The Marvelous Toy" is an enduring children's classic. It was written by folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton, who had auditioned unsuccessfully to become a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio and, by 1963, had begun to establish himself as a solo performer. The charming song tells the story of a mysterious toy presented to a child, complete with sound effects. "I never knew just what it was," goes the chorus, "and I guess I never will." Despite not joining the group, Paxton remained close to the Chad Mitchell Trio, who recorded "The Marvelous Toy" for their Singin' Our Minds album, released in October 1963. The group had made few inroads into the singles charts, but Mercury Records perhaps felt that "The Marvelous Toy" had the potential to become a Christmas standard, since the song was released on 45 the following month. November 1963 didn't turn out to be a good time to release such a novelty, as the assassination of President John Kennedy darkened the country's holiday mood; nevertheless, "The Marvelous Toy" got halfway up the lists of 100 most popular songs and also made the easy listening charts. It began to spread as a children's song and helped out the career of its author, who was signed to Elektra Records in 1964. There were more recordings over the years, the most prominent being Peter, Paul and Mary's version on their 1969 Peter, Paul and Mommy album.
Greetings from Costa Maya!We are on vacation- first time in over a year I have missed an entry in my blog- but I bet no one noticed? The internet on ship is 75 cents a minute and we are in Mexico now with 92 temperatures and lots of sun. We actually arrived in New Orleans on Sunday morning, a bit overcast in afternoon and yesterday at sea. This is our first stop. hard to see computer in sun, so will write more later.
A plane was taking off from Kennedy Airport. After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the Captain made an announcement over the intercom: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax. OH, MY GOD!" Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the Captain came back on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the Flight Attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!" . A passenger in Coach yelled: "That's nothing. You should see the back of mine!"
Perhaps this is one of the most touching speeches given by a brides father to the groom I have heard. I did not get a lot of counseling or advice before I got married, I do remember my dad gave me a short letter he got called "Marriage is Death"- I lost it, but it was good advice and wish I could find a copy of that again. Hopefully I can show my grandkids by example on marriage, as Grandpas never give speeches at weddings. If anyone should have a copy of that article, please send it to me.
Bill’s second Anniversary was coming up and if there was one thing that got his wife Suzy upset, it was not getting a thoughtful gift on a special occasion. Bill quizzed all his friends, co workers, clients and anyone he happened to bump into, as to what would be a good anniversary present. He finally settled on a huge bouquet of flowers. Not willing to trust himself to pick out the right flowers, Bill called up a local flower shop with strict instructions to deliver the biggest most beautiful bouquet of flowers first thing in the morning with the following note “Happy Anniversary Year Number Two!” The morning of the Anniversary Bill made sure Suzy would be the one to answer the door as he waited anxiously in the other room. “WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?!” Hollered Suzie angrily holding up his well thought out note, “Happy Anniversary You’re Number Two!”
Nathan Mellor has some great advice -"Less Rules, More Character". It seems the theme today we hear on the news is more rules to solve our issues? Sadly we hear that too much in church's as well. Building Character is nothing new- rather something we have forgotten. I hope we can instill Character in those around us. The only thing lacking in todays video is Verses from the Bible- is where it all starts.
I have obtained a copy of a recently discovered document from the 1st century. It’s from the first publisher of the Bible – this was before there was Zondervan and Tyndale and all those publishers. It’s a letter from them to the Bible’s original author… Dear Sir,
While we appreciate that the writing of Your manuscript has involved the work of some 40 authors and taken over 1500 years to complete, as with all writers, we feel it is important to present to You some editorial suggestions for the sake of Your book’s marketability. Please understand that these are presented with Your interests in mind, as well as the necessity of this book paying for itself as we fulfill our contract with You.
At first, our review board thought it would be best to leave out some of the less-believable material – talking donkeys, floating ax heads, parting of the sea, bread from heaven, and things like that. However we are willing to leave those in. We’re just concerned that You not undermine Your work’s credibility.
However, there are still some certain elements that we deem best left out, even though they are factual. Clearly You haven’t included every thing that ever happened, so why not omit a few features that might otherwise harm Your book’s sales? – for instance, the inclusion in Joshua of the story of a prostitute named Rahab. It seems the account of the spies in her home is just as easily left out without altering the story of the conquest of Jericho. Why make such a character a key figure in your main story line? To bring her name up again in the New Testament as an illustration of good living seems to be using poor judgment too. (If you look in Hebrews 11:31, she’s one of only 2 women mentioned there – people who had faith – along with Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and others. Then James mentions her in 2:25 as a person who was “considered righteous” for what she did.)
