DANCE PINK

"I don’t know if you have seen the Resurrection Sunday Dance from Budapest, Hungary but it is powerful. So much so, that it has gone global. This coming Easter it will be performed around the world and it will be happening on the Peninsula on the mall area in front of the Ferguson Center (CNU), Sunday, April 24th at 5:00pm.
"I have attached a promo about the upcoming event, which you are free to use to help promote the event. The promo has 2 websites. The first is the actual video of the dance in Budapest last Easter. Watch this and you’ll catch the vision. This is what you need to show for others to catch the vision. This is the dance we will be doing at CNU. Can you see hundreds across denominational lines joining together to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ?  "What a way to finish out Easter! The second is an instructional video. You will notice is has one person who is very accomplished and the other two who are still learning. It was designed this way so ALL levels of movement can feel comfortable and be a part. Because it is electronic it can be accessed at all times by anyone, making it easy for anyone to participate.
You will notice that no church name is attached to the promo sheet because it is for the entire Body of Christ to come together to celebrate His resurrection.  When we come together we will only perform the dance, we may do it twice, but nothing else will be done.
"Why should my church, my ministry (Youth, Interpretive Dance, Drama, etc.) organization or I be a part of this?  It is one of those rare times where we can globally join together to celebrate, but double so, because of its unique creative art form. Secondly, It will be videoed from multiple viewpoints much like the one in Budapest.  Even though it will be done in a public setting the real outreach will occur electronically as people tell there friends of the event they participated in, which can be viewed through various means of social networking. It will take on a life of its own! That is exactly what we hope happens." I was sent this in an email by my pastor this morning about an new Christian Dance that will be happening around the world on Resurrection Sunday. You have got to see this. It is awesome. I may even get out there with the young people and do it. I encourage you to bring this to your church and have a community dance for the Lord on Easter. What a wonderful way to worship. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SymvsnAOnL0&feature=related

There are training videos on YouTube also. 

I am excited about this. I guess because I used to teach line dancing. I am going to see if I can get it together and teach it too. Praise the Lord for his blessings. This may even get me off the computer chair. LOL

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

2011 PINK

How is the new year treating you? I am doing alright. The cold weather is not treating me so well though. The RA is acting up. It is difficult to type so usually I tweet because a lot of that is copy and paste unless I am interacting with someone personally. Well, I am back to my New Year's Favorite Resolution. I am dieting again. LOL!

New Year's Eve was great. We did our usual thing by going to a friend's for a party. We all brought covered dishes and drank sodas. We played games with Monopoly money and had an auction for gifts at the end. We had some wonderful people this year. Some were missing that were at another party, but there some new people who made up the difference. Plus, the three granddaughters were there. They were so sweet. They helped their grands with the games and were very intelligent young girls. I enjoyed talking with them all evening. The upshot of all this is that I broke the diet before the ball dropped all the way down in New York.

I have a WBV machine. It is a whole body vibration machine. A friend of mine who had MS passed away last year and his wife sold it to me. Marty didn't get much use out of it, but I am. You can just stand on it and get benefit, but it does even better if you exercise on it. I even saw one similar to it on "The Doctors". It is supposed to help with belly fat. I am going to get back on the program again. I am also going to do the @ZnaTrainer O2 Breakthrough. It is a wonderful program. So wish me luck if you want. Personally, I don't believe in luck. Prayer would be better. I need all the prayer I can get. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011 PINK



Garrett & Taylor-2010



Happy New Year! December was a rush time for us. We went to Branson MO on a road trip. We ended up stranded in Lexington KY because of snow, but only for a couple of days. We were at my mothers and it was nice to be there an extra day or two. She is busy looking for things to give away or sell. Her house is so large and she has been saving stuff for so  long. She doesn't want us to have to go in and clean things out after she is gone. Her health is pretty good. She turns 81 this year and is still involved. She is an artist and she draws and paints, Watercolor, Acrylic, and Oil. She has a huge Barbie Doll collection and wants to sell it, but no one wants them right now. I told her to hold off and see what happens when the economy picks up.

After we got home, it was a bevy of Christmas Parties and then I went to NC for the week before Christmas to decorate the Beach House. During all this, my computer was acting up. The USB plugins were not working so I couldn't use my mouse. Darn, I hate the little mouse pad on the computer itself. It is difficult for me. I sat on the phone with Sony help for hours. I cleaned up and backed all my data on CDs. I could still use the computer so I took it with me to NC Verizon Wireless Purgatory. I was actually able to get on occasionally while I was there. They must have updated some of the towers. I didn't even turn it on for 5 days, it stayed in the bag and I just got so much done.

