A Christmas Story Just A bit late

I had planned on putting this entry in at Christmas but I just couldn't think straight....so here it is a little bit delayed....

 

 

Once upon time, more than two thousand years ago, there lived a little girl named Sarah and she lived in a town called Bethlehem.  Her father owned a very popular Inn and had many patrons. Sarah had two brothers, Joshua and Matthew, they were a few years older than she.

 

Her mother and father were kindly people, trying their best to raise their family within their means.  Sarah, even at her young age, worked a full day helping in the inn. She would sweep the floors, empty and wash out jugs for her mother.  Her mother was a wonderful cook and was teaching her daughter her skills.  The boys, after their Hebrew lessons, helped with the horses cleaning the stables, currying the horses and feeding them.  All in all, it was a busy life.

 

Sarah liked meeting all the different types of people who visited Bethlehem, she seemed to learn a little bit from each person she spoke to. She was a rare child who felt empathy with people less fortunate than herself and because of her kindly heart she was well loved by the townsfolk.

 

Her mother and father called a meeting for all their workers to announce that the Roman's had ordered a census of the population. That all people had to return to the city of their birth to register before the end of December. Their parents explained that the town's population would grow very large over the next few weeks. That being said, they were also told that there would be a lot more work to do because they knew their inn would be overflowing with guests.

 

Soon, people from all walks of life were pouring into Bethlehem filling all vacant rooms. Their Inn was so busy that they barely had time to sleep, due to waiting on so many people.

 

Sarah had a strange dream during this time, she was in a field staring up at the sky and she saw this most beautiful star. It seemed to shine as though a million candles were shimmering from it. As she watched this star it's light formed a beacon shinning down on her little town of Bethlehem. She wondered why the light was happening over the city.  When she awoke she felt very happy, she didn't know why but she felt something great was going to happen.

 

One cold and chilly night towards the end of December, Sarah was outside the Inn helping her brothers fill the stalls of the stable with clean hay. She saw a man walking towards the Inn leading a donkey who was carrying a woman who was very heavy with child.  Sarah knew they would stop and ask for a room..but there were no rooms at the Inn. A little voice inside her head told Sarah that she must help these two people, that it was very important.  Sarah ran to find her father.

 

She found him in the kitchen helping her mother lift a very heavy kettle. 

"Oh, Father..there is a man outside whom needs a room can we please help him?" she asked.

 

"Now, Sarah, you know we haven't any more rooms to let. He is going to have to go someplace else, I can't make a room appear." her father gently said.

 

"But, you don't understand Father, this is important. We have to help them, we just have to."she stated.

 

Sarah's father was used to her kind hearted requests but this time it seemed different. He decided he had best go see what had his daughter so excited.

 

He found the man in conversation with one of his sons, who was explaining that there was no room at the inn.

Sarah's father studied the man and his wife and as he did a feeling of calm overcame him and he heard an inner voice telling him to make these two welcome somehow.  But how? His own family was sleeping in shifts in the kitchen because they gave up their rooms to other guests.

 

Sarah had followed him outside and came up to her Father and very gently said...

 

"Father, the stables are warm, clean and at least they would have a roof over their heads."

 

So the young couple were led into the stable and made as comfortable as possible. Sarah's father sent Joshua into the inn to get extra bedding for the couple, so that they would be warm.   Strangely Sarah noticed that all the animals were very quiet almost peaceful.

 

So it came to pass that in that small lowly place a great miracle of birth took place, and Jesus was born.

A great many important people, Kings and all came to pay their respect to the new born babe.

 

Sarah was amazed at the way the babe and his family gave off a special glow and thought back on her dream of the bright star...as she looked up she realized that the star was shinning directly over the stables and she realized just how special this night was oh so long ago.

Only the good die young?

This is the saddest entry that I have made in my journal.

We mourn not for the people who are lost to us, we mourn because "we" have lost them. I think most of you know Kim of Demandnlilchit and Lahoma of Lahoma's Laments...it seems impossible to think that they are gone, within hours of each other. 

