Two weeks ago we picked up our new puppy Roscoe. He is a tri-colored beagle and full of energy. His fur is so soft and he loves to cuddle. We thought we were prepared for this new adventure having purchased everything we thought he would need and then some. We’ve been use to an older trained dog that is quite sedentary, so the frequent potty runs and chewing on everything has inspired us to get moving. I’m growing quite fond of my little fur buddy and I’ve begun to realize that he is a people magnet. On one of our many walks over the weekend, several people, especially small children,…

The other day I was shopping at Walmart. I’m not a big fan of their new self-checkout system especially when you have bulky items like the good sized house plant I was purchasing. As I was scanning items in the cart it felt like I was playing the shell game. You know the one where you shuffle the shells all around looking for the piece underneath. The few grocery items that I was purchasing were hiding around the plant and as I scanned them and bagged them I ran out of room on the counter. The machine would keep asking if I was bagging that item and it seemed as…

I am blessed to meet so many different people at my work. They all have their own stories and it’s always interesting to hear them and learn more about them. At the beginning of the week I received a call from a lady named Candice. She was inquiring about the cost of taking a trip to Hawaii. I gathered the details and sent her the quotes. Later she asked if she could make an appointment to discuss the details and finalize the trip. Candice was going to go by herself because she needed some time to just breathe and feel and respond to her feeling without worrying that someone else…

The last few weeks have included many trips down memory lane. One of my co-workers was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She is facing it with such courage and calmness. It has provided several opportunities for us to talk as I will be taking on some of her responsibilities that will require being trained in accounting and other office programs. Besides the training we have spoken often about the bigger issues, her health and facing this trial with her family. As she began treatment she said she often thought of Brock and wondered how he felt going through similar things such as ports, chemotherapy and the unknown. I’ve enjoyed…

Two times this week I have had encounters with strangers that were very uplifting and took me by surprise. The first was a man that was looking at the pictures in the office window. I was reading a message on my computer that made me smile and he saw me and walked in the office. He said that my smile made him smile and he wanted to say thank you. It had made his day to see me smiling. I think it was the opposite; it made my day that he would take the time to come in the office and say something. Many people walk by the office and…

On Easter Sunday the church was full of people, many of whom I had never seen before. During the worship service my husband nudged me and said, “Watch that little baby over there,” as he pointed to a table, “he is learning from the adults about praising God.” I looked at the table and sure enough the grandfather was holding the baby on his knee as the grandmother and parents were standing and singing. He was completely focused on them as the worshiped and he watched them without making a sound throughout the whole song. It was a beautiful site which only got better when the grandfather moved and I…

Today we celebrate the greatest Divine Encounter the world has ever seen, The Risen Lord! We’ve all heard the story of Mary Magdalene who was the first person to see Jesus alive again. We read about her joy when He spoke her name and her excitement to go and tell the others. What about the men on the road to Emmaus? Their response was, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” And don’t forget the disciples that touched His nail scarred hands and broke bread with Him. He gave them peace. Think back to your most…

One day at a weekly bible study group, a godly woman asked everyone if they would pray for a young mother in the church that had recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She was a single mother with a young son and was in a new relationship with a man who had one daughter. This man had lost his first wife to cancer a few years before and all of them were devastated with the news of her diagnosis. During the surgery the doctor’s found more than they expected and removed as much as they could. They would have to wait for the lab results to determine if she would…