Worst of all is her name appearing in the genealogy of Jesus along with 2 other women of questionable background. (Sure enough, right there in Matthew 1:5 is Rahab – she married a guy named Salmon and had a son named Boaz. Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed the father of Jesse, the father of David – and Jesus descended from that earthly line.) As Your publisher, we should point out that it isn’t even considered customary to include the names of women in such lists. Our suggestion is that they simply be omitted, as in most genealogies.
If we have somehow failed to catch the spirit of Your work, our apologies. We are, of course, simply interested in Your work being polished in a way that it will be most widely read and accepted. Thank You for working with us to make Your book the best we can make it.
I enjoy lotto commercials for the humor and not the promotion of the games. Although I do buy a ticket occasionally- I have not bought one this year yet nor do I feel I am hooked on it. I came across this article below that really made me sad. God has given us so much and I often wonder if we will have to give an account on how we spent out money in our lifetime someday? I would not call buying lotto tickets as an investment-but then there are other things people spend too much on that are not investments either. They say you will never be happy with what you want if you are not happy with what you have. Please look at your spending habits occasionally- and seek help if you need it- it is no laughing matter.
Ex-San Diego mayor who gambled away $1 billion remorseful
February 14, 2013 8:10 pm
Maureen O'Connor was the first female mayor of San Diego. But when she left public life, she spent countless hours seated in front of video-poker machines, authorities said.
Over a nine-year period, she wagered an estimated $1 billion, including millions from a charity set up by her late husband, who founded Jack in the Box.
That was the portrait that emerged in court Thursday as the frail former mayor tearfully acknowledged she skimmed more than $2 million from a charity founded by her late husband, Robert O. Peterson.
O'Connor, 66, admitted in a plea deal that she had a gambling addiction and is nearly destitute. Her lawyer, prominent defense attorney Eugene Iredale, suggested that a brain tumor may have impaired her reasoning; he gave reporters copies of her brain scan from a 2011 surgery.
O'Connor's rapidly declining medical condition "renders it highly improbable — if not impossible — that she could be brought to trial," according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors.
"This is a sad day for the city of San Diego," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip Halpern. "Maureen O'Connor was born and raised in this town. She rose from humble origins.... She dedicated much of her life, personal and professional, to improving this city."
The $1-billion gambling binge stretched from 2000 to 2009, according to court documents. In 2008 and 2009, when the fortune she had inherited was not enough, she began taking from the R.P. Foundation to cover her losses.
Despite being ahead more than $1 billion at one point, O'Connor "suffered even larger gambling losses," according to prosecutors. Her net loss, Iredale said, was about $13 million.
She was considered such a high roller that Las Vegas casinos would send a private jet to pick her up in San Diego. Records show that O'Connor won $100,000 at the Barona casino in San Diego County, while at roughly the same time she needed to cash a $100,000 check at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Those who knew the former political doyenne said she had become a recluse, inscrutable even to those she counted as friends.
"I considered myself one of her closest friends, but I would call her and she wouldn't return my call," said lawyer Louis Wolfsheimer. "I didn't want anything from her, just to know how she was. But it looked like she was becoming reclusive."
In a bargain with prosecutors, O'Connor agreed to repay $2,088,000 to the R.P. Foundation started by Peterson, which supported charities such as City of Hope, San Diego Hospice, and the Alzheimer's Assn., and was driven into insolvency in 2009 by O'Connor's misappropriation of funds, prosecutors said.
"I never meant to hurt the city," an emotional O'Connor told reporters gathered at a restaurant close to the federal courthouse. She promised to repay the foundation but declined to answer questions.
Prosecutors agreed to defer prosecution for two years. If O'Connor violates no further laws and makes restitution, the charge of making illegal financial transactions may be dismissed. Under the agreement, O'Connor acknowledged her guilt but was allowed to plead not guilty.
If convicted, O'Connor could have faced a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.
As part of her plea agreement, O'Connor agreed to settle "all tax liability resulting from her receipt" of money from the foundation. She also agreed to seek treatment for her gambling addiction.
Although she is currently without income or a bank account, O'Connor's economic status could reverse if she wins a civil lawsuit filed against a German bank involved in the 2005 purchase of a resort in Mendocino County that O'Connor had purchased in 1998.
O'Connor sold the Heritage House for $19.5 million but has alleged that she was the victim of fraud in the sale. A settlement or victory at trial could provide the millions needed to pay restitution to the foundation and also the tax liabilities involved with the misallocation of its funds.
"No figure, regardless of how much good they've done or how much they've given to charity, can escape criminal liability with impunity," said U.S. Atty. Laura Duffy.