Both these girls reached out to me with their own brand of friendship...no strings attached...just straight outright friendship and love. They were actually my first friends here, along with Jeanno43..she's across the pond.

I grew to care about and respect both these women for their strengths, their determination, their devotion and love to family. The two of them were probably the most polar opposites you could imagine in their upbringing. Yet, they both possessed a great inner strength that helped them battle on against great odds.

Lahoma, born to the mountains of Virginia...she could trace her roots to the Hatfield/Mccoy feud! Part of her family heavily into the hard work of coal mining, she did not have an easy childhood. She knew that I did research in ancestries, so she provided me with a bunch of facts to sort out. Which I did for her.

A couple of years ago I started on Ebay selling, oneof the things that I was selling was a Barbie doll that I had tattooed! Lahoma thought that was so hysterically funny that I tattooed the doll and SOLD it!

I, on the other hand, laughed myself silly over the antics of Lahoma's pet pig! She knew that I loved monkeys, so she rounded up a bunch of graphics and sent them to me...knowing how much fun I would have with them. She just did things like that.

About two years ago, my older son (unmarried) saw a picture of Lahoma on MySpace as my friend...wanted to know "who" the hot chick was...I couldn't resist - I told Lahoma, it made her day and she actually did become Ken's MySpace friend too. He, too, was saddened to learn of her passing.

 She was without a Mom or Dad for so long, she was just my own daughters age, I felt so much empathy for her hurting.  Yet, throughout the years she always stopped to smell the roses, dance the dance and lived life as best she could...loving her Robert and Cameron.

 Anytime someone needed help that she could give, where to find something, how to insert photos etc. she gladly did so.  I feel so bad for her family...Cameron is still so young only 17,  I pray the road ahead for him is steady. Lahoma worried so for him. Determined to fight to the end, I know that she knew how many people loved her. She so often made me smile and laugh I shall miss her beyond belief.

Kim, oh my God, she could make you laugh. She poured her heart and soul out in her journal. When she wrote she took you into her inner core and you felt everything that she felt.  She would send me quick emails highlighting what she liked in my journal and commenting. When I was writing my stories about Japan, it drove her nuts that I wasn't doing the stories faster...and she let me know it! She was such a feisty spirited lady...God forbid you should "bother" her kids.  The claws would come out like a big Momma Bear protecting her cubs. I loved her for that too.  Our own beautiful Irish Warrior Princess you are missed.

I know it will be alright, sometime soon...but right now my heart aches.....

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Warning

This was forwarded to me in an email from Jeanno43. Please feel free to copy and send on to other journalers so that they are safe from this type of scam...

In the Journals Chatroom, you may come across user lilyg97, who is plugging journal Lilyland. http://journals.aol.com/lilyg97/lilyland. That is the journal I alluded to in my entry on Credit Card Info (http://journals.aol.co.uk/pharmolo/NorthernTrip/entries/2007/12/22/credit-card-info/5586),

Do not comment on the blog Lilyland, or enter any information on the entry form in its bottom entry, specifically not credit card information. Again, NEVER give out credit card information in Journals, and you don't need that whole rigmarole to join a shared journal.

The Journals team will deal with this rogue element on Monday.

I copy the email correspondence below.
Guido

-----Original Message-----
From: malikas4478@aol.com
To: pharmolo@aol.com
CC: vishy2004@aol.com; journalseditor@aol.com
Sent: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 1:50
Subject: Re: Journals complaint

No one should be asking for credit card information and specifically not to join a shared journal.
Please advise everyone in JLand.. that they should not give out credit card information.
You do not need credit card information to join a shared Journal.
Shared Journal is created on a trust basis, meaning you create a journal and ask your friends to be authors.

I will have Joseph look into this when he returns on Monday.

Thanks Guido for pointing this out.

Note, I will be out of the office next week on vacation, so please contact Vish or Joseph for any urgent issues.

Happy Holidays,

Malika

-----Original Message-----
From: pharmolo/M@aol.com
To: malikas4478@aol.com
Sent: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 3:20 pm
Subject: Journals complaint

Can you advise me whether journal http://journals.aol.com/lilyg97/lilyland/ is allowed to ask for credit card details in order for people to join this shared journal? Doesn't sound too kosher to me

GUido

 

Sometimes people just amaze me, one clever idea after the other to separate fools from their money....be careful out there folks..love,. Sandi

AOL's new homepage has launched. Take a tour now.

Liberty

 

I received this in an email and I really have to completely agree with it...feel free to pass it on like the man says...

 

       From: "David LaBonte"
 
   My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC
   Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it
   myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so
   inclined.
 
   Dave LaBonte (signed)
 
   Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the
 Orange
   County Register:
 
   Dear Editor:
 
   So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land
 is
   made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down
 the
   Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being
 treated
   the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of
 entry.
 
   Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people
 like
   Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
   immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas
 of
   Europe to come to the United States , people had to get off a ship and
 stand
   in a long line in New York and be documented . Some would even get down
 on
   their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold
 the
   laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made
 learning
   English a primary rule in their new American households and some even
   changed their names to blend in with their new home.
 
   They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children
 a
   new life and did everything in their power to help their children
 assimilate
   into one culture.
 
   Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor
 laws
   to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had
   brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
   children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along
   side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy ,
 France and
   Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought
 about
   what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting
   Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the
 United
   States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in
 those
   villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or
 the
   Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried
 one
   flag th at represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons
 would
   have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to r
   epresent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents
 who
   had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it
 meant
   to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and
 blue
   bowl.
 
   And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the
 same
   rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
   different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
   guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's
 not
   what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
   landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for
 all
   the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
 create a
   land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better
 life
   I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by
   those waving foreign country flags.
 
   And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it
   happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration
   bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just
 yet.
 
 
   (signed) Rosemary LaBonte
 
 
   KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE
 RIGHTFUL
   MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!! LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!!
 
 
   I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the
   nation!!
  
 

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

 

  Boy! How many more icons can we tear down? Maybe I am totally nuts, but this steroid crap has got me crazy.  These men work out, exercise, take care of themselves...put it all out on the line for the sake of "the game" and then get ripped to shreds without any "proof" that they did it.  Oh, wait, a trainer decided to "name names"...big whoop.  What makes his word so damn infallible?

Exactly what does the steroid use do? I know it pumps you up...in my case the type that I take makes me gain weight, or plumps me up....but it dam well does not make me feel like a million dollars.   Does it make it easier when one of these guys rips a tendon in his arm from throwing 94 mph plus?

Maybe I am in the minority but I consider the publication of all these names outright slander.  The creep Mitchell, and he does look like a vulture, said smilingly...Proof? proof...oh, I have the word of the trainer - who injected etc. etc...that's proof enough.   Oh, really....I think not.  When one reporter asked how did some of the guys come through all the testing showing they had not used the drug....he gave some vague reference to the dates in question as to when the person was tested.  Doesn't that stuff stay in your system a long time?

I am sick and tired of seeing the media, the government or the powers that be..go after people who have, through their own efforts and hard times too, achieved a level of success...earning fame...through which we can turn their feet to clay...

I may get some people mad, but eventhat guy Vick, it's awful what he did but do you realize that he was given more time in jail than some rapists get? These judges are not longer judges - they are scared of the media, wanting only good feedback on well profiled cases so they over react in their sentencing. Maybe they all want to be Judge Judy.  Don't ask my opinion on the judicial system in this country.

Oh, and Mitchell said he's done all this to make sure that the youth of our country knows how wrong it is to cheat.  Well, sir, your point will not help put more kids into a game that has been a national pastime for years...in fact, you are killing it.

 

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A Poem For A Dear Friend

This is a poem for my friend Lahoma, she is in very serious condition in the hospital.  For those of you that know her and those of you who don't her Journal is Lahoma Laments....please leave some words of comfort and say a prayer....thanks....Sandi

 

 

Friends come into your life

for a reason.
Some you only get to know for a
short season.

