We LOVE packages! Tuesday we started off our week with a most wonderful surprise! EBC in Altus, USA sent us not one ... not two ... but three boxes of goodies! Yes, we live in a beautiful country, but beauty can't replace BROWNIES!!! Filled with Thanksgiving goodies and American cookbooks aand brownie mixes and cornbread mixes ... can we just say ... HEAVEN!

Then, the next day ... my dear sister-in-love, KIM, had our Christmas ornaments shipped. Chris' Mom packed all our Christmas tokens of almost 18 years and they landed on my doorstep with no breaks! Included in the festive cheer was a blanket from home (snif snif) and a candle Chris remembers seeing every Christmas since he was 16 (and that's a good many years, folks). I have to be honest, I cried! It's one of the last things that we had at "home". This makes it closer to official that we are here to stay.

We LOVE pancakes. And, when the girls would see their Paps, he would make them Designer Pancakes! The one design that stands out above the rest - Mickey Mouse. So, Parker, in the absence of her Paps' Pancakes, is trying her talents in pancake design. She's doing a pretty good job! Paps, you are just gonna have to come over and give her some lessons!

We LOVE the blog. However, my family says I only put the best photos of myself on the blog. Well, of course! My Momma didn't raise no dummy! But, to prove to them I am not a photo snob, there is a photo of me, laying in bed, sick with the flu! I hope you all enjoy it!

I LOVE to write. I wanted to post a few reflections I had this morning. This was written for my dear sister who sits in a hospital room on the 11th floor of MD Anderson.

Jesus had been crucified. The disciples missed their friend. They had been fishing all night long. They were tired, exhausted ... and not just from the night of catching no fish. Good grief, they must have thought. We've lost our friend, we can't even do what our profession calls us to do, and to top it off, we're cold and hungry.

Jesus was on the shore. They didn't know.

Jesus, after the resurection, made some crash appearances before returning to Heaven. This was one of them. I can imagine the sun coming up on these tired souls. No fish. No hope. No desire to try more.

"Hey, have you caught any fish?" came the voice from the shore.

Are you kidding me, I can hear them saying. What a jerk! Doesn't he know what we've been doing all night?

"Try throwing the net on the other side of the boat." came the voice again.

That's it! This guy beter clear a path for me to get to him cause when I hit shore I'm not responsible for what I'm gonna do to him What nerve!

I'm not sure if it was out of curiosity or to patronize the wise guy on the shore, but they cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Shazamm ... they hit the mother load.

Sometime during the excitement Peter stopped. Hmmm ... this is familiar. It hit him. As he jumped into the water and made his way to shore he found his friend, waiting.

Peter found breakfast - fish cooking over a fire and fresh bread. Their friend and resurected Savior was waiting to nurish their stomachs - but more imporantly their hearts and souls.

Life is just plain hard sometimes. You are tired, and a good night sleep won't fix the cure. Sometimes you feel alone and helpless. What I sometimes need the most from the Creature of the Universe is not a miraculous sign of His power, but a gentle reminder that He is my friend on the shore waitng to feed me and love me.

As I read this from John 21 ...God reminds me of just that. Life is hard and sometimes I'm just cold and hungry. That's when he rushes in ... to find me on the shore ... with breakfast!

Eat well ... and rest well ...