One of O'Connor's major worries, defense attorney Iredale said, "is fear of losing her reputation."
Internet has changed our lives in so many ways- even in dealing with complaints. I received this email/song describing how a disgruntled customer handled his issue with United- who have since tried to resolve the issue? He has since written a book on this. Why would someone need to hire an attorney? I look forward to flying United Next Saturday- I know they will treat us and our baggage just fine.
The power of the Internet.........A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for youtube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded: "Good luck with that one, pal."
So he posted a retaliatory video on youtube. The video has since received over 6 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: "Good luck with that one, pal."
Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has led to a sharp increase in orders.
UPDATE; This came out on news after I posted this- Thank You United for doing this. We flew to New Orleans on United and they treated us good as well. It is never too late to do good.
United Airlines holds plane so passenger can say goodbye to his dying mother
March 4, 2013 Kerry Drake’s mother was dying. She’d suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for decades and the drugs used to treat her condition had decimated her immune system. One morning his brother called him to say her time time had come.
Drake caught the next flight from San Francisco, where he works for the federal government, to Lubbock, Texas, via Houston.
“I knew this itinerary was a risk because the stopover in Houston was only about 40 minutes, and my connecting flight was the last flight to Lubbock that day,” he says. “But I needed to get there as soon as possible, so I took the risk.”
As it turns out, United flight 667 was delayed leaving San Francisco. Drake was visibly distraught. You can’t prepare for a moment like this, but now came the very real possibility that he wouldn’t have chance to see his mother before she passed away.
A flight attendant, Sofia Lares, tried to comfort him. “She said she would do everything she could and brought extra napkins for my tears,” Kerry says.
Another flight attendant, Lan Chung, asked Kerry flight number and relayed it to the captain.
Flight 667 made up some time enroute to Houston, but not enough. By the time Drake’s plane landed, his connecting flight had left the gate. At least that’s what he thought.
“As I was running up to the gate, the gate agent saw me coming and shouted, ‘Mr. Drake? We’ve been expecting you’,” he said. “That’s when I knew they had conspired to help me. She waved me onto the plane without looking at my boarding pass.”
United had held the aircraft for him. Not only did he make it to Lubbock as scheduled, but so did his luggage.
“Had I missed my flight to Lubbock, I would not have been able to tell my mom goodbye,” Drake said. “When she died, I realized I was wiping away my tears with the extra United napkins that Sofia had given me the day before.”
He says he’s grateful to the flight crew that made his farewell possible, including the attendants on his San Francisco flight and Denver-based captain Edward Goldstein and Dirk Chilian, the flight’s first officer. He also thanks Houston customer service rep Marie Robertson and all the Houston baggage handlers who got his luggage to his final destination.
United Airlines is the second recipient of our Elliott Award for Excellent Customer Service.
Its great how God made us so different- and some of us more different than others. We have Mark Gungors video series on marriage-its very good- I love how he uses humor to bring home a point. Its nice to know that there are two sides to every story and we can actually utilize the differences make us better.
Knock Knock Who's there? Sherwood Sherwood who? Sherwood like to be your Valentine! Q: What did the stamp say to the envelope on Valentine's Day? A: I'm stuck on you! Boy: Do you have a date for Valentine’s Day? Girl: Yes, February 14th.
Sometimes music can say it better than anything else. Steve and Annie Chapman have that gift of writing/singing. They are one of my favorites. So rather than say anymore with my thoughts on marriage today, just listen to "Please Find A Reason". Don't give up- please. For you who cannot view the video-Maggie Gallagher gives ten reasons below; Please Find A Reason!
TOP TEN REASONS WHY MARRIAGE IS GOOD FOR YOU
by Maggie Gallagher
When Americans debate the value of marriage, most attention focuses on the potential harm to children of divorce or illegitimacy, and for good reason. Mountains of research tell us that children reared outside of intact marriages are much more likely than other kids to slip into poverty, become victims of child abuse, fail at school and drop out, use illegal drugs, launch into premature sexual activity, become unwed teen mothers, divorce, commit suicide and experience other signs of mental illness, become physically ill, and commit crimes and go to jail. On average, children reared outside of marriage are less successful in their careers, even after controlling not only for income but also for parental conflict.
Yes, marriage protects children. And yes, marriage therefore protects taxpayers and society from a broad and deep set of costs, personal and communal. But there is another case for marriage, equally significant, that you probably haven't heard. Marriage is a powerful creator and sustainer of human and social capital for adults as well as children, about as important as education when it comes to promoting the health, wealth, and well-being of adults and communities. For most Americans, this is news. When it comes to adults, the case for lifelong marriage has been framed in exclusively moral, spiritual, and emotional terms: one side argues for personal liberation from marriage, the other urges parents to sacrifice for God's and/or the kids' sake.
