Author Archives: joyful_admin

I always wondered about that word.

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Remember the wonderful story by Charles Dickens,
“A Christmas Carol“? I’ve always thought it was such a great story. The main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is very much like all of us, at one time or another in our lives. We get involved in our lives and cynical when things don’t turn out quite the way we expected or hoped. I wondered about his name, Ebenezer, especially when I heard it in one of my favorite songs, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. You can listen to it here. So, being the curious sort of person that I am, I looked it up. This is what I found.
Ebenezer means “Stone of Help.” It was the name of the memorial stone set up by Samuel to celebrate God’s help to Israel in their great battle against the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:7-12)
An ebenezer is a stone, but can also be a pile of stones on the ground.
A really smart person named Christian said “It represents help from God, raising my ebenezer means I am going to ‘praise God’ and mark the spots of His grace toward me as places to REMEMBER! [In the song “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”,] the song writer is saying to this place in my Christian walk I have come dear Lord, a glorious place, I never thought I would reach on my own, and Lord I did not reach it ON MY OWN, but by YOUR HELP, therefore it is a place worthy of a mark in my mind, in my heart and in my acknowledgement of YOU, as my Gracious God. I think if we wanted to raise an ebenezer today, it would not necessarily have to be a pile of stones, though there would be nothing wrong with that. It could also be a date we remember and celebrated on our calendars, or an extremely highlighted and MARKed, remembered and celebrated place in our diary! “
I love that explanation. Maybe Charles Dickens named his character Ebenezer to represent that Ebenezer Scrooge’s parents were grateful, christian people who wanted to acknowledge God in their lives.
And now that I know what an ebenezer is, I will raise my ebenezer in my life.

Happy Birthday!

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I got a camera for my birthday!! Remember, I’m not a professional. I just want some darling pictures of family and friends, pictures for this blog and pictures of the most beautiful grandbaby. I love that we can record our lives in pictures. So watch for it!

Getting Older…….

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Birthdays are good for you!
Statistics show
that the people
who have the most
live the longest.
-Larry Lorenzoni
I’m having a birthday next week. I have been having them for years. In fact, they’re so much fun, I think I’d like to continue having them. I’m going to celebrate all day. I’ll do some shopping, maybe a movie, go out to dinner. It’s always a good excuse to celebrate. So I will.
Happy Birthday to Me!!

Beautiful Places

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Conservatory Gardens in Central Park, New York City.

Absolutely amazing!

It’s a little bit heaven, in the middle of the city.

I need just one (or maybe a few) of these in my yard.

I’m sure my darlinest

would be happy to accommodate me.

The pink and yellow are my favorite.

How does God do that?

He is amazing!

I think He made these just for me!

Have a great day!!

Look for the beauty in all of God’s creations.

Fireflies!

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The first time I saw a firefly was on my mission. I’m not sure fireflies exist in Utah. When I was serving in Austin, Texas we had just arrived at a teaching appointment and gotten out of the car. It was dusk, which is about when they appear. I saw a flash, then another, then I said to my companion, “Look!” She wasn’t as excited about them as I was. I think she’d seen them before.

Why do they do that? What is the purpose? Maybe the creator has a sense of humor. “Let’s make these cute little bugs, and let’s make their bums light up at night fall.” Maybe that’s what He said. Well, it makes me think about the scripture in Matthew 5:16,

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

What if I were like this little bug, pleasant and did my best to be beautiful inside and out, and what if my actions and example caught someones eye. What if they said, “I like her! What makes her special?” And then they asked me why I have a little light? Why I am the way I am? What if I was able to tell them that I am special, but so are they! What if I told them how much our Father in Heaven loves them and that they have a little light, too?

I have been told I’m an example. I hope I’m a good example. I know I’m not the most spiritual, I’m just doing my best. I know I sometimes do silly things, but that’s not wrong. I hope I’m the kind of example who loves others, and brings a little laughter to life. I hope when others see my example they think, “She’s doing her best. She is good. She loves others.” And I hope that makes them want to do their best, be good and love others.

I’m so grateful for that little bug with the bum that lights up.

It just makes me happy!

Dishes: a necessary evil!

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Since my kids were small, I have encouraged (really insisted) that they make a contribution, in helping clean up around our home. I mean, they live here too! Actually, they were more helpful in their own special way, at about 3 or 4 years old than they are now. (Remember, my baby is 15) One thing that everyone has the hardest time with is- dishes. We have tried all different ways to get ’em done. It used to be everyone takes a day. Of course, no one is going to do the dishes that were supposed to be done yesterday by another family member. Our latest is-everyone has dishes a week at a time. Trust me it’s still a challenge, if they do a lousy job, they get another week. Does anyone else struggle with this? or are we the alone?

One thing that has helped us have a true perspective is this… I have a poem laminated on the fridge, that has been there for many years. It was written by Edgar A. Guest. I love him. It goes like this:
Thank God for dirty dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While other folks go hungry,
We’re eating very well.
With home and hearth and happiness,
We shouldn’t want to fuss.
For by this stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.
I know the kids have it memorized, because sometimes I make them read it. Especially when they are giving me a little ‘tude! (that’s attitude for those of you who don’t have teenagers)
I am thankful for dirty dishes! And I thank God for the food that we have to eat off them!

Family History Friday (FHF): You Can Do it!

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This is a research log. It is one of my favorite forms for family history/ genealogy. Of course a lot of people prefer the computer for research and organizing, but we all have some paper. Be it a file of papers that aunt so-and-so gave us, or a box that sat in your parent’s attic, we all end up doing some research that involves paper. I found a lot of very relevant information in books and other sources that I ended up wanting a paper copy of. And it’s easier to have one sheet of paper (research log) as we do our research than just your lap top or a little tiny piece of paper that will get lost. You’ll end up looking at the same source again and again saying to yourself, “I think I’ve seen this before.” What I’m trying to say is that I use both the computer and paper. I have, and use, a computer program for organizing, as well as a small file and a history book of each family with all the information that myself or others have found that pertains to that family. In the front of each of these books is all the research logs used during the research for that particular family. That way when you’re ready to do some more research you know already where you’ve looked before. You put the name of the family that you are researching on the top and fill in the rest. This form can be found at the Family Search site I gave you that link for last week. Here it is again. I love my ancesters more and more, when I spent time finding them and finding out about them. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy