I know this is not a candy sweet type of title for this glorious Thanksgiving Day, but it was reality in my life. My parents were divorced when I was 5 years old, and it really was for the best of all of us. My father could be cruel in one moment and lovely in the next minute go figure that one out. My mother worked very hard basically to support 4 children and give us lovely things as we were growing up. I often think that I get my gift of clothing style from her. I recall how she could shop for outfits for me when we were children and bring them home and they were stylish and in fashion too. She has that flair for dressing, she really does. I am convinced that my mother sacrificed things in her very life to bless us 4 children first before her wants and desires were even fulfilled. That is love in action, that truly is. Doesn't the bible say we will have longevity of life when we honor our parents? Well, she is 93 years old, and I did see her in action honor her parents. The bible does not lie so if your parents are alive today then call them and thank them for their love and support. In all honesty I can be thankful for even my father.
He would have spurts of genuine love and his love language would be gifts of money in one form or the other to bestow upon us as gifts. When I worked for him at one point in my life he blessed my husband, me and our children with a very generous bonus given when a piece of property was sold that I used to lease suites in that building for his company. He also paid for the entire upstairs of our master brick bungalow home to be converted from an attic to a master bedroom suite with 1/2 bath. There was not the space or plumbing lines to make it a full bathroom. I did have bookcases built in and a sitting area by the window when I read books. That very bedroom was a refuge set apart from the rest of the house and the very room where an angel visited me. I was in bed, and it was like the twilight type of zone in sleeping and I could see this angel standing right by me as I slept on the right side of the bed. It was like I was seeing through a misty type of vision. I recall seeing this angel with large and beautiful milky white colored wings by their side right up against the side of my bed. I then heard it sounded like a large number of birds flying together flying away. I often wondered if they were the sound of angels flying. I was a Catholic woman at the time beginning in the awakening of my very life walk experiencing Holy Spirit and supernatural adventures. The only thing was the Catholic church really did not know how to guide me on this journey.
Oh, there were glimpses here and there on their behalf to help me. Like the times they sent me to spiritual directors that were priests that I could share my experiences with in telling them my happenings going on. Some of the greatest advice ever given to me was when 1 priest suggested me starting to read my Catholic St. Joseph version bible that I had at the time one chapter a day and starting with the New Testament. I truly did get to know Jesus through reading the scriptures daily. I remember him saying to me that I will want to read more than a chapter a day but stick with the 1 chapter a day. Now back to my testimony ok.
For whatever reason I was reminded of this the other day and once it flashed before me, I dealt with closing the doors opened to trauma from back then. I was reminded how I loved my Little Kiddle dolls and the cabin they came with as a child. That gift came with a price tag so to speak. My sister and I were young, and we needed to get our tonsils and adenoids removed so we were both scheduled on the same day in the hospital for this surgery to take place. We were even in the same hospital room together. Just prior to this taking place our father scared us with cruel words spoken to us how the osteopath doctor we went to who took good care of us was not a real doctor and he was a veterinarian that operated on cats and dogs. I know that was cruel to say to your daughters before going into the hospital a few days prior about to have surgery. Those words scared me, and I did not want to go into that operating room to have this simple/routine type of surgery done that day. So much so that I asked if my 2 years younger in age sister could go first. I think inside of me I wanted to see if she came out ok before I went in the operating room. Everything turned out just fine and I loved the gift my mother gave me as I went back to the room after surgery, the Little Kiddle dolls and Kabin too for them.
I came across a miniature version of that very Kabin online and ordered it because I choose to see the joy I received from that very operation and not dwell on the negative. It will be the size of a thimble, but you can actually open up the Kabin like I used to do many, many years ago when playing with my Little Kiddle dolls. How did this online search begin ... I was gifted a few years ago by a dear friend of mine that knew I liked and had a Chatty Cathy doll when I was a child. They sent me an ornament version of her. It operated on 3 certain type batteries because there was a string you pulled on the back that released 11 different phrases Chatty Cathy used to say when I had her as a doll. Well, I had to replace the batteries once and then I stumbled upon her recently and I was in search of replacement batteries to revive her again. Found out there was some corrosion from the batteries, and they tried to clean it out but even with that new batteries just could not get her to work again. I was searching to buy another one but never really found one I liked. Somehow the idea of Little Kiddle's popped into my mind and the search was on. In those moments after searching is when I was reminded of the cruel words my father spoke to us and I had to close those doors to trauma that I am sure came in with the very words spoken.