These are important considerations to be sure. Parents surely should be willing to make appropriate sacrifices for their kids' sake. But framing the marriage debate solely in those terms obscures as much as it reveals. It misses the profound benefits that lasting marriage confers on adults. And it overestimates considerably the likelihood that divorce will, in fact, lead to greater happiness for the individual.
Recently, I had the opportunity to review the scientific evidence on the consequences of marriage for adults with University of Chicago scholar Linda J. Waite for our new book, The Case for Marriage. What I found surprised me. Quietly, with little fanfare, a broad and deep body of scientific literature has been accumulating that affirms what Genesis teaches: it is not good for man to be alone—no, nor woman neither. In virtually every way that social scientists can measure, married people do much better than the unmarried or divorced: they live longer, healthier, happier, sexier, and more affluent lives.
10. IT'S SAFER. Marriage lowers the risk that both men and women will become victims of violence, including domestic violence. A 1994 Justice Department report, based on the National Crime Victimization Survey, found that single and divorced women were four to five times more likely to be victims of violence in any given year than wives; bachelors were four times more likely to be violent-crime victims than husbands. Two-thirds of acts of violence against women committed by intimate partners were not committed by husbands but by boyfriends (whether live-in or not) or former husbands or boyfriends. As one scholar sums up the relevant research: "Regardless of methodology, the studies yielded similar results: cohabitors engage in more violence than spouses." Linda Waite conducted an analysis of the National Survey of Families and Households for our new book. She found that, even after controlling for education, race, age, and gender, people who live together are still three times more likely to say their arguments got physical (such as kicking, hitting, or shoving) in the past year than married couples.
9. IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE. Married people live longer and healthier lives. The power of marriage is particularly evident in late middle age. When Linda Waite and a colleague, for example, analyzed mortality differentials in a very large, nationally representative sample, they found an astonishingly large "marriage gap" in longevity: nine out of ten married guys who are alive at 48 will make it to age 65, compared with just six in ten comparable single guys (controlling for race, education, and income). For women, the protective benefits of marriage are also powerful, though not quite as large. Nine out of ten wives alive at age 48 will live to be senior citizens, compared with just eight out of ten divorced and single women.
In fact, according to statisticians Bernard Cohen and I-Sing Lee, who compiled a catalog of relative mortality risks, "being unmarried is one of the greatest risks that people voluntarily subject themselves to." Having heart disease, for example, reduces a man's life expectancy by just under six years, while being unmarried chops almost ten years off a man's life. This is not just a selection effect: even controlling for initial health status, sick people who are married live longer than their unmarried counterparts. Having a spouse, for example, lowers a cancer patient's risk of dying from the disease as much as being in an age category ten years younger. A recent study of outcomes for surgical patients found that just being married lowered a patient's risk of dying in the hospital. For perhaps more obvious reasons, the risk a hospital patient will be discharged to a nursing home was two and a half times greater if the patient was unmarried. Scientists who have studied immune functioning in the laboratory find that happily married couples have better-functioning immune systems. Divorced people, even years after the divorce, show much lower levels of immune function.
8. IT CAN SAVE YOUR KID'S LIFE. Children lead healthier, longer lives if parents get and stay married. Adults who fret about second-hand smoke and drunk driving would do well to focus at least some of their attention on this point. In one long-term study that followed a sample of highly advantaged children (middle-class whites with IQs of at least 135) up through their seventies, a parent's divorce knocked four years off the adult child's life expectancy. Forty-year-olds from divorced homes were three times more likely to die from all causes than 40-year-olds whose parents stayed married.
7. YOU WILL EARN MORE MONEY. Men today tend to think of marriage as a consumption item—a financial burden. But a broad and deep body of scientific literature suggests that for men especially, marriage is a productive institution—as important as education in boosting a man's earnings. In fact, getting a wife may increase an American male's salary by about as much as a college education. Married men make, by some estimates, as much as 40 percent more money than comparable single guys, even after controlling for education and job history. The longer a man stays married, the higher the marriage premium he receives. Wives' earnings also benefit from marriage, but they decline when motherhood enters the picture. Childless white wives get a marriage wage premium of 4 percent, and black wives earn 10 percent more than comparable single women.
