Friday, April 13, 2012

Blessings after blessings...

A very special birthday wish...
My mom, Joann Bensman, is 82 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! Mom is slowing down a bit, but she still has a lot of determination to get things done and has such a good outlook on life and a wonderful sense of humor. I call the funny things she says, little gems, because when we hear them, we can't help but laugh out loud. We are so fortunate to have an amazing mother!

This picture of Mom, my brother, Bob, and Russ
and Barb's kids, Abby, Max, and Alex, was taken
in 2002. I have a lot of pictures of the kids when
they were little, but over the past few years we have
gotten out of the habit. Taking pictures is something
I really want to do on regular basis again.
  
The weather....
Since the second week of March, it seems that this topic has been on the lips of everyone you meet. I just checked the AccuWeather website for March and from Sunday, March 11th until Friday, March 30th, the average temperate in that 20 day time span was 70°. Can you believe it? Yep, it's true. In fact, the highest during the day was 85° on March 21st and the lowest was 54° on March 26th. All in all, it was absolutely gorgeous and we all, quite frankly, were becoming very spoiled by the warm weather. And then on Easter Sunday, the wind started picking up, it got worse and colder on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then we once again returned to nice weather yesterday and today. I'm not a big fan of the wind at all, so when it gets over 15 mph, I pretty much stay in the house. When it was so calm and warm, the only problem I had was having to go back in the house, because I absolutely love that kind of weather.

Walking, slow but sure...
Even though I probably walk one-tenth the speed of the average walker, I am still so incredibly fortunate to be walking. After all, considering that I did not walk at all from November 1977 to May 1979 - that's a grand total of 18 months or a year and a half - the fact that I am still able to walk 33 years later for up to a mile every day and doing that in a little over an hour, in my book is a true-blue, honest-to-goodness miracle. I will never ever get tired of saying how very grateful to God I am, because He has given me the strength and endurance to do so well. Wow, God is so amazing and He deserves all the glory!!!

Big YouTube fan...
The main reason I like YouTube so much is because there is such a wide variety of videos to watch, with my three favorite topics being religious, health and music. With just a few key words, finding a video is so quick and easy. Being a proponent of Pro-Life, I found the following two-part video by Gianna Jessen, an actual abortion survivor, to be so incredibly inspirational and moving. Gianna speaks so eloquently about her deep faith in Jesus and how He helped her overcame many obstacles in her life. You cannot help but get choked up as she touches your heart with her profound wisdom and sincerity.


For anyone who justifies that abortion is a woman's right to choose, they quickly forget about the babies rights and Gianna really makes that point so strong and clear. Even though Gianna's mother chose to abort her, Gianna survived and is here to proclaim that she deserved the right to live, because she is a gift from God, and we are so very fortunate that she is alive to share her amazing life story.

Distracted by game playing...
The fact that I have not posted a blog in two months, is a shortcoming on my part and the only excuse that I have is really lame - I have become addicted to playing Angry Birds on Facebook. I do not like admitting that playing an arcade game has become a major pastime and total obsession, but it's true and I am owning up to it. Maybe, by making this little confession, I can set it aside and get on with doing more important things - things that really matter, like praying, walking, eating healthy and working on this blog. I have said it before and I am going to say it again, I will be more diligent when it comes to working on this blog - at least I HOPE SO!!!