I love to decorate the packages with Wire Ribbon Bows and it was something I could make when I was resting in between more strenuous tasks. I made two aprons for Rhonda to give away and she brought me another one to decorate. I put buttons, findings, and wrote with acrylic paint on them. They were for some of her teacher friends and Rhonda said they really loved them. Then I got busy making crochet dishcloths for her to give to other friends. I don't even remember how many I made, but I do know that it was very theraputic for my hands.

The grands, Garrett and Taylor stayed with me some and we made cookies. Taylor even stayed overnight. She is so scared of so many things. She has always been frightened of so much, even as a baby. Her staying overnight with just me and without Garrett was a big deal. Something was working on me that night and I couldn't stay awake. I sat down in Ray's recliner about 6 p.m. and dozed off. I knew when she tried to wake me up, but I just couldn't stay awake. I woke up at 1 a.m. and wrapped gifts until 5 and sat back down in the recliner with my coffee and fell asleep again. She had fallen asleep on the sofa, so I didn't want to go to bed and leave her alone incase she woke up before it got light outside. Anyway, she wants to stay with me again.

I went to visit Hazel, my first husband's mother. I have always told her that I didn't divorce her, only her son. She it very nice and helps Rhonda with the twins a lot. She always spends Christmas Eve with us and we look forward to time with her. She turned 83 this past year and is still active. She loves sports and never misses a basketball game or a golf match on TV. She has always been supportive of me, even when I was going through the divorce. The children went to live with her when Rhonda was 16 and was sneaking out the window at night. We lived in Dallas and I was so scared she would get pregnant or get into drugs. It was supposed to be for a year, but they were doing so well in school and had lots of friends they didn't want to leave, that I let them make the decision to stay. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I couldn't get child support because my former husband went on disability and wouldn't sign the papers for me to receive payments for the children and I just didn't make enough to support us all, even though I was working 60 hours a week. Being a woman without a degree is very difficult if you are the only bread-winner. Of course, he signed for his mother to get the SS for the children and probably back pay for the time that I was trying to support them without help. Anyway, he passed away a few years ago and I have forgiven him now that I have my family back. God took care of retribution.

Off track again, LOL! I embroidered little sock monkey ornaments for the grandchildren. I put their initials on them in red. I purchased them at Cracker Barrell. They were so cute and something they can see every Christmas to remember me down through the years. I want them to remember me and tell people how much I loved Christmas and loved the giving part much more than the receiving part. I cannot explain the joy that I feel when people open gifts that I have chosen for them. Not to mention, this year I had a new grandson, Dillon. His mother, Sharon, is my new daughter-in-law. She is so sweet, my son really picked a winner when he proposed to her. I am so proud of them both. They have been taking a class at church, Dave Ramsey's Financial Plan. Since they got married last summer, they have been able to pay off all their credit card debt and cut them up. Jeff says that if you pay cash for everything, you don't have to worry about your credit score. They are going to take each of the vehicles and make double payments or triple and get them paid off as soon as they can. They have savings and are not doing things unless they save up for it specifically. I think this is wonderful. Both of them are so grounded.



Here is to your good health and wealth in 2011! Just remember, God is Good, All the time.

Christ Fellowship Pink - Merry Christmas

Enjoy! This is my favorite Rap and favorite YouTube Video. I hope you enjoy this and pass it to as many people as you will. It definately has a message that we all  could abide by.

I am on my way to NC Verizon Wireless Purgatory this morning. The beach house seems to be in the Twilight Zone where cell service is concerned. NC may be be God's Country, but it is yet to be cell country. LOL. Love to you all and if I don't tweet, do facebook, or blog for a few days, it is because I cannot.

Take care and have a wonderful Christmas.

Love, Barbara

Driving to Louisville PINK

We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Mt Vernon IL. Another great dinner. Ray had chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes, okra, and biscuits. I had barbecue pork, with macaroni and cheese, cole slaw and cornbread muffin. My barbecue and macaroni was cold but the waitress was sweet and brought me another plate with HOT food on it. It was wonderful. I bought some more sock monkeys. I am buying a bunch of them and the only place I have seen them is Cracker Barrel. I am buying the 5 inch ones and I am going to embroider the initials of the grandchildren  on them for part of their Christmas presents. I always like to give a keepsake to them each year.

