her home. She is able to slip in unseen, still in Ruthe’s saggy long cardigan.

A few weeks later, when Muriel calls Ruthe to her mother’s death bed, and finds the mother asking for the older sister, Cathy, who has just eloped that night, Ruthe decides to go find her. She takes Muriel and the younger brother Keith along. With some fast thinking, she is able to find and bring Cathy home in time to say good bye to her mother.

Things don’t fall into a dull routine long for Ruthe. She’s driving down a back alley, empathizing with all the lonely people on that street, when she hears a woman scream. Her creative, resourceful, listening-to-God spirit wins out over her fearful soul, and she dashes up a fire escape to the rescue. But then, after she’s punched out the wild man, she has to figure out how to get the inert, unconscious girl down the fire escape bodily.

Like I said, sometimes you just don’t get a lot of time to ponder and figure things out!

Visiting that girl at the hospital, Ruthe finds out that she, Darlin’ Bonne, needs a job and a home — that’s when she has this brain wave of an idea for a dress design shop in a house.

When June, a friend from the telephone office, where Ruthe works as an operator, wants to move into an apartment with her, but Ruthe knows she’s needed at home, — she ends up inviting June to live with her in Kleinstadt and to commute together with her for the summer. That works, but then a better idea presents itself, when Ruthe inherits an old mansion..

Yes, what is she to do with that monstrous three-story stone mansion? Well, with June’s help, and a few other friends, Ruthe turns it into a place to bring the girls and women whom she meets that need a place for a fresh start. She also offers it as the location for a summer course in charm and poise for young teen girls.

You get the idea, don’t you? Ruthe, the heroine of my book has learned to think creatively and resourcefully in all kinds of situations. If you and I want to do that, we’ll have to obey certain guidelines.

Of first importance;
1. remove resistant, angry, rebellious attitudes - they block a creative spirit.

2. expand your frame of reference to a difficult situation. Step back to see the big picture and from different angles.

3. Gain insight from God’s Word. Lots of answers are hiding in there. Easiest to study is Proverbs. Full of practical wisdom and godly principles. One of those might be the key to your problem!

4. Design an alternative action that the other parties, particularly the authority figure in your situation will find an advantage. What works for their advantage is going to end up blessing you too.

To read sample chapters of my first book online, start at the Novel’s index

To order the e-book to download and read on your computer; go to the Order page (or if you email me, we can make a deal and I’ll send it to you on CD).

To order the softcover paperback from Booklocker use; BookLocker.com

Yes, we’ve finally got a snowstorm this winter. Actually, not what I would call blizzard conditions with violent winds, etc. Just a steady snowfall all night and continuing - probably all day.

When I went to go out for my pre-breakfast prayer walk this morning I discovered that a drift of snow had come in under the outer door, and banked against the inside. So I unlocked it, pushed the door open against the snow outside, and grabbed a strong broom. I cleared out the inside drift and the space around the outside of the door so I could shut it again. Popped the boom into its holder on the wall, and started trudging out down the sidewalk.

I wasn’t filling my boots, so I calculate the depth on the sidewalks (with some higher drifts beside) at about 8-10 inches. I tell you, it sure slows a person down when you have to pull each foot up out of the hole you made, and put it down to make a new one. Lovely, pristine white snow, with such graceful lines to the drifts here and there!

After passing just one or two neighbours I decided that this time I’d just go around our block, never mind the minimum of four to six blocks I normally go around.

Coming back the area in front of the door was all white again. Still, I grabbed the snow shovel and cleared away several strips. Then I thought of taking pictures for you! I brought the shovel back in and went for both the instamatic and the mini-digital, so I could - if possible - have instant photos for you this morning. (Unfortunately ran out of time to put up, sorry. Later?)

The cheerful thought in all this is Mom’s old saying, “If March comes in like a lion, it’s going to go out like a lamb; if it comes in like a lamb, it’s going to go out like a lion..” Today that means, we may have winterish weather at the beginning of this month, but by the end, spring will be here! Yippee!

P.S. Just got some shots from the mini-camera ready;

The depth of the snow at our door this morning at 8 am.

the depth of the snow I was shoveling from the driveway. See right side. Straight ahead is where I’m heaping it on the flower bed.

Do you see my tracks, those holes, going diagonally from the bottom left of photo up past the cedar bush?

I can especially see progress on my BouquetofEnterprises.biz site. Several folders or sub-categories on the site have had their make-overs now. I’m nearly done with the one on books; that leaves two others a bit more involved, or three if I decide to keep the auction section.

The make-over of my book review section in the Sharing Library on Ruthes-SecretRoses.com is nearing an end too. Then there are all those article to do yet. (sigh!) But they should go much faster than the book reviews. This week I started getting bright ideas for the Gifts and Resources section. Nothing to show for it yet, but that will be exciting!

Our Western Tract Mission is having a Musical-Dessert night to celebrate our 65th anniversary next Tuesday evening at the Cornerstone church in Saskatoon. Behind the scenes I’ve been baking up fruit breads, pound cake, and peppernuts. I fit that into my kitchen times in smaller fits and spurts. I’ve also been helping by writing a press release, and designing the bulletin or programme, and so forth. I’m also going to be a greeter at the doors that evening, so I may be a bit washed up and exhausted next Wednesday morning, but I bet I’ll have exciting things to talk about.

Our headliner music group is the Foster Family. They have two girls and eight boys and all ten of that family sing as a group. I haven’t heard them before, but others rave about them. - Oh, and I’m to do a two-minute talk on our mission’s Web Presence.

Right now though, I’m hoping to bake another few cookie sheets full of my Plum Pink Peppernuts today and tomorrow. Have you ever had peppernuts? You’ve never had these; my recipes are originals every time I make a batch.

Send virtual roses to your friends; Tess’ Castle Roses
( I wish I could create backgrounds like that! I also enjoyed the inspirational poetry section).

Just discovered; Elizabeth Park - Rose Garden photos.