When she first “opened her salon”, she would sit me down and fluff my hair up and stick a bow on it, and declare,”Pretty!”

As she started getting older and more advanced in her hair styling skills, she would start combing and brushing it vigorously. I would sit there and smile and try not to act alarmed but she was really pulling my hair at times. When the occasional, “Ouch!” slipped out, she would say, “Sorry!” and try to be more gentle.

On our last “hair styling session” I realized that I was going to have to start setting some limits.

She began with the combing. She was trying to comb the natural curl out of my hair to make it look like her naturally straight long hair. When she got frustrated with this task, she decided to put it up in a pony tail.

She had one of those “twisty ponytail holders” in my hair all tangled up. When she couldn’t pull it back out, I reached back to see what kind of condition it was in. It was tangled and twisted almost beyond repair.

“What did you do?”, I asked. “How are we going to ever get this out?”

She said, ” I think we’re going to have to cut it out!”

“Oh, no!” I cried. I decided I just had to draw the line at the scissors! With all of her new found talent, I still didn’t think she was skilled enough to start cutting.

I pulled and tugged until it finally came loose. And another “hair styling” session had come to a close.

I don’t doubt that one day she will be a wonderful hair stylist, and I will look forward to getting my hair done by her.

But in the mean time, if you happen to see me with one side of my hair quite a bit more lopsided than the other–please don’t laugh!

To be a father is an awesome responsibility; a father is to be the head and leader of his family; a father not only protects and loves his family; he leads them in the right path. Being a father is not always easy, and not every man takes this responsibility as his own. There are those who take no responsibility at all.

But to those of you who are true fathers; we salute and honor you; we are grateful for you; and we love you dearly!!

As we head into summer and all of the joys that it does bring, I hope each of you will enjoy it and remember it fondly!!

I believe Mr. Camping was sincere in his belief, but he was just sincerely wrong. Most people that read the Bible know that no one knows the day or hour the rapture will occur; not even the angels in Heaven. Only the Father knows that day. But He does tell us that there will be signs that the end is near-there will be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in different places, people will be lovers of self. And there are many other signs that we are indeed near the time of the end. But to try to out-smart God by setting a day would be foolish.

As we are mindful of these uncertain times, let us fully appreciate the time we now have to enjoy our lives and do what we can to make a difference.

I wish each of you a wonderful Holiday!!

Those May flowers are sure to follow soon; and I hope all of you talented photographers will have those cameras ready. Happy shooting!!

I wish them a long and prosperous marriage filled with love and happiness of which they seem to already be blessed with in spades!

I was very fortunate in that I only lost power and cable for a couple of days; but some of my neighbors weren’t so fortunate. The tornado ripped through on the North and South of me, but I was spared from any harm. I am truly thankful for my well being and God’s tender and loving mercy.

It will be a while yet before things are cleaned up and repaired, but friends and neighbors have really come through and been helping each other night and day to get the essentials done.

The power company worked night and day to get power restored; and we are very thankful for all of their hard work.

Many people have bonded together to help each other through one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit our area. Even though some areas still look like something out of  a fictional movie, many areas have been cleaned up and repaired already.

Keep those still  in need in your prayers.

I have wonderful memories of Easter’s past. Going to church all dressed up in my Sunday best, listening to the preacher tell the story about how Christ was born from a virgin and how he healed the sick, cured the blind, and even raised the dead, how he died on the cross and was risen on the third day as an atonement for our sins so that we could be born again and go to live with Him in Heaven.

After a wonderful dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and yellow cake with white icing; we would go hunt the eggs that we had colored the day before and someone had hidden while we were eating. Then we would trade eggs for our favorite colors and exchange candy to get what we wanted most.

We had wonderful Easter days and when family could come and share in the fun, it was even more special. But when I think of those days sometimes it was just the simpler things of hearing the birds singing on a beautiful sunny spring day that made the day come alive and make you so happy to just be alive and enjoy another wonderful day.

My hope for you is that you enjoy that same simple pleasure of a beautiful spring day and all of the wonders that it holds!!

My son handed him his sandwich and said, “I don’t know, son. ” I told him that was fine if that was what he wanted. My son wasn’t well versed in pickle, mayonnaise , and mustard sandwiches, seeing as he was never served those as a child. But growing up myself, I had a few of those myself. It brought back some old memories of making mustard crackers when I was a little girl. My grandson enjoyed his pickle sandwich, and I enjoyed watching him eat it as I remembered those from my earlier years.

We all have different tastes, and not just from necessity. Some times we just crave the unusual. I had a relative once that had unusual cravings for food as she got older. She went out with her family at a steak house once, and when it came time for her to order, she wanted a potato salad sandwich. The waitress seemed a little confused as she explained that wasn’t on the menu. She insisted that was what she wanted; so her daughter just smiled and asked the waitress if they could just please make her a potato salad sandwich. They did and then everyone was happy.

I am glad I have many food options to choose from these days, but I will never forget those days of pickle sandwiches.

Winter  is not giving up without a fight, but it is losing the battle as warmer winds are starting to blow our way. Today is a beautiful sun shiny spring day and we are hoping for many more to follow.