6. DID I MENTION YOU'LL GET MUCH RICHER? Married people not only make more money, they manage money better and build more wealth together than either would alone. At identical income levels, for example, married people are less likely to report "economic hardship" or trouble paying basic bills. The longer you stay married, the more assets you build; by contrast, length of cohabitation has no relationship to wealth accumulation. On the verge of retirement, the average married couple has accumulated assets worth about $410,000, compared with $167,000 for the never-married and $154,000 for the divorced. Couples who stayed married in one study saw their assets increase twice as fast as those who had remained divorced over a five-year period.
5. YOU'LL TAME HIS CHEATIN' HEART (HERS, TOO). Marriage increases sexual fidelity. Cohabiting men are four times more likely to cheat than husbands, and cohabiting women are eight times more likely to cheat than wives. Marriage is also the only realistic promise of permanence in a romantic relationship. Just one out of ten cohabiting couples are still cohabiting after five years. By contrast, 80 percent of couples marrying for the first time are still married five years later, and close to 60 percent (if current divorce rates continue) will marry for life. One British study found that biological parents who marry are three times more likely still to be together two years later than biological two-parent families who cohabit, even after controlling for maternal age, education, economic hardship, previous relationship failure, depression, and relationship quality. Marriage may be riskier than it once was, but when it comes to making love last, there is still no better bet.
4. YOU WON'T GO BONKERS. Marriage is good for your mental health. Married men and women are less depressed, less anxious, and less psychologically distressed than single, divorced, or widowed Americans. By contrast, getting divorced lowers both men's and women's mental health, increasing depression and hostility, and lowering one's self-esteem and sense of personal mastery and purpose in life.
And this is not just a statistical illusion: careful researchers who have tracked individuals as they move toward marriage find that it is not just that happy, healthy people marry; instead, getting married gives individuals a powerful mental health boost. Nadine Marks and James Lambert looked at changes in the psychological health of a large sample of Americans in the late eighties and early nineties. They measured psychological well-being at the outset and then watched what happened to individuals over the next years as they married, remained single, or divorced. When people married, their mental health improved—consistently and substantially. When people divorced, they suffered substantial deterioration in mental and emotional well-being, including increases in depression and declines in reported happiness. Those who divorced over this period also reported a lower sense of personal mastery, less positive relations with others, less sense of purpose in life, and lower levels of self-acceptance than their married peers did.
Married men are only half as likely as bachelors and one-third as likely as divorced guys to take their own lives. Wives are also much less likely to commit suicide than single, divorced, or widowed women. Married people are much less likely to have problems with alcohol abuse or illegal drugs. In a recent national survey, one out of four single men ages 19 to 26 say their drinking causes them problems at work or problems with aggression, compared with just one out of seven married guys this age.
3. IT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY. For most people, the joys of the single life and of divorce are overrated. Overall, 40 percent of married people, compared with about a quarter of singles or cohabitors, say they are "very happy" with life in general. Married people are also only about half as likely as singles or cohabitors to say they are unhappy with their lives.
How happy are the divorced? If people divorce in order to be happy, as we are often told, the majority should demand their money back. Just 18 percent of divorced adults say they are "very happy," and divorced adults are twice as likely as married folk to say they are "not too happy" with life in general. Only a minority of divorcing adults go on to make marriages that are happier than the one they left. "Divorce or be miserable," certain cultural voices tell us, but, truth be told, "Divorce and be miserable" is at least as likely an outcome.
This is not just an American phenomenon. One recent study by Steven Stack and J. Ross Eshleman of 17 developed nations found that "married persons have a significantly higher level of happiness than persons who are not married," even after controlling for gender, age, education, children, church attendance, financial satisfaction, and self-reported health. Further, "the strength of the association between being married and being happy is remarkably consistent across nations." Marriage boosted financial satisfaction and health. But being married conferred a happiness advantage over and above its power to improve the pocketbook and the health chart. Cohabitation, by contrast, did not increase financial satisfaction or perceived health, and the boost to happiness from having a live-in lover was only about a quarter of that of being married. Another large study, of 100,000 Norwegians, found that, with both men and women, "the married have the highest level of subjective well-being, followed by the widowed." Even long-divorced people who cohabited were not any happier than singles.
2. YOUR KIDS WILL LOVE YOU MORE. Divorce weakens the bonds between parents and children over the long run. Adult children of divorce describe relationships with both their mother and their father less positively, on average, and they are about 40 percent less likely than adults from intact marriages to say they see either parent at least several times a week.
