Thankful for some much-needed rain lately

Have you enjoyed these "showers of blessings"  we have received? It was wonderful and the grounds and trees and all living masses rejoiced as the rain gently fell to refresh.

Last Sunday Butch brought his message after a good singing service in which specials of the season were sung by Lorri Stacy, our own Dr. Butch and myself. He spoke to us from 1st Peter 1:3-12 with the title "A Gift Envied by Angels." Everything is only possible because of the resurrection.

Peter wrote here to let them know that they were His people– strangers scattered. We need to display God's grace throughout eternity.

We were blessed to have several visitors, some have returned and we hope they might make the decision to become one of our church family but also we missed those that were not able to be with us.

 The "cruddy" bug has bitten so many, me being one of them. I hope that each of us will be well and strong by Christmas celebration time.
 We send our deepest sympathy to the family of Don Patterson, who left earth for his heavenly home on Saturday. Wendy, you and the family have our love and support. There will be a memorial service for Don on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. at Sugar Creek Baptist Church. 

I also send my sympathy to the family of my cousin, N.A. Garmon of Snellville. He was the husband of my first cousin, Sue Moon. I was not able to attend the funeral due to this stuff that's going around but I'm with the family in spirit and love. Thank you, Gayle for representing our family.
 Most of you know that we have a new restaurant in Buckhead called Buckhead Station. I'm very impressed with the owners and their employees. Very clean, very festive inside and out. I spoke with Melissa Fitzgerald, half owner with her husband Keith. She tells me they have great cooks with Oma and Connie. They serve breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a daily special for lunch, a meat, two vegetables and homemade bread for $6.99. They are very excited to be serving the area and so far business is good. So pay them a visit and enjoy.

Our family has our Christmas celebration early. Last weekend we were all together and had a wonderful time with a table burdened down with good food,  good love; it was wonderful. We missed Eric, Susanne's husband who is still in New York working on the damage that Sandy did to that area. Most everyone stayed the night and we so enjoyed the closeness of our family one more time. As I've said before, yes, God is so good. Thank you Lord, for all my blessings. 

We were surprised and excited to have Rebecca and Stephen Thibodeau from Ocala, Fla. with us this last weekend. Rebecca is one of my favorite young people and we love both of you so much.

They were in this area visiting sites of interest as an anniversary celebration. Despite the rain I'm sure they had a great time.

The year 2012 is about to wind down. Have you done your best to make your world a better place to live? Ponder over this last year. Parts of it have been really bad experiences for us, but for the better part, we're so thankful that God has seen fit to let two old people like James and me live past what He promised. And as we look forward to the New Year 2013, vow to make that year even better than the year before. Be thankful for all your blessings of life. We'll never come this way again.
So many blessings this week. Jack and Alice Waddell's brother-in-law, Roger Bottoms, has been waiting patiently so long for a kidney and liver. On Monday the 17th he received just that. We are so grateful that he is resting in an Alabama hospital after this long and deserving wait. We pray, as it has with Mike Walker (that's been almost a year since his transplants), his body will accept and get stronger with each day. Did you doubt? No, we don't. God is always in command.

We have some happy college graduates this December. After so long and much studying, Becky Johnson Simmons graduated last Saturday from Piedmont College with the RN-BSN program. Becky, congratulations to you. And Tyler Ward just last week also graduated from Point University.

 We are so happy for both of these recent graduates and we pray for a bright future ahead for both of you.

Our Wednesday night suppers are a huge success, each time with a delicious meal, and it only costs a $2 donation each person at 6:30 p.m. Come and be satisfied, then join us for the study in Daniel afterwards.

 Happy birthday to Blake Stewart on the 20th, Becky Stovall the 21st, Almedia Smith the 26th and to Derrick Mealor on the 31st. Birthday blessings for my son-in-law, Mark Luciani on the 26th.

Taken from Guideposts: "Every day can be like Christmas in its love and its peace, if our hearts are open up and make room for love. The Holy Child is waiting to be born in every instant, not just once a year."
 Merry Christmas to all my readers.
So until next week, may the Lord bless you real good.

Printed in the December 27, 2012 edition