When I started writing on the blog, I remembered that I forgot the picture that we had made at The Legends Concert. I called the Hilton Landing in Branson and left a message for housekeeping to see if they could mail it to me. I will put it on the blog if they do. We are in the car driving toward Louisville now. It is after 7 p.m. and it is very dark. Not much on I-64 in this part of the world. We are listening to a sermon on the radio and I am happily blogging. I bought a new Verizon Samsung Fascinate cell phone. I love it. I am paying an extra $20 a month to have a mobile hotspot. That is so much nicer than the air card I had before. Seems to work very well. Still have a little trouble when we go to Verizon Wireless Purgatory in NC.

I decided to wear my wig today instead of a hat. The wig is warm and looks much better than me with a hat. LOL. It sure is keeping my head warm. I may wear more wigs this winter.

Did you know that God is Good, All the Time? Actually, Good cannot exist without God. Did you know that there is no temptation that God cannot deliver you from. If God has delivered you from a sin, you no longer need to tell everyone that you are a sinner, i.e., alcoholic, thief, etc. If you have been delivered from sin by Christ, you no longer have that label. In your mind, you realize that you need to stay away from that sin, but you don't have to broadcast it to everyone once you have been delivered. Live for God, regardless of the inconvenience you face. Always, let people know who you are. For myself, I bought a large silver cross in California when I was on a business trip. I used the per diem that the government provides for travel for the purchase of the cross instead of lots of expensive meals. I wear the cross most of the time and if not that one, I wear a small one. You would be amazed how it calms down a heated conversation. People who spew profanity usually take one look start talking without the swear words.

I love the quotation 'Profanity is the effort of a feeble mind to express itself forcefully.' I was told it was a quote from President George Washington. English is changing day by day and more people would be more cognizant of their language if they knew that intelligent people thought them ignorant because of their profanity. There are occasions where I have heard someone use a word for emphasis that wasn't very nice, but in the group there wasn't anyone who swore, so it was a very effective use of the word. Using profanity habitually does show ignorance and it also shows that that person does not care about anyone but themselves. Here I go on my soapbox again.

I am so thankful to my Twitter friends who follow me so faithfully. I actually went over 35,000 people this week. Isn't that cool? I know so many of them now, and miss them if I don't see them for a few days. It is amazing how many send me direct messages asking for prayer. I have spoken with them on the phone. I love to give council. I don't have a degree, but I have taken some psychology classes and some pastoral counseling classes as well.  I don't mind retweeting things for people that have to do with charity, and I do retweet a few friends who are doing business, but I choose them carefully.

I am praying for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for all my followers and friends. I wish you well. Lots of Love, Barbara

BRANSON MO PINK

We drove into Branson and went to the Wyndam Vacation Properties office and picked up our package. We were booked at the Hilton Landing Hotel in Branson. What a lovely hotel. I just love Hilton Hotels. They have such nice amenities.  The room was beautiful and overlooked the Branson Tour Railway.We had a lovely dinner at Famous Dave's Restaurant. We had some of the best barbecue we have had in years. They had all different kinds of sauce from different parts of the South. We ordered the special which was a huge platter full of ribs, pulled pork, chicken, fried potatoes, baked beans, corn on the cob, cornbread muffins. It was everything the brochure said it was. I don't remember eating barbecue that good in the past 30 years. We waddled out of there and went looking around until we went to the Legends show.

We had picked up the tickets in the afternoon for the Legends show. The stars were "Elvis Presley, George Strait, the Temptations, Patsy Cline, and the Blues Brothers. Of course, they were impersonators, but the were pretty good impersonators. Looks like this is a really good time to go to Branson. The prices were not too bad and there didn't seem to be a whole lot of people there. They had started the Christmas show and we really had a good time. We had our picture made with Elvis and George Strait. I am not one to be impressed by celebrity, so fake ones didn't do much for me. I was amazed that them for their talent. In fact, we saw them again on Branson TV doing their own thing and they were good on their own. 'Patsy Cline' and Jake from the Blues Brothers sang "Mary Did you know?" near the end of the show and it was a show stopper. It was almost worth the trip for that one song. It sent chills. If you are not a Christ-follower, you might not enjoy the shows there, because they are not afraid to proclaim his name. I had a wonderful time.

Twilight Zone Pink

Ray and I left Virginia on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day. The temperatures were in the 50/60s. Lots of sun and just cool enough to be comfortable. We drove through the mountains and I mostly read and slept. I really enjoy my Kindle. I started reading “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown. I don’t take his writing literally, but it makes for good fiction suspense.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Charleston WV. The food was great. Ray ordered Chicken & Dumplings, fried okra, and macaroni & cheese. I had the children’s bowl of Chicken & Dumplings. They brought fresh biscuits and cornbread muffins. It was very good and the service was excellent. I bought some more sock monkeys for grand children. We got to mother’s house in Lexington KY about 9 p.m. I got the key from the neighbor, since mother was on her way back from Dallas.

