I'm still learning lessons from my mom.

A couple weeks before Christmas, my mom said something in passing about giving a homeless man a five dollar bill, because she was out of ones. I told her to give her money to the Union Gospel Mission instead. They give free meals to the homeless. Don't give it to the dudes on the street corners, as they are likely to use it for for booze and not food. I think supporting the Union Gospel Mission is a better way to feed the homeless than passing out one dollar bills.

Mom then explained she doesn't feel right driving by an obviously homeless person without giving them something. Jesus said that what we do for the least of them, we do for Him. (See below.) Therefore, my mother dear plans to keep giving homeless dudes dollar bills, as it's not her job to monitor what they spend it on. True, but if you want to feed them, why not do why my husband does? He often buys an extra bag of apples to keep in his truck. He passes apples out. Sometimes he even gives the whole bag away.

Days later my mom presented me with her excellent idea. The next thing I know, I'm buying little peanut butter crackers to participate in her epiphany. We packed little gift bags with an apple, peanut butter crackers, some candy, and one of my grand dad's Bible tracts. Grand dad used to order them by the hundreds and pass them out because he was too shy to talk to strangers about Jesus. When grand dad moved to Heaven, I received a box of his little tracts. I used to hand one out with a dollar to the homeless folks until I saw one of them buying beer in WinCo.

Anyway, check out how cute our little homeless gift bags turned out. We signed the tags, "Merry Christmas! Love, Jesus."

We made a dozen of them and put them in mom's car and mine to pass out as we did our Christmas shopping and running around.

Matthew 25: 34-46

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

New Grand Dog

Thank you, friends, for asking me to end my blogging break. I rarely see comments, so I appreciate the verbal feedback. I'm glad some of you enjoy my pictures, weird musings, and ramblings. I've made a long list of topics to blog about, starting with a fun one—introducing my friends and family to Sir Theodore Roosevelt Howard, my new grand dog. Isn't he cute!!!!Bree came home for 12 days this Christmas bringing her new puppy and new hubby. What a blast we had...except for the trip to the ER. Curtis tore tendons in his ankle. I doubt he'll ever want to play B-ball with his bro-in-law again.

Back to my grand dog...he is such a sweetie and I am smitten!!! I've changed his name from Theodore to Theodorable.

Now I have 2 grand dogs, Teddy and Toby. Both are Pugles, half Pug and half Beagle. They have great personalities.

There were lots of doggie gifts under the tree this year. What a fun Christmas with a full house—a very special year.

2 things I learned this week

I've been on a blogging break and I'm not really back, but thought I would stop a moment and share two things I learned this week.

1) From the Biggest Loser: Only one percent of all Americans will ever complete a Marathon. I will never be in that 1%. I wonder what's the percentage for a 1/2 marathon, though, because I've done a few of those. I even have 2 planned for next year. (As long as my friends come through, hint hint, M & J.)

2) Fifty-nine percent of Americans never read a book cover to cover between high school and death. Holy cow!!! That astounds me!