Others are longtime comrades

immersed in your childhood

memories.

Journal friends are special

knowing them from their

personal stories.

One such friend I found in

Lahoma, she who possesses

such an indomitable spirit.

She overcame so much in

her life constantly having

to show her grit.

Her faith was never crushed,

she has held it tightly within.

Our prayers are constantly

sent, dear Lord please wrap

your arms around my friend.

Now she is fighting the fight

of her life.

And I pray to God, please give

her strength and let her win.

 

Sandi

Winter Is Finally Here Maybe

  Wow, the temps here are jumping back and forth like a darn jack rabbit! One morning it's 50 degrees and right now it's like 81 degrees. Wreaks havoc with your whole body health, at least I think so.

Although, I really should not complain at all considering what the Northwest has been going through.  My sister and her family live out in Washington State, right smack where all that terrible weather just occurred.  My sister's house is on high ground so she came through okay, but my nephew's house has a small river that flows just behind it...maybe 800 feet down a small ravine. They live in Olympia right smack in the middle of where this storm did it's worst.  Thank God for some reason their house was spared, but for three days they did not know that because they had to evacuate do to the danger.  He and his wife have five kids all under ten...so no way was he taking a chance. They have neighbors who lost everything, the closest town was hit hard. It just reminds us to give thanks for what we do have, because there are so many things that can happen.

I put that silly looking green tree picture up for a reason...that's a baby Amorphous. When it is full grown it's about six feet tall and attractive in an unusual, exotic plant kind of way. Well, slight hint of winter...they all keel over. Don't worry, they don't die for good...just the top part that we see.  The corm keeps growing, getting bigger and bigger each year. We walked out the other morning to see bodies lying everywhere..lol. But, at least I knew then for sure...winter was on it's way!

I have all the old pictures up because I am on a sentimental trip right now. Yesterday, through Classmates a very old friend of mine surfaced,the last time I had seen Denny was in 1973 shortly before he was to transfer to California with American Airlines.

Then he surfaced again in the early 90's, with a rather odd occurrence, which makes you realize just how small our world is. I was working as a wedding/party planner and one of the girls that we house catered to was also a New York transplant and had attended John Adams High School, but years after I had. She was more my younger sister's age. Well, New Yorkers love to talk and talk we did. She had her party and was very happy, in fact she reordered again the following year. About a year after her last party, I get a phone call asking for me by my maiden name. Turns out to be Denny - he had been in a chat room researching ancestors and my customer and he connected. He told her he had gone to Adams, so naturally she brought up my name and my sisters. Bingo! Small world isn't it?

Well, he's in LA and of course they are ahead of us in all ways...he gave me his computer email, and address. Which, organized as I am, I promptly lost.  Of course, back then, who knew that I would ever learn the computer or become addicted to it? Lol.

So forward to this decade. I joined Classmates...he just did...and he re found me. It is a nice feeling to connect with old friends and relive old memories.

The building picture is an aerial view of Adams, it still is a high school. In the early sixties it was voted the best high school in New York, shortly after that they broke up the "900" schools they were the schools for teen delinquents. My poor school. I can remember having police on each floor for quite a while, for supervision. I also remember getting threatened daily to "give up my homework", "lose the volleyball, don't score or else". At one point, this group of delinquent girls went after my friend Linda. She was the captain of our Volleyball Team and the other girls were mad that they lost..their threats did not work on any of us. So they jumped her in the lockeroom...so, of course, I jumped on them! I am not for violence, but back then I was very defensive of my friends. We managed to get them to back off. But for a while there we had to watch our backs.

Even with these memories, I still think fondly of my school and my fellow classmates.  The other picture is one of the way we had to line up for them to open the doors, even in the dead of winter. We all look so funny with our babushka's.

Then there is the lunchroom shot of my boyfriend Jimmy, myself and my friend Louise. This one made it into the class book. Why I will never know. Just a glimpse of what 17 looks like again.

I've promised Denny I will try to find pictures from back then...

It was so nice to connect with him.... 

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