My brother, Sonny and his wife, Pat, along with their son, Jeremy, and mother went to my niece, Heather’s home in Dallas for Thanksgiving. Heather is pregnant with her second baby. They moved into a new home this year and Heather has never had the family come for a holiday. So it worked out great for them all. I am sure that I will hear the rest of the story when we get back to Lexington.

Anyway, we waited around Monday until after 2 p.m. for them to finally get back. Mother was so anxious to see Buddy, she couldn’t wait to go get him. Buddy is her little Yorkie who she boarded at the Vets. We left by 2:30 p.m. and drove a long and winding road. That is where the “Twilight Zone” comes in. We were on the Bluegrass Parkway and relying on “George” (our Garmin GPS) to lead the way. At first the weather was great but as the evening progressed, it deteriorated immensely. It started to rain and then there was lightning, and then George led us to two lane roads. I felt that we were in a very bad situation. It was pouring down rain, the two-lane road had deep ditches on the side and there were times that it was difficult to see the white line on the side of the road. I thought to myself if we skidded off the road into one of those ditches, we might not be found for days. Then at some point, we went across the Mississippi River on a two-lane bridge. That was scary in the dark on a rainy night. I was expecting to see Rod Serling’s face pop up at any time and say “ And now you have entered the Twilight Zone.” We got to a place called Sikeston MO and for some reason we circled it and came back to the same place we entered again. The GPS said we were at the Comfort Inn, but it was not there. We drove another half mile and came up behind it.

We unloaded the car and rode around looking for dinner. We couldn’t find anything, so we stopped at the Burger King in front of our motel (Comfort Inn and Suites). One of the employees was kind enough to direct us to Ruby Tuesday across the street, which even with direction, we had a hard time finding because it was on another street and the lighting was not very good. It was a beautiful Ruby Tuesday. There were lovely items on the walls and it was very clean. Even the bathroom was spotless. That says a lot to me. If a place has clean restrooms, then the kitchen is probably clean too. Ray ordered a huge burger and fries and I ordered broccoli and cheese soup. The waitress brought some garlic and cheese biscuits. They were really good. The whole meal was a pleasant experience. So if you are ever in Sikesville MO, Ruby Tuesday has good food.

We went back to the room and got ready for bed. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted. Sometimes George doesn’t take you the right way. It may be the shortest or the fastest way, but not the smart way. We are a little like George ourselves. We have the ability to follow the smart way when we let God be our co-pilot. I know that there were times last night that I asked for God to slacken the rain so we could see the road, and it seemed like every time I asked, He did. He is always there for us if we just ask for his help.

This morning was good, we got up and took our showers and got away from the hotel early because of the time change. The Comfort Inn in Sikeston has a wonderful breakfast that is included with the cost of the room. There was a waffle machine where I made a waffle and split it with Ray. I had some egg and a little cheese and a cup of coffee. Ray had a biscuit with SOS and an egg, sweet roll, and a cup of coffee. The little dining area was spotless. We empathized with some of the other couples there who had gone through the rain last night. Did I ever mention, I have never met a stranger? We were in the car by 9 a.m. and on the road. The overall experience at the Comfort Inn was very nice. It was clean and neat. We had two double beds so both of us go a good night’s sleep. We are driving through some dreary country right now. I think that is because most of the leaves have fallen from the trees and there is no sun today. At least it is a four lane road. It is 35 degrees and windy this morning. I am not used to this kind of cold and my fingers are hurting as I type.  

My rheumatoid arthritis seems to be getting worse, instead of better. Everything hurts this morning. My hands are the worse part but my sciatic nerve in my back may be causing some of my pain. Ray is having trouble with his right food. It swelled up yesterday. We found him some ibuprophen last night but it hasn’t helped much. I gave him a small prednisone pill, hoping that will help.

In the news this morning, I listened to the case of the young man in the Army that leaked all the classified information to Wikileakes. How dumb can any one person be? I know that when I worked for the Air Force Air Combat Command, if you were dumb enough to mishandle classified, you could be fired and if you intentionally gave it away, you could be fired or persecuted and sent to Federal Prison for Life. You could be persecuted and end up being executed for treason. This young man’s father was in the Army at one time and he was trying to get on his father’s good side by joining the Army. I just cannot imagine how disappointed his dad is in him now. I know that the frontal lobe sometimes doesn’t fully mature in some young men until they are around 25. I heard that he was gay and has been teased and bullied all his life. Such a shame that he couldn’t have been just a good kid, who was loved. All children need love.