1. YOU'LL HAVE BETTER SEX, MORE OFTEN. Despite the lurid Sex in the City marketing that promises singles erotic joys untold, both husbands and wives are more likely to report that they have an extremely satisfying sex life than are singles or cohabitors. (Divorced women were the least likely to have a sex life they found extremely satisfying emotionally.) For one thing, married people are more likely to have a sex life. Single men are 20 times more likely, and single women ten times more likely, not to have had sex even once in the past year than the married. (Almost a quarter of single guys and 30 percent of single women lead sexless lives.)
Married people are also the most likely to report a highly satisfying sex life. Wives, for example, are almost twice as likely as divorced and never-married women to have a sex life that a) exists and b) is extremely satisfying emotionally. Contrary to popular lore, for men, having a wife beats shacking up by a wide margin: 50 percent of husbands say sex with their partner is extremely satisfying physically, compared with 39 percent of cohabiting men.
How can a piece of paper work such miracles? For surprisingly, the piece of paper, and not just the personal relationship, matters a great deal. People who live together, for the most part, don't reap the same kinds of benefits that men and women who marry do. Something about marriage as a social institution—a shared aspiration and a public, legal vow—gives wedlock the power to change individuals' lives.
By increasing confidence that this partnership will last, marriage allows men and women to specialize—to take on those parts of life's tasks, from developing an interesting social life to getting money out of insurance companies, that one person does better or enjoys more than the other. Though this specialization is often along traditional gender lines, it doesn't have to be. Even childless married couples benefit from splitting up the work. Married households have twice the talent, twice the time, and twice the labor pool of singles. Over time, as spouses specialize, each actually produces more in both market and non-market goods than singles who have to shoulder all of life's tasks on their own.
But because marriage is a partnership in the whole of life, backed up by family, community, and religious values, marriage can do what economic partnerships don't: give a greater sense of meaning and purpose to life (a reason to exercise or cut back on booze, work harder, and to keep plugging even in the middle of those times when the marriage may not feel gratifying at all). Married people are both responsible for and responsible to another human being, and both halves of that dynamic lead the married to live more responsible, fruitful, and satisfying lives. Marriage is a transformative act, changing the way two people look at each other, at the future, and at their roles in society. And it changes the way significant others—from family to congregation to insurance companies and the IRS—look at and treat that same couple. Sexual fidelity, an economic union, a parenting alliance, the promise of care that transcends day-to-day emotions: all these are what give a few words mumbled before a clergyman or judge the power to change lives.
What proportion of unhappily married couples who stick it out stay miserable? The latest data show that within five years, just 12 percent of very unhappily married couples who stick it out are still unhappy; 70 percent of the unhappiest couples now describe their marriage as "very" or "quite" happy.
Just as good marriages go bad, bad marriages go good. And they have a better chance of doing so in a society that recognizes the value of marriage than one that sings the statistically dubious joys of divorce
I love to hear of marriages that have lasted over 50 years- I miss Paul Harvey honoring those who had reached 70 years together. Today I heard of a couple married 80 years. Marriage is work, but I am thankful God made marriage. I think every week should be marriage week- but this week is actually called National Marriage Week, so only fitting each day I post a video dealing with Marriage. Today is from Jeff Allen who saved his marriage with Gods Help.
"Your marriage is in trouble if your wife says, "You're only interested in one thing," and you can't remember what it is."
Louis was talking to his friend Max. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for my Becky," he said, "and there's nothing Becky wouldn't do for me. And that's how we go through life - doing nothing for each other.
Although Southern Gospel may be my favorite music- George Beverly Shea is one of my most respected writers/singers. I purchased one of his albums as a child and have heard him live at Billy Graham Crusades of coarse. He has written numerous songs including I'd Rather have Jesus. And rather than listen to me, let me post the words from a web site by Billy Graham Below. Thank you for your faithfulness and example Mr. George Beverly Shea.
