Nikka's 20th Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to my sister!!!!!!!
Happy birthday to you.

It's hard to believe that 20 years have gone by. My little sister, the one I helped to raise and loved her as my own, has grown into a young lady.

"Did we do something for her birthday?" you ask. Of course. She wouldn't have it any other day. We celebrated at Ruby Tuesday. It's the only promise that Mommy hadn't fulfilled to her, and we brok off the spirit of abandonment and broken promises.

The food was great. This was my first time, but certainly not my last. I got some onion strings and something else, that escapes my mind now. Whatever it was, it was definitely good.

Chris got barbecue ribs. He said they were the best ribes he's eaten from any restaurant around here.

Saints from the church gave Nikka presents. That was really sweet. I think she had a good birthday. We've got a birthday coming up in May--Chris. I bet we'll be back there at Ruby's house again. *LOL*

Star Wars Musings

I'm reading the book, "Cestus Deception." It's a Clone Wars novel. This book has helped me to regain the mindset of a warrior. Here are a few thoughts to think about from the book. These quotes come directly from "The Cestus Deception."

"... a soldier in the field didn't care about how he looked. What mattered was performance under fire."

"Risk was always a factor. Fear was a soldier's constant companion. No dishonor in that: what a man felt mattered not at all. What he did meant everything."

"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat." In my words..., if you can take it, you can make it!

"... always aware that the slightest imperfection might negatively affect performance, endangering a mission or a brother's life."

Correction

The website that I got that info is
www.believersweb.org
Sorry.

Pride

Ok yall, So you know, I've been reading the books and watching the
Star Wars movies. I've been keeping a few entries in a notebook about
what I've learned so far. I'll have to transfer it to this journal.

I've read so far The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and have
seen both movies. Because I don't want to see Anakin Skywalker turn
into Darth Vader, I'm reading a Clone Wars Novel before I read Revenge
of the Sith. However, since I've seen movies 4-6, I know his change is
inevitable.

As I looked a little further into Darth Vader, I saw that his name
means Dark Father. Here's what rocked me to the core last night as I
read the Wikipedia about him. "Skywalker is ultimately seduced by his
own hubris and fear of loss, as well as by the machinations of the
Sith Lord Darth Sidious."

That sounded so deep, that I had to look up a few words. Here are
their definitions:
Hubris--Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance.
Machination--the act of plotting. A crafty scheme or cunning design
for the accomplishment of a sinister end.

Basically, Anakin's pride brought him low. As I thought about this all
last night, I could hardly sleep. Pride. What a dangerous thing to a
Christian... to any person, believer or nonbeliever in Jesus Christ.

I copied these from
www.believers.org:
4. Dangers that pride has:

4.1. The newer believer can easily become proud (1 Tim
3.6, "conceited" tuphoomai, BAG 831, is in the passive. It means
to be puffed
up, conceited, blinded, be foolish). He makes the mistake of
taking credit for spiritual growth and ministry. He forgets that he
is a product
of God's grace (1 Cor 15.10).
4.2. Proud believers reject God's authority in the church
(1 Cor 4.6, 18 "become arrogant" phusiow,
BAG 869, to be puffed up, inflated).
4.3. Proud people can disrupt the life of the church (1 Cor 4.6-7,
"become arrogant" phusiow; Jude
16;, "speak arrogantly" `uperogkos, BAG 841, of excessive size,
puffed up, swollen, haughty, bombastic).
4.4. When you take yourself
too seriously you are proud (Rom 12.3 "to think more highly"
`uperphronew, BAG 842). 1 Cor 15.10 gives the right attitude.
4.5. Proud
religious people will attempt to change you away from grace (Col 2.18
"inflated" phusiow).
4.6. Knowledge (gnwsis) that is not understood,
accepted as certain, and applied can stimulate pride (1 Cor 8.1).
Knowledge (epignwsis) that is understood, accepted as certain, and
applied is
needed for the Christian life (Eph 1.17; Phil 1.9; Col 1.9-10).
4.7. Pride can affect what you say (Jms 4.16). The result is a sin of
the tongue which can cause great damage to self and others (Jms
3.2-6). 4.8. Pride will eventually come back and hurt you
(Prov 11.2; 16.18;
29.23).

