I have been quiet....

The last few weeks it seemed like I had concentric circles on my back.... 

I took a big blow at work...nothing personal, just a customer thing, but big, none the less....it felt like every time I turned around I was making someone mad here, so I just buried my head and stayed out of people's way....I had a horrible cold....buried at church with work that I had to do and just a lot of other stuff...  Sometimes it seems like a pile on, ya know?

But this is a new week, and that means a fresh start, right?

And THIS week started out with Dallas losing, which is always a good way for a week to start for me   Oh, and wait....I think another team lost this weekend too, didn't it?  The Seahawks?  I think for some reason that I still can't fathom, one of my friends from Nebraska is a SHawks fan...

Here are some great reminders from Lamentations3:

19-21I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
   the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
   the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I remember,
   and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

 22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
   How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
   He's all I've got left.

 25-27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
   to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
   quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young
   to stick it out through the hard times.

 28-30When life is heavy and hard to take,
   go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
   Wait for hope to appear.
Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
   The "worst" is never the worst.

 31Why? Because the Master won't ever
   walk out and fail to return.

Good Stuff!

peace....

Joe Gibbs To Resign From Redskins

WASHINGTON -- Joe Gibbs resigned as coach and team president of the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, three days after his team's playoff loss concluded a season marked by the killing of safety Sean Taylor.

Gibbs went 31-36, including 1-2 in the playoffs, after emerging from NFL retirement and his NASCAR career to sign a five-year, $27.5 million contract in 2004. He had always maintained that he intended to fulfill the contract, but the 67-year-old coach wavered from that stance Monday when asked if he would return for the final year of his deal.

Gibbs' resignation brings an apparent end to a Hall of Fame coaching career in which he twice raised the Redskins from mediocrity into a playoff team, although he failed in his goal of bringing the team back to the Super Bowl during his second stint in Washington. Gibbs won three NFL titles during his first tenure from 1981-92; the second time around he took the team to the postseason in two of his four seasons.

It also follows one of the best coaching performances of his career, his leadership helping the Redskins focus after Taylor's death on Nov. 27. Washington won its final four regular season games after Taylor's funeral, going from 5-7 to 9-7 to claim the final playoff berth in the NFC.

The emotional run ended Saturday, when the Redskins lost 35-14 at Seattle in the wild-card playoffs.

"It was the toughest (season) for me," Gibbs said Monday. "When you go through a season like that, for a while it's kind of hard to re-grasp reality."

Gibbs has also endured a personal crisis for a year. One of his grandsons, Taylor, was diagnosed with leukemia last January at the age of 2. Gibbs frequently talks lovingly about his "grandbabies," and he made an overnight to North Carolina on Sunday to be with his family, interrupting the postseason routine of meetings that usually follow the final game of the season.

_____________________________________________________________

While the article goes on, the only thing that I can say is that our loss is his family's gain.  I think that Joe Gibbs got the team through this very tough year.  He is a man of great faith, who helped the guys deal with Sean Taylor's death.  He helped them to stabilize through that, and to also deal with a lot of other losses due to injuries, and showed them that they could play.  And now, he is going to take care of himself and his own family....and I think that is okay, and is actually best for him.  I KNOW that he is not being forced out.  As a matter of fact, the owner of the team offered him a contract extension, and he is staying on as a consultant.  So....  God puts the right people in the right place at the right time...even in football.  Anyway....I am sad today.... 

Here is an interesting site, if you are interested.... http://www.joegibbsonline.com  Joe Gibbs has a website where he broadcasts a weekly devotional.  You can get it in audio or print, or even in itunes versions.  He hasn't started them up for 2008, but you can get the archives for 2006 and 2007. 

peace....

Washington DC Weather

Monday January 7, 2008

Current Conditions:

Sunny

 70 degrees

Wacky

peace....

Well, so we didn't win....  But it was fun while it lasted, and we had a good run.

Congrats to the Seahawks and to all of those who were rooting for them, which, if you listen to SOME people, would include everyone in the whole world except for me.  (I know that isn't true, by the way)

We Redskins peeps been through a lot this year, so, while it would have been great to win this game, it would not have changed the way we feel about our team.... 

We love them, almost as much as we love our Coach....

there is always next year.....

peace...

21

An interesting tidbit....  The Redskins beat Dallas by 21 points.

Sean Taylor, the murdered Redskin's Jersey number:  21

Coincidence?

Nobody in Washington thinks so

Hail to my Redskins!

peace....

The good news....

I got rid of my cold in time for Christmas  

The bad news... 

somebody apparently gave me a new one

isn't it someone else's turn?

<sniff>

<sneeze>

<snort>

peace

My Redskins made the playoffs.....

And they made it by winning

I am happy.

peace...

My beloved Redskins beat the Vikings tonight....  Now THAT'S a Christmas present I will happily accept!