George Beverly Shea, 104, of Montreat, often called "America's beloved Gospel singer," passed away Tuesday (April 16, 2013) after a brief illness. Best known as the soloist of Billy Graham Crusades, George Beverly Shea was born February 1, 1909, in Winchester, Ontario, Canada, and was a son of the late Rev. A.J. Shea and Maude Whitney Shea. Shea's first public singing was in the choir of his father's Wesleyan Methodist Church. George Beverly Shea married the late Erma Scarfe in 1934 at his father's former pastorate in Ottawa, Ontario. They had two children, Ron and Elaine. Erma passed away in 1976. In 1985, Shea was remarried to Karlene Aceto at a ceremony in Billy and Ruth Graham's home in Montreat, N.C. Mr. Shea attended Annesley College in Ottawa from 1926 to 1928, then Houghton (N.Y.) College from 1928 to 1929. From 1929 until 1938. Mr. Shea worked in radio broadcasting as an avocation while employed as a clerk in the headquarters of Mutual of New York insurance company. From 1938 to 1944, Mr. Shea was an announcer and staff soloist at WMBI radio in Chicago. While in this position, he met a young pastor named Billy Graham in 1943. Graham had taken over a radio program called "Songs in the Night" at Chicago's WCFL, and, having recalled hearing Mr. Shea's radio singing, enlisted him to help with the broadcast. That was the beginning of a long association between Graham and Mr. Shea. In 1947, Mr. Shea went to Graham's hometown, Charlotte, to sing in one of the first of Graham's citywide Crusades. Mr. Shea devotedly preceded the evangelist in song in Crusades over the span of nearly 60 years. In his autobiography, "Just As I Am," Graham writes, "I have sometimes said that I would feel lost getting up to preach if Bev were not there to prepare the way through an appropriate song." Also a prolific recording artist and composer, Mr. Shea recorded more than 70 albums of sacred music. At 23, he wrote the music to one of his best-known solos, "I'd Rather Have Jesus," to words by Mrs. Rhea H. Miller. The poem had been left on the family piano by Mr. Shea's mother, and after reading the words he sat at the piano and composed the tune. Mr. Shea was the recipient of 10 Grammy nominations, earned a Grammy Award in 1965 and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Grammy organization in 2011. He was also a member of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame, earning induction in 1978. For his significant contributions to Gospel music, he was inducted into the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame in February 1996. Mr. Shea was also inducted into the inaugural class of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists' "Hall of Faith" in 2008. Mr. Shea's public funeral service was held at 3 p.m. Sunday (April 21, 2013)
Zig Ziglar was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award several years ago. Zig Ziglar is now 85, and married over 65 years- as of this posting. He has been someone who I admire and has motivated me. I enjoyed reading his book "Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World" years ago. I learn from him each time I viewed one of is videos, and I know you do to. On May 28th, 2011, I posted a video by Zig Ziglar called "I hate my job"- it was my 2nd most viewed posting.There are many who I owe a lot to who have helped me in my life- some have passed on and I cannot thank down here. Some I have never met, but influenced my life- as with Zig Ziglar and the Missionary lady I posted below. Janice actually met her in Thailand several years ago. How many can you name who became a missionary at 76 years old or when their spouse died, when most are thinking only of themselves and retiring. It reminds us of those watching our lives and the example we must be. It also reminds me to honor those who have helped me while they are still living- and that gives me a lot of work to do.
Lake Stevens woman, a missionary at 76, dies at 100
By Eric Stevick, Herald Writer
LAKE STEVENS -- Recently widowed yet far from weary, Lois Prater was 76 and feeling restless in her Lake Stevens home.
It was 1988. Her three daughters were long grown and gone and she had time to reflect on the next chapter of her life.
Perhaps, she told herself, she could fulfill a childhood calling and become a missionary.
It was a long-dormant dream that had begun when she was 6 or 7 and living in Olympia. Her father, an Assemblies of God pastor, opened his home to Lillian Trasher, a Christian missionary who had founded an orphanage in Egypt. Thrasher enthralled the child with her stories of helping the needy and serving God in a faraway land.
Prater lived long enough to follow in Trasher's footsteps. Undaunted by age, the elements and the poverty that surrounded her, she founded an orphanage in the remote Philippines town of Orion in the Central Luzon region of Bataan. At the age of 89, and only after the King's Garden Children's Home was well established, did Prater come home to stay. She died Jan. 10 at the age of 100.
Bonnie Swinney, of Snohomish, is Prater's daughter. She recounts her mother's adventures and her determination with a mixture of pride and awe.
She shares a photo of Prater, well into her 80s, with a baby on her hip. In another, she's in the middle of more than a dozen children and cradling babies in both of her arms. During much of her time in Orion, she was the lone American in town, a curiosity for youngsters who had never seen blue eyes before.
The children called her "Lola," a Tagalog word for grandmother.
When Prater first ventured to the Philippines, she did not know exactly what she wanted to do. For a while, she aided missionaries who were already there. Prater, who graduated from a California bible college, started preaching at the age of 19 in the early 1930s and continued to so in the Philippines 60 years later.
She often told Swinney about the plight of malnourished children she'd see in the streets and how she wondered what she could do for them.
At the time, Prater lived simply in the windowless room of a house owned by a church. The ceiling sagged and she could hear rats scamper across the floor as she rested at night beneath mosquito netting.
In 1991, a man appeared at the front door of the home. He was destitute and desperate. With six children to feed and having lost his job, he offered to sell Prater his baby for the equivalent of $40.
