"I WANT JESUS!!!!!!"

Howdy-Hoo!

Many apologies to those of you who are confused. I seem to have that effect on people...

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ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!ALERT!!!

I have just learned that the Pinks & Blues Girls are giving away a pretty spring purse and some parfumey. Go there QUICKLY and sign up for YOUR chance to win!

END ALERT
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The story is in the works, but it's definitely NOT ready today. Though I have mapped out many of the "people", pets, and events I still have a bit of research to do before I can crank it out. Then I will have to edit.

What's really funny is that I have been laying (lying?) awake at night thinking about fairies (faeries?), goats, and dryer lint!

I have been quite ill since last Wednesday with what is apparently food poisoning. Not fun. Ya know that sage advice "If in doubt, throw it out"? I didn't heed it. Bad Groovy!

I still can't really eat. I'm just nibbling saltines, organic chicken broth, diluted apple juice, dry cereal, and yogurt, and an occasional, very ripe pear. I was a little woozy while singing on the Worship team yesterday, but folks just thought I was being normal (for me).

Yesterday I really pumped up my intake of probiotics. I think I'll just keep doing that

On the other hand, I have lost 7 or 8 pounds and today my friend Tetherball and I have our weekly accountability de-chubbify weigh-in. I'll bet she only lost 2 pounds. Do ya think I cheated? ;-)

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Desparate Plea for Money!!!

The American Lung Association needs your money. Really. They do.

I am one of 20.5 million Americans who suffer from asthma. Fortunately my case is mild, but most asthmatics are not as lucky. In 2004, approximately 8 million adults 4 million children under 18 had an asthma attack. The previous year over 4,000 people DIED from asthma attacks! (stats from lungusa.org)

Now my sweet little Silly-Head is starting to exhibit signs of possible asthma as well.

CURSE YOU, LUNG DISEASES!!!!!

I want to be a part of the solution. That's why I'm trying to raise money for them via the Trek Across Maine.

I have a blog about it now - see it in my side bar?

And you can donate online by clicking the donation links on the sidebar.

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My Assignments


OK, let's knock a few more items off the list. I'm going to hit a personal item or two, because most of the rest of the assignments have definite potential for inclusion in the groovy tale I'm concocting. Although I have a wonderful essay/report in the works for the "making money with blogging" assignment. So fear not, Karen.

First of all, My Name: Let's see now, I believe I've posted about this before...ah yes, I've found it!

If ya wanna know how I came up with my internet monicker, just pop into your time machine, set the dial for March 22, and read about Groovyoldlady.

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My Testimony

Part the First: I was born to two sad, worldly people who had no hope. My mom maintained that she was an atheist because she was mad at God for letting her sister - the only family member she was close to - die in a car wreck. (Now that I am an adult, I find that hilarious. How can you be mad at someone you don't believe in?) My dad was simply a a man busy meeting his own "needs" (read: philanderer). He left us when I was eight years old.

Even though my mother was "anti" God, she still had an incongruous sense of "holiness". For example, I remember once when I was six or seven that I had lost a toy hammer. I prayed for God to help me find it and BAMMO, there it was! I'm not really sure what happened, but at the time it seemed very clear to me that God had answered my childish prayer by dropping my toy right out of the sky. It was a miracle!

When I excitedly told Mom about the incident, she got VERY upset. "You don't talk about God like THAT!" and she grabbed the toy hammer away from me.

She wasn't so much upset that I was talking about God as that I was talking about God like THAT - as though He were personal and intimate and cared about a little seven year-old girl (or perhaps, her hurting mom).

We also had a family Bible which was treated with GREAT respect by this woman who didn't believe in God, but was so afraid of angering this God who didn't exist. Ya know, I think what she really believed was that He did exist, but that He didn't pay any attention to you unless you made Him angry. She was mad at Him AND very afraid of Him.

At any rate, when I was three (or so I am told. I don't remember this personally), a friend of my mom's invited her and my dad to come visit her Baptist Church. My dad wasn't interested, but for some strange reason my mom decided to go. She slipped in quietly and perched on the very back row. Up until that day she had never been in a church except for a funeral, nor had she ever heard the Gospel. Naturally, she brought me with her.

The hymns were sung, the sermon was preached. Then the pastor did something my mom had never seen before. He presented the Gospel and gave an altar call: "Have YOU been living in your trespasses and sins? Just ask Jesus into your heart and He will wash away all your sins and forgive you. Do YOU want new life and joy? Do YOU want Jesus in your heart?"

Well, I'm sad to say that my mom wasn't ready yet; She didn't understand it all. BUT, reportedly, I DID respond. And did I respond in a quiet, demure, shy manner? Of course not! I responded in truest Groovy form by leaping off my mama's lap and running up the aisle yelling (yes, yelling in church in 1966!), "I WANT JESUS! I WANT JESUS IN MY HEART!"

Oh. My. Poor. Mother. She was positively mortified! Her plan had been to sneak out quietly right after the last "Amen", but now...

Apparently the pastor prayed with me and then dismissed the service. Everyone was bubbling and laughing over the adorable (albeit loud) 3 year-old and they all headed straight for my dear ole mother to shake her limp hand and congratulate her etc. All that time her mind was racing wildly and her heart was pounding. All she wanted to do was grab me and get OUT. It was very traumatic for her!

Needless to say, it was a looooooooong time before I ever got to church again!

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To be continued...