I often say it truly is a miracle that I turned out normal and not scarred with the events of life. I suppose it is because I choose to see the good and lovely but still fight for injustices to be made right. I have this fight for right sort of speaking inside of me to take up the cause for underdogs and see them win and no longer be an underdog anymore. Maybe that is inside of me because at 1 time or another I was there as the underdog that came forth and shined with the love of Jesus bursting forth from inside of me. I tend to be the champion for the worlds view of the unlovely. I wonder why that is. I know I tend to be the voice at times of those that may be thinking the same thing but not bold enough to question when something is not right. Follow your gut instinct because the very words spoken to question something that is not right or sounds to be out of balance need to be voiced. Your very words calling something out may just be the 1 voice speaking for many voices. I have found out that when I step forth in this capacity others then come along and tell me they were thinking the very same thoughts. Speaking forth and questioning brings forth truth and change. Do not be a coward but maybe try being the voice for the voiceless because your very line of questioning just may be the words spoken to bring forth change that benefits even the voiceless that lives amongst you. I know this works because I recently experienced it in a conversation with a supervisor. I questioned something in a respectful manner only to find out that a few co-workers thought the same thing. Guess what? That led to a meeting and change took place as the result. This supervisor spoke to me with a derogative comment made directly to me in which the co-workers also heard spoke to me. I responded with a comment stating back what they said to me along with the words I should report you for that was unprofessional for a supervisor to speak that way. I did not report them. Isn't it funny how things come back around. A few days later our performance evaluations were distributed, and I received a very good evaluation but ... there were typos, and I did not want to sign off on something with these typos. I asked if they could be corrected, and I stated specifically where they were located. See, this had to stop the process in order to be corrected. Apparently, they had to go back to another person explaining the words had to be changed. I thought it was just correcting the copy and then I sign off on it. So, they had to somehow explain to someone else there were misspelled words, etc. that needed to be corrected. It was corrected except for 1 word and at that point I did not want to hold up the process anymore to correct the word, so I signed off on it. I explained to my supervisor that the one word was not corrected but I signed off on it anyway to not hold it up the process. I did have a conversation in which I shared to not feel bad because I had a prior supervisor that misspelled an evaluation before I would sign that too and they had more errors and I further explained how I was married to an attorney, and I learned to read documents before I signed them with my signature.
Maybe I should have been a proofreader in my life because for whatever reason I find typo errors. In a new book I started reading sure enough I find a typo on one of the first pages. I think Whitaker House is the publishing company. Do they not have proofreaders/editors that catch these mistakes? That baffles me, that really does.
If I never moved to TN, I would have never met a few friends I met when we worked together. They are really good Friends. Just because I said yes to a door that opened up for me to come to TN opened by Holy Spirit. I chose to walk through that very door even though I knew not a single soul that lived in this state. I have been invited to one of my friends' homes today for Thanksgiving dinner. I was extended an invite to a family dinner about 3-4 hours' drive away but thanked them for the lovely invite, but I was working the next day so had to stay local. I planned on ordering a single dinner at Cracker Barrel and bringing it home to enjoy. My friend invited me to their family dinner but that is so unlike my personality. I was about to explain that I was going to go to Cracker Barrel, and they interrupted me that they were planning on me coming and their one child was excited that I was coming to join them for dinner. How could you refuse an offer like that, people want you to be with them on a holiday. I graciously accepted. They know I like to bake cheesecakes, so I volunteered to bake one. I selected the Philly Cream Cheese recipe for SunSational cheesecake. You must like lemons to enjoy this. Lemon juice and lemon rind are in the cheesecake. Then you make a lemon glaze/pudding texture to cover over the top of the cheesecake and then garnish it with thinly sliced wedges of lemon and lime and a sprig of mint. I made it and it is ready to go but I have to add a few lime wedges to accompany the lemon wedge garnish. I also had some Croatian cevapcici in my freezer and I will air fry them as an appetizer along with my homemade horseradish sauce. I found out at Sprouts Market that you can ask them to cut a horseradish root if it is too big in size for what you need. They did and it was so much easier to grate the straight portion of horseradish then trying to tackle grating the bulbus portion of fresh horseradish. I grated it then add to it white wine vinegar, a dash of sugar, a little mayonnaise and sour cream and that is it. I made enough for not just the sausages but to also have with turkey too. It really is yummy, but you have to like horseradish to enjoy this. It is also good with ham too.
I will be bringing a hostess gift to them too. So, all in all, I truly am grateful for many things in my life but most of all is that I am born again and will see my father in heaven one day. I led him to Jesus 3 weeks before he died. He is in heaven because I saw him confess Jesus with his lips and ask Jesus' forgiveness of his sins. What glorious days we will find just ahead of us. Truly thankful, truly thankful from this thankful heart filled with the love of Jesus.
One more thing to be grateful for. When my 93-year-old mother found out I was staying in TN for Thanksgiving she sent me a lovely Thanksgiving prayer card in the mail with some cash to go and buy that Cracker Barrel dinner. I updated her on my Thanksgiving plans and asked if it was ok to put that money towards what I was making to bring to the dinner. That was perfectly fine with her.
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| Does the cheesecake look ok? Uh oh, my center garnish is a little off balance, I don't know why I tend to do that, lets strike it up to my creative perspective and laugh at it too. |
Here is the little hostess gift I am bringing today. I included one of my favorite brands of seeds to plant. A little something to add to their herb garden.