Now please read my holiday greetings below

So Ron and I were out shopping the other day, and he picked something up and said...you know what?  romance_writer (one of you, my online friends) would like this....  It was an interesting thing that had something with a cat on it...kind of rustic with a cabin-ish feel....  Anyway, I turned to him and laughed, because, yes, she (you) probably would have liked it...based on the pics I have seen of her (your) house, it would have been perfect for my friend whom I have never in my life met, but who I feel like I know well enough...and my HUSBAND knows well enough to pick out gifts for...  Kind of funny.  I said to him...  "If we start buying things for all of my online friends, too, we are really going to break the bank!"  (sorry guys)  But I feel like I could...  I feel like I know those of you who comment and whose blogs I read frequently, because you have allowed me into your lives, and you have shared in my good moods and my bad, and I think you have allowed me to share in yours.  You have tolerated some of my weird opinions and my crazy love of critters...  and the weird things that flow from my brain to my fingers.  And I really appreciate it.  I am not always as candid here as I wish I could be, because I know this IS a public forum, and I know that there are lots of lurkers out there...some good and some maybe not....  who read and don't comment...  some I know about and some I don't....  But, my friends, I just wanted for you to know that I appreciate your friendship very much.... 

I was struggling a lot this Christmas season.  Ron always calls it the season of greed, and honestly, this year I have been struggling with it.  I really wanted to take all of the money that we usually spend on everyone and send it to a charity that feeds children.  One where the money REALLY goes to the kids.  I feel like we have so much here.  Does my sister really NEED another CD?  That money would buy enough beans to last a week in Haiti.  I don't know if this is God speaking to me, or if I am becoming a tree hugging wacko (Ron's term of endearment).  Anyway....I think this trip to Africa, when we take it, is going to have a huge impact on my life.  I think God is preparing me for it.  Who knows?  Well...I know WHO knows....  I just don't know yet 

Anyway, since you ARE my friends, I figured I would share with you my Christmas letter that I included in my cards this year....  (yeah, it's weird, but you guys know me....does that REALLY surprise you?)  Here it is....

Okay, so here WAS the plan…. A charming picture to tuck into our Christmas cards of Ron and I, sitting on the floor in front of our lit Christmas tree with the three dogs in our laps… Perhaps the added touch of whimsy from a struggle to reign in Barney to add a chuckle to the viewer’s experience… The whole picture exuding a “Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours” type of feeling…. Maybe I could have even sewn myself a great, festive plaid jumper with a matching bow in my hair (sounds like me, right?!) and made Ron a tie from the same fabric, that, of course I had woven from thread that I hand dyed which was made from hand spun wool sheared from sheep that we had raised in our yard….Wow…. How cool would that have been? Yep, that was the plan-- three or four weeks ago, that is. Here is the status of the plan…. We have one Christmas tree that is kind of decorated. The room where the picture would probably be taken in is loaded with boxes that have come in the mail filled with all of our Christmas gifts that we have ordered. There are packing peanuts spilling out of one of the boxes, so that room is actually cordoned off so that the dogs don’t get to the peanuts. The other tree, which would actually be the prettiest to get the picture taken with, only has lights that go up about two thirds of the way, because every time Ron gets started, something comes up and he gets called away. I have a cold and don’t feel much like taking a picture, Fred (smallest dog) got a haircut, but only on one side, because he pitched a fit, and wouldn’t let us finish it, and now it is a week before Christmas, and I am thinking that this charming picture is going have to live on in my mind’s eye for yet another year… <sigh> The only thing that I cling to is that we do, have lovely garland on the OUTSIDE of our house, and some lit deer that are hiding in the trees in front of our house—THAT is the extent of our festive-ness (is that a word?)—and it is lovely indeed.

So that’s pretty much how our life goes…it’s always comical-always an adventure. We have lots of grand plans that gradually get scaled back as the time slips away….(Let’s have Lobster-err-Crab—err—fish—err—fish sticks—err—how ‘bout a tuna sandwich—wait, do we even have any bread?!) We are still working at the same jobs, involved in the same stuff, and living in the same house…. We still are enjoying our families, our friends, our house, our yard and our critters. We love singing together, our beautiful life together and we both love our Lord with all of our hearts!

We are excited about our plans to take a trip to Africa early next year….Other than that, we are looking forward eagerly to whatever exciting things God has in store for us in 2008!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

peace & love & lots of joyful tunes

pam & ron

I know these first two pictures are a bit morbid, but look beyond that part and look at the loyalty and love of the animal for his beloved master.... a loyal friend to the end....

This is a sweet story about a cat who acts as the "eyes" for a dog who can't see....

Here's one that I found....first the picture, followed by the story:

"From a kind soul working in the dead letter office at the US postal service...

And this just makes me smile....

Sigh....  I just love animals....

peace.....