Time for a change...

I enjoy change... to some degree anyway. I like rearranging the furniture. I like reorganizing the cabinets/closets. I like to try new hair styles (not so quick to change the color though...). I like to spice up the wardrobe. And so I thought it was time to change the template on my blog. :-) Whatcha think?

Yesterday I meant to post a special blog, but didn't get to it... So I will attempt to do it today instead. It is in honor of a dear friend, Mabel. She was like a Grandmother to me and yesterday would have been her 105th birthday, if she was still alive. Unfortunately, she passed away almost 10 years ago... a change I didn't like! I still miss her. I wish my kids could have known her. Oddly enough, sometimes Emma reminds me of her - even though they never met and there is no blood relation between them. They would have enjoyed each other's humor!
Mabel was always memorizing bible verses and short poems. I remember her saying, "I love you little, I love you big, I love you like a little pig." She was a silly one and fun to be around. For New Years' Eve she would call her pastor at midnight (and waking him up) and ask, "Is this 1-9-8-5?" (or whatever the new year number was... this year it would be 2-0-0-7.) The response was always, "No, you have the wrong number." She got such a tickle out of it.
In honor of her, I am posting a poem she memorized and said often...

HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE

I was walking down life's highway a long time ago.
One day I saw a sign that read, "HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE".
As I got a little closer, the door came open wide, and when I came to myself I was standing inside.
I saw a host of ANGELS. They were standing everywhere. One handed me a basket and said, "My Child, Shop With Care".
Everything a Christian needs is in that grocery store. And all you can't carry, come back the next day for more.
First, I got some PATIENCE; LOVE was in the same row.
Further down was UNDERSTANDING; needed everywhere you go. I got a box or two of WISDOM, a bag or two of FAITH.
I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST, it was all over the place.
I stopped to get some STRENGTH, and COURAGE to help me run this Race.
By then my basket was getting full, and I remembered I needed GRACE.
I didn't forget SALVATION, which like the others was free. So I tried to get enough of that to save both you and me.
Then I started to the counter to pay my grocery bill, For I thought I had everything to do my MASTER'S will.
As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER; and had to put it in, for I knew when I stepped outside, I would run right into sin.
PEACE AND JOY were plentiful; they were on the lastshelf.
SONG and PRAISE were hanging near, so I just helped myself.
Then I said to the angel, "How much do I owe?"
The angel smiled and said, "Just take them everywhere you go."
Again, I politely asked, "How much do I really owe?"
The Angel smiled again and said, "MY CHILD, JESUS PAID YOUR BILL A LONG, TIME AGO."

Happy 105, Mabel!