"Lord Jesus," I prayed as I tossed and turned all night, "I don't want
to be proud. It's the very spirit of Satan himself. I humble myself
before you." Pride will not allow you to see the truth about God,
yourself, or others. It's a dangerous thing to have in your life. It
lets you go up so far, deceiving yourself all the way, and at the
moment you least expect, it pulls the rug right from under you.

Prov 29:23 "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold
the humble in spirit."
Prov 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall."
1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time:

In closing, my prayer has been Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

Sedona Trip: Day 1

Well, we made it! We made it to Sedona yesterday at 8:54 a.m. The day
before, Nikka and Mommy got a Dodge Caliber from Thrifty. Man, it's
nice.
We met my coworkers at my job at 6:00. The trip was very easy, but I
thought we should follow them. Traffic wouldn't allow that, so after
we got lost for a minute getting onto the I17, we got found and all
was well. We ended up stopping at this McDonald's. When we got there,
guess who had alson just pulled up? My coworkers.
We laughed,cuz though they had tried to call, I didn't hear the phone,
So I had no way of knowing where they were. Anyway, after that, we
drove straight here.
The conference started at 9:30, and we were definitely on time.
I asked my sister to find me a place near a plug. S3e did. I was in a
corner, but I didn't mind. I didn't want my BrailleNote to lose
porwer. Trust me. The night before, I had dealt with 27 documents for
this conference. That was a lot. Plus my Star Wars book for when
things got kinda boring. I couldn't face not having battery power.
Anyway, the conference went well. We ate at the restaurant for lunch.
All I have to say about that f9od is, very good, but toooooo
expensive. I had a mandarin chicken salad with a cup of iced tea. My
bill was $15.36. My sister had chicken tenders and a cup of iced tea.
Her bill was $10.93. But this is a hotel--a resort even--so what do I
expect?
Our hotel is the Radisson Poco Diablo Resort in Sedona, AZ.
Towards the end of the conference, we got our room. Beautiful room
with Sleep Number queen-sized beds. The girl at the desk had taken a
liking to us For rasons unknown to us. We liked her too. very friendly
and personable. She showed us the room herself.
Once all was over, we found food. We wanted to hurry up befor it got
dark. We settled on Joey's Italian Restaurant. After driving round and
round, we finally got to it. It was a real Italian restaurant. I
ordered the chicken parmigiana--as always. Nikki ordered fettuccini
with sausage.
The food was absolutely excellent. We had hot bread and salad too. My
meal came to $22.63.
When we got back to our room, I had one aim and one goal--SLEEP. nikki
just knew I would be up reading my Star Wars' but not me. After she
helped my hair, cuz it had gotten wet with the rain, I read a few
emails, and went promptly to bed.
My sleep was good. I woke up once and watched a little TV with her,
and then I talked to Chris, and went back to bed.
I awoke this morning at 4:15 to a dog full of excitement. It was his
parktime. We left the room with me praying to God that we would make
it back quickly and safely.
We found our way to the rocks for him to pea, but I got lost coming
back. We walked around and around. I called Nikka, but she was
snoring, oblivious to any phones. I even called the hotel to get them
to transfer the call to my room, but to no avail.
I heard a guy coughing, I latched onto the sound. I turned his way and
asked for directions. He said to follow the path and make a left. He
watched me, and I did it. T3ank you, Jesus.
Right i s'ti

--
Come, read and take a journey with me at
www.WorldOfShariG.blogspot.com

Exciting News!

