Hi Everyone. CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) sent out a newsletter that was so sweet, that I want to pass it on to you.

CEF Suncoast Chapter Praises and Prayers
Greetings brothers and sisters! How often in our busy lives to we realize that God’s grace is sufficient for us. It is our fleshly desires that tells us we need to have this, or we have to do that. When the truth is, just knowing that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins, and through our faith in His work, we have a home in Heaven is enough. Through God’s grace this ministry is able to share what Christ did for us with others. Everything else is just a blessing from the Lord. As adults it may be a little easier for us to recognize that, but when a child does….it is just AMAZING!

This is a prayer request a child turned in this week at Good News Club: “Dear God, I pray before you because I love you and what I dream to do is thank you Lord for everything and all I have I am thankful to you.”
Jayde.

Exodus 15:2 “The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation; He is my God…..”

WOW, now Jayde's prayer, let's use the word AWESOME! How was that for encouraging???

On a far lesser note (KEM here), even a shabby note, compared to the above, I had lunch with a dear childhood friend, my "little sister," Barb. (That is not the lesser or shabby part, time with Barb is a treasure.) But we got on the subject of No Hands can openers. I was telling her my sob story and she said, I have one of those and I love it. This gives me hope. I, too, shall find a way to love my Hands Off can opener. Barb cleans her blade by turning it (hers has a knob to do that, mine doesn't) and rubbing a paper towel on it. Her opener was a more deluxe version, I think, but I hope mine will do that somehow and I don't have to dissect it every time. See, I told you this was lesser.

And lesser still, I was on the verge of returning the Can Can Christmas Tree Skirt and using a fluffy white throw instead when Mike announced, The Can Can adds pizazz, keep it. He acknowledged that it might not go with my color scheme, but that will be nothing new around here. What color scheme? I've never had a color scheme a day in my life. Besides the Can Can can serve double duty when I need to dress up for a costume party (which is never).

And least of all, remember how I spilled salad dressing a while back on my brand new red J. Jill sweater, quicker than quick? Well, I still wear the sweater, no washy yet. And today I wanted to reexamine the spot, but I cannot locate it, even though I KNOW it is on the ribbed left sleeve cuff, to the right of the seam. Where did it go? Honestly, it was the size of a nickel. Am I losing it? Tonight at the choir Christmas party I asked a man, Remember your birthday cake after choir practice? He said, No. I said, Well, you had a cake and now another choir member and I are arguing over how old you are. So, how old are you? He said, How old did you think I was? I said, Well, you don't look it, but you said you were 80. He said, I'm 75 and I don't remember a thing you're saying. I said, Maybe you were kidding me, but I really thought you said you were 85. In fact, I KNOW it. Well, the cake happened in January. He doesn't remember any of it, and apparently I don't either. The other choir person said he was 75, so I lose that one.

Then, still at the choir party tonight, I said to the lady next to me, I really liked your carrot souflette (sp) that you brought to a church dinner one time. She looked at me like my last marble had rolled out of my head and across the floor. I don't make carrot souflette, she said matter-of-factly. I said, You most certainly do, and it's delicious. To which she replied, I've never made carrot souflette in my life, I always bring broccoli casserole to the dinners. I said, No, you brought carrot souflette (would really help if I could spell the main word of this story) and you told me, when I inquired, that you used butter, not margarine, and that the Picadilly Cafeteria serves this carrot souflette and furthermore the recipe was in the newspaper, which I KNOW it was, I cut it out. Meanwhile, her grown son is piping in that his mother has never made carrot souflette (nothing like a gang up) and just exactly what is my vision of carrot souflette? I said, I don't know, eggs, butter, milk, sugar. He informed, Mom makes mashed carrots with salt and butter only. WELL, WHATEVER, carrot souflette in my book. She mashes them like potatoes. She finished up by saying, I never brought mashed carrots to a church dinner.

Folks, I GIVE UP. But in the Dirty Santa gift exchange I got a really neat gift, for once in my life. At first I opened a picture book from a movie on the nativity. Included was a candle holder carved with the manger scene. Someone shouted, That is from Israel! I said, It says here, MADE IN CHINA. So I sat down and thumbed through the book because I adore looking at pictures of the Holy Land. Not sure if they filmed the movie in Israel, but I pretended they did. Fortunately, someone stole my gift and my new gift was a $10 gift card to the grocery store. I liked that. The carrot souflette boy had gone first in the exchange, so he got to go last, too. He wanted my Publix gift card, but he had compassion because I am a family, or part of one, whereas he is a young bachelor, so he didn't steal it.

The carrot souflette lady, who was almost last to go, ended up picking out the gift I had brought, which was a CD of some coffee music. It has a German title and she tried to read it to the group. When she sat down next to me, not knowing it was my gift, of course, she gave it the once over and then shrugged to her husband, trying to make the best of a bum pick, It might not be that bad. HA! I bought several of these CD's once upon a time and it was just aching to be delivered from the prison of the gift box. Well, the carrot souflette lady cracks me up any day of the year, and she certainly did not disappoint tonight.

Then I won Bingo. Boy, was this a banner night, or what? Carrot Souflette Woman said, Let's play E Bingo. She was dying to win, but I won, Gary and I both won, but I shouted BINGO! first and got to pick my prize, which was a huge ball ornament full of who knows what. Gary got the reject. Then the choir gave me a $50 gift card to Macy's, way to go choir.

This Gary, during the dinner he folded green construction papers and made a three dimensional Christmas tree out of them. Everyone at the table oohed and aahed. Then he and three others stood in front of the group and were asked to take a sheet of green construction paper and make a Christmas tree out of it . . . behind their backs. I handed Gary his fancy tree and said, Hold this out front when time us up. So, that's what he did and, needless to say, his work of art tree was quite superior to the torn shabby blobs of trees everyone else produced. But since he cheated, it didn't count.

As far as the Dirty Santa, the two women in charge of the party had two separate and distinct ideas how to handle it, do Dirty Santa, or don't. The one lady is a hoot and she said, Whatever everyone wants. So, of course, we all wanted Dirty Santa. Halfway through it, she lost track of which number was next, so she waved her hand and sorta slurred, Whoever, whatever, I don't care. It was funny and I thought, She's getting soaked. But on what? Gary said, You been hitting the bottle?, echoing my sentiments exactly. Oh, and she was the one who got my friend's gift. My friend, I watched him do it in his house, picked an old used Gaiter Trio CD from his stash and proceded to wrap it in the Toys 'R Us newspaper ad, which at least boasted the Christmas colors. The lady did a country jig upon the revelation of this exquisite gift. I'm telling you, we had a jolly good time.

Okay, the Jazz went out in the bitter cold and now she must have her Greenie toothbrush for a treat, which is almost as fabulous as a sweet potato french fry -- but falls far short of a car ride.

KEM the Blogger and not the Housecleaner