Sneaking Out of Blogland. For Awhile.

Well, Folks... I need to take a blogging break for around 12 days, or so. 

Let's just say I have a major project which will require much focus and attention. A good project, so no worries, all right? And I promise the next time I write, I'll explain all the juicy details.  :)

So in the meantime, feel free to read my archives or my online book if you've not yet done so. Or visit other blogs or take a walk rather than reading my blog or--- Well, use your imagination and have a bit of extra fun while I'm away from Blogland, ok? 

I'll miss you, of course. Those of you who comment here or at Facebook or in emails and even those who read but seldom, if ever, comment. Just knowing that 130 (or so) of you stop by regularly is enough to keep my heart warm and my fingers typing.

Please take good care of yourselves, perhaps do a little extra prepping for upcoming changes in our Country (just couldn't resist slipping that in!) and I'll see you when I return.

May extra blessings come your way, Debra

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you.



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Oooo! And I'll leave this for you to think about. Encouragement City, especially in this world in which we all find ourselves living. (Click to enlarge.)

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Oh, and to my Facebook friends; I'll also be away from there during this time. I'll miss your interesting stories, photos, prayer requests--and you!


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Free Kindle Books:


Wildflowers

A Song for Bellafortuna

Finding Hope




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Each day is a new canvas to paint upon. Make sure your picture is full of life and happiness and at the end of the day you don't look at it and wish you had painted something different.

 Ritu Ghatourey quotes  

Funny Thing Happened at the Dentist's Office ---

" ... but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."   ... 1 Samuel 30:6



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I just returned from the dentist's office and to keep things simple I'll copy and paste the email I sent to Tom at work:

"I actually had fun at the dentist's office! Wow. Even though I had a filling done. Even though I'm going to have to have *two* teeth pulled later. And even though my whole mouth situation is pretty bleak. Even so, it felt more like fun than drudgery.

There were Disney posters everywhere and lots of dental workers (one was his daughter) and lots of patients and it felt more like a circus. Everyone was laughing and super nice! And the young guy who pulls teeth (and who grew up with the older dentist's son) seemed so sweet and explained to me how he'll pull mine. He came in to work just as I was leaving and took the extra time to take me back to the room to look at the x rays and my actual teeth.

Amazing that this place is so close--what a blessing! One of those God-things, definitely, and reminded me why I love New York so much."

I often encourage you to expect good things, and well, this weekend I 'encouraged myself in the Lord' to do the same. Even though I'd never been to this dental office and even though I've got some scary problems inside my mouth. Even so.

I'm glad I did and oh my--God has again shown himself so very good, far better than I deserve. Indeed.

             

             "Be it unto you even as you have believed."  Matthew 8:13

          "You have turned my mourning into dancing for me."   ...Psalm 30:11

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Live in faith and expect the best. Through every

 trial, God will make sure you come out better 

than before.

 Nishan Panwar quotes  

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What's cooking in my crockpot today?  Barbecued pork necks.

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Free Kindle Books:

A Question of Destiny

Dust and Ashes

Solidify

Miracles You're Probably Not Noticing --

                                         "And be ye thankful..."


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It still feels like a miracle.

For five months our water pressure went all two-thirds lower than its former self. Tom called the City a few times ('the squeaky wheel getting the oil'), they came out, knocked at the door and said our pipe had broken. On their side. 

More calls and more weeks later, oh my! The workers repaired the pipe on Friday and now water gushes from our faucets. The good way. The way which feels like a full-blown, can-you-believe-it? miracle. No more standing at the sink, feeling like I slid into eternity while filling a pan with water.

And yes, this is a reminder for me to be oh-so-thankful for tiny things in daily life. They are the important, vital things, after all and there's no guarantee that always they'll be around. 

It is a good thing to whittle down our future regrets.

But today, as today is, these (mislabeled) small things make every hour worthy of a confetti-throwing, soda-drinking celebration.



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I've written before (like here) about dicey dental office visits, but you probably didn't even notice that I've not said a word about dentists lately. That's because (frankly) I was enjoying not needing to go see ours. All my teeth behaved for ever so long (relatively) so I ignored the dental receptionists' pleas/post cards/phone calls to get my teeth cleaned (they missed me, they insisted. Riiiiiight.), and instead, reveled wildly in my tooth-problem-free, happy-as-a-lark years.

Of course, it caught up with me. I knew it would. But oh, how good it felt to not have to go to the dentist all the time.

Anyway. Over the last few months I lost a filling and majorly broke a tooth, both which didn't bother me till last week. Sigh. 

But the good news? 

Within an even-Debra-can-walk-it distance of Hobbit Cottage, there's now a dentist's office. Kinda feels like another miracle, actually, because rather than have to get out of the house at the ungodly hour of 6:30 a.m. (as Tom does), drive him to work, hang around our previous Autumn Cottage Town for hours till the dentist office opens, go there, drive all the way home, then later, drive all the way back to Tom's work, pick him up, then drive back home through rush hour together--instead--

...tomorrow I'll just take a pleasant stroll beside the river to the new office whose receptionist sounded ever-so-pleasant over the phone this morning.

Oh, if only we could keep our eyes open for the daily miracles which surround us!  If only we constantly thanked God for every small joy. 

If we could? I'm sure our heads would not nearly so often defeat us.

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."  ... 1 Thessalonians 5:18



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Speaking of dentists--please keep praying for my friend, Anne. Something appears to have gone wrong with the procedure at the oral surgeon's office last week. She really needs our prayers. Thanks so much.

And thanks for keeping Naomi in your prayers. She's officially in London now and will be there the next few days.



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Need something for which to be thankful today? Go here. This woman lives in just 86 square feet (albeit in Paris, but hey...) and though she's been ever-so-clever about the whole thing, still---

Oh, and all those stairs! No, no, no. (Don't they have elevators in France?) heh.

(A special thanks to my niece, Melissa, for sharing this story with me at Facebook.)

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What's cooking in my crockpot today?  Pork and vegetable soup.