A special little girl

A couple of houses from my parents is a large family who home schools their children. The kids are extremely polite and well behaved. Last year my parents hired the older kids to shovel out their paths for them (they have the driveway plowed).

Well, this year the older boys went to do another neighbor's yard and my parents had a couple of the younger ones. The youngest was a little girl probably about eight years old. She was so excited, "I never had a job before. This is my first job!"

My father watched as she loaded the shovel and then walked ten feet to dump it. She kept doing that, so he showed her the easier way. She kept asking, "Am I doing a good job, Mr. Casey?" "Am I doing good?"

Then she commented, "This is hard work," quickly followed by, "but I love it!" Her final comment (I'm sure after my father generously paid her), "This is the best day of my life!"

Wow, what enthusiasm. Don't you wish we could have that? My favorite Bible verse is: Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," verse 24 goes on to say, "since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

With this new year coming, I hope to keep in mind the thought of this little girl and her zeal for her first job. I pray that God can give me a little of this enthusiasm when I am dreading the seemingly needless, duplicated and unending paperwork that my job entails. If I could only channel her attitude. When I am weary by the tasks at hand, I hope God will bring to mind this special little girl and her wonderful mindset and I hope that God will generously reward me too, as my Dad did her.

Sunrise in Ice

 

Sunrise in Ice

 

I love this shot of the sunrise reflecting on the ice. I was on my way to work and I realized that I was early and I pulled over and waited with my coffee and camera ready for the reward of a gorgeous sunrise. I always send up a prayer of thanks to God when I see these wonderful sunrises. Glad to share these pictures with you.

Ice Storm

 
This was the day after--believe it or not, 100% better than the day before!

Ice Storm

 

This is our street the day after the storm.

Full Moon in the Morning

 
This was the moon on the way to work this morning. Last night it was supposed to be the biggest of the year.

Good News/Bad News

 
The Good News is the ice storm is over and power has been restored. It was the worst ice storm I ever remember. On the way to work I had to weave back and forth between the left lane and the right to avoid all the broken branches and fallen trees. When I got to work, we were without power all day--I'm getting over a cold and that was not helpful working with my coat on in a cold office.

More very good news is this tree missed our house! George asked someone to cut it down a couple of months ago--it has an X painted on it. They never showed. If it hadn't snapped where it did, it would have gone through our kitchen window or through the roof. We are so grateful for that! Now we still have to have someone come and cut it up.

I am amazed by the birch trees--they should have been called rubber trees. We had two that get all weighted down and make an arch over our driveway. George broke ice off of them to lift them a bit, so that we could drive under (like the last ice storm a few years ago) and they are now back up. I did see some people were not so lucky with their birch trees. I heard chain saws throughout today.

The most often heard term yesterday as people came into the post office, "it looks like a war zone". There were wires down (even one in the post office parking lot), a telephone pole broke and so many trees.

The town of Hartland was hit very hard and parts were without electricity for a couple of days. A church in town offered a free chicken dinner for anyone wanting to come in out of the cold and just to be together--anyone with or without power. How nice the camaraderie of a little town.

Merry CHRISTMAS!! There, I said it!

We just got our annual memo at the post office. We are not to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah" but should say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings". This is a pet peeve of mine. If I know the person is Jewish, I will wish them a happy holiday. If I don't know, it's kind of a clue when they buy Christmas stamps. If they are celebrating "Christmas" and I am selling them "Christmas" stamps, why can't I say "Merry Christmas"?

I've heard a number of comments over the years, "I would like the non-religious Christmas stamps." Well, that sure shows how far out of line the holiday has come. Hello...Christmas is a religious holiday. OR "I think I should take the politically correct stamps" meaning the ones with the nutcracker instead of Madonna and child. Guess that person was celebrating "Holiday" instead of Christmas, since a stamp with Christ on it would be appropriate for Christmas. Now I have to be honest here...often I do not like the choice of Madonna and child stamps and I will buy the non-religious ones, but I will say "Merry Christmas".

I guess that's what bothers me the most. I know I work with the public and therefore, they want me to be politically correct. I understand that they want us to be diversified and tolerant of all. Yet, I cannot help but feel this is an infringement on my freedom of speech. I am not to say "Merry Christmas". It's not like saying something degrading to someone. If someone said, "Happy Hanukkah" to me, I would not be insulted. Do people really take offense if I say, "Merry Christmas" and I'd be curious to know what percentage? I realize how much it bothers me to be told what I cannot say. I guess I am lucky this is just my employer and not my government as in some countries.

I hate to suggest, but if they want to be politically correct, just change it from "Christmas" to "Holiday"--no Christ, no religion--just Santa and materialism. I would think that would be on the list of things to do with the people who want to take God off our money too.

Well, I'm not at work, this is my blog and I would like to say MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! and in case you didn't get that, Merry CHRISTmas!