I am writing with exciting news today! I bet you can tell by my entry
one of the things I'm gonna say. Well... you're right. Chris is coming
home today! I am so happy that I will have a little time to spend with
him before I go to Sedona tomorrow. But you'll never get the next one,
so I'll have to tell you.
Guess what I did today? I went to Fry's by myself. That's right. you
heard it straight from the horse's mouth. Me and Rusty took a trip.
Nikka took us there.
When I got there, I asked for the customer service desk. I had made
the correct turn and was closer than I thought. They were very kind
about getting someone to help, and my wait was very short.
When the guy came, I directed him in the best way to lead us. He got a
cart. Rusty and I walked behind it. He pulled it. It was peachy.
My first stop was the bank. You should've seen the teller. He was too
surprised to see me come alone. He even asked where my family was. I
wasn't angry, because that's who I normally come with. But boy, did my
loan trip do loads for the stereotypes of blind people and my
independence too.
I notified him that they were all preoccupied with their business. I
still had needs to take care of. That's why I was there. He was quite
kind; you could tell that his eyes were being enlightened. I got my
money and went next to the deli.
There at the deli, I wanted a baked chicken for Chris when he finally
gets home. He selected the chicken. I asked the lady if they had any
eggplant wraps today. She said yes, so I bought one. I paid right
there at the deli and the helper guy got us to the door.
Rusty and I proptly walked out. He crossed the street in the exact
plce. We turned left and then right at the gate. I praised him
profusely. My, what a great guide he is. I t3en kept telling him that
we needed to get home. We proceeded on our regular walk home,as I
listened for all the audible clues. The water fall. The mailboxes. We
crossed the street and I waited to feel the metal plates.
We turned left and walked toward Mommy's house. We stopped for him to
do his business. I picked up my wares, and we marched right on home.
For his good work, he got lots of hugs and two biscuits.
Yeah! We did it! What a boost to my day!

--
Come, read and take a journey with me at
www.WorldOfShariG.blogspot.com

A Quick but Resounding Thanks!

Here's a great story I just read:

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,

I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.

His name was Kyle.

It looked like he was

carrying all of his books.

I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?

He must really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my
friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.

They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping
him so he landed in the dirt.

His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten
feet from him.

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled
around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks.

"

They really should get lives.

" He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!"

There was a big smile on his face.

It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never
seen him before.

He said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football

with my friends

He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I
liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.

I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious
muscles with this pile of books everyday!

" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends..

When we were seniors we began to think about college.

Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.

I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never

be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football
scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.

I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation.

I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak

Graduation day, I saw Kyle.

He looked great.

He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.

He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.

Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!"

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.

" Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

"Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through
those tough years.

Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly
your friends...

I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the
best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the

story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't
have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.

He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

"Thankfully, I was saved.

My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy
told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life.

For better or for worse.

God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.

Look for God in others.

As I read this, my heart welled up with thanks to all those who've
made my current situation more bearable. Thanks to my Mommy who has
blessed me beyond beliefe by taking me back and forth to the hospital,
therapy, work... and wherever. Never complaining and never fussing.
Just serving.

Thanks to my sister, Leniqua for being a great little sister. She
hangs out with me, just being herself, which makes me laugh
hysterically. This helps me take my mind off of myself and my
emotions. Laughter is good, like a medicine. (prov 17:22) She has
always accepted me for me and treated me as such. She's another person
who knows me better than I would like to give her credit for *smile*.
She's fun the be with and very sensitive to me. She's a darling!

Thanks to John and Becky for visiting Chris in the hospital and Becky
calling to see what I need. I haven't called her yet, but I know that
she will help in a heartbeat.

And to all others of my church family, coworkers, and all for just
causing my life to be so much more enjoyable. Thanks fot the big and
small things you do that make my life much more meaningful.

Sad and Depressed Today

I know that lots of time has elapsed since my last post. It just seems
that busyness overtakes me and I want to write, but then sleep takes
over me and... Dang it! It's time to start this old mary-go-round all
over again.

Anyway, the biggest news right now is Chris' thyroid surgery. They
performed a thyroidectomy--taking the thyroid out. Then, they did
autotransplantation--putting a piece of the thyroid back in his
body--his is in his arm. I had never heard of such a thing. My my my,
how medicine has progressed. Anyway, his surgery was Friday. All went
well. God is healing him up totally and fully!

As of Tuesday, which is today, he's still in the hospital. I keep
telling myself that all things will happen in His time. God knows what
is best and at what time. In the meantime, I'm fighting back some
strong emotions of oppression and depression.

You want the truth? Well, here it is... I miss him. I miss his jokes.
He's so good-natured. Never letting life get him down for too long. I
miss his keen sense of observation. I hardly have to say things to him
about myself or my thoughts. He... just seems to know. He actually
knows me much better than I give him credit for. And whether you know
it or not, I can be a trip (but only sometimes... LOL), and he's
patiently there.

Beneath his hard, joking exterior, he has the softest heart. And me?
I'm all about the inside, the stuff that most folks won't stick around
long enough to see.

I'm just missing you today, Chris. I pray that the Lord Jesus
continues your full and quick recovery. God bless you is my prayer.

Love,
Your wife