"I had a deep desire to help them, but at age 78 I had believed that I was too old to start an orphanage," Prater once wrote. "But this man changed my mind."
She gave him money and helped him find work.
She returned to Lake Stevens and sold her home and most of her belongings and headed back to the Philippines to embark on what would become a tireless pursuit.
She drew up plans, hired an architect, waded into eddies of government bureaucracy, bought and helped clear more than 12 acres of land, raised construction money and recruited staff. In 1994, the King's Garden Children's Home opened. Today, it continues to feed, clothe and school children with nowhere else to go.
"She was a very persistent woman and it was tenacity that got her where she went," Swinney said. "She had tremendous faith. To me, she's the most amazing woman who ever lived. I have no clue how she did it."
Prater's goal was to make the children's home as self-sustaining as possible. Coconuts, mangos, bamboo and pineapples grow on the land at the jungle's edge. What is not used on site is sold. Chickens are raised and a vegetable garden is tended.
Living off the land was not enough to cover all the costs, however.
Prater also sought donors, often through visits to churches.
"The money has never come in large amounts, but people have given from the bottom of their hearts," she wrote. "It is not the wealthy that do most of the giving, but the people who give sacrificially."
Her obituary appeared in The Herald Jan. 20. It was a modest five paragraphs that teased to a century of meaningful life.
Prater didn't want people spending money on flowers for her memorial. Instead, she asked that any donations go to the children's home through the Lake Stevens Assembly of God church.
Most of my Life category blogs feature talent. Maybe is should be filed under hard work as I know he spent many hours perfecting his routine? It is amazing what a person can do when he does not care who gets the attention or limelight. In watching this video called piano puppet, you sometimes can forget you are watching a puppet. I tried puppetry as a child- it was not my talent and this guy is good! I have watched it several times and it always puts a smile on my face. Check out this Piano Puppet. Then look around and see who you can help today
I admire police and the jobs they do. Sometimes you must have a sense of humor to deal with the people they deal with as in todays video. I actually applied to be a trooper in the 80's but did not make it then- not sure if that was good or bad? Instead I worked for WUTC as a investigator/inspector who worked with trucks- we would stop trucks but never needed to carry a gun. I did that from 1985 to 1993. For you who cannot view the video- I posted some police quotes below.
Funny Police Quotes!
“You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through.”
“Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while.”
"If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document.”
“If you run, you'll only go to jail tired.”
“Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you.”
“You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?”
“Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?”
“Warning! You want a warning? Okay, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket.”
“The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?”
“Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop.”
“Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven.”
“In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC.” (National Crime Information Center)
“Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?”
“No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can.”
“I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail.”
“You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't... Sign here.”
“I'm sorry Ma'am, but with the unlicensed gun in your purse plus the DWI, you ARE a real criminal.”
“Hey John, get out of the cruiser and come over here to say “Thank You.” We stopped the guy who pays OUR salary!”
“Yeah, I do have bank robbers to catch, but that might be dangerous, so I'm going to play it safe and write you this ticket.”
“Hurry it up? Sure, I'll just go back to the cruiser and write the citation. Do you have food and water in the car? This shouldn't take more than six hours.”
“Do you know why I stopped you, or do you THINK like you Drive?”
“What do you mean I won't believe you? Just because you've got three kilos of smack and two bodies in the trunk doesn't mean there isn't a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
“No, you've got that WRONG. I'm even TOUGHER without the badge and gun.”
“Of course you didn't DO it. You just happened to start your wind sprints in front of the department store, the VCR is extra weight, and the security guards were providing MOTIVATION.”
“She STARTED it? That's the best you can do? My four-year-old does better than that when I ask why his sister is crying.”
A blonde was speeding in a 35 mile per hour zone when a local police officer pulled her over and walked up to the car. The officer also happened to be a blonde and she asked for the blonde's driver's license. The driver searched frantically in her purse for a while and finally said to the blonde policewoman, "What does a driver's license look like?" Irritated, the blonde cop said, "You dummy, it's got your picture on it!" The blonde driver frantically searched her purse again and found a small, rectangular mirror down at the bottom. She held it up to her face and said, "Aha! This must be my driver's license" and handed it to the blonde policewoman. The blonde cop looked in the mirror, handed it back to the driver and said, "You're free to go. And, if I had known you were a police officer too, we could have avoided all of this."
No dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. However, in a recent linguistic conference held in London and attended by some of the best linguists in the world, a Mr David Smith was the clear winner. His final challenge was this: Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.
Here is his astute answer: "When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE; but, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED. And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!"
His answer was received with a standing ovation lasting over 5 minutes.
