Blessings are a blessing!!

It's been a desire of mine lately to be able to bless people. My old understanding of blessing people was buying them gifts, but the Lord has shown me how important time and friendship is a blessing. My new friend Ophelia has had a rough couple of years, but she is still able to see God's hand on her life and her obedience and faithfulness have been rewarded. This year she will be hosting her son and his family for Thanksgiving, and for the first time is having it at their temporary home. After the Heart & Home Event at church she was so excited to host this year, using one of the concepts that we learned that was soooooo profound, and that was to use what you have...before the event I thought that meant scrounging around your home and not buying new decorations to make your home look more festive, which to a point it was, but more importantly it was to use what we have and share it, which is the love of Christ! That's what we're supposed to do at the holidays, but oftentimes we get wrapped up in the whole affair. Ophelia has never done a menu before and really liked the idea of that, but doesn't have a computer at home...well, since I work on my computer all day I can help! So I typed up her menu on some pretty Thanksgiving paper, she is going to use a picture frame she has at home already to put the menu in and on the table, and tonight I'm giving her these little guys as place cards for her table setting. I made a batch of jar cupcakes with chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting and Reece's "Peaces." ;) Here is hers...what a blessing it was to her that I typed up the menu, but what more the blessing is that I can do it for her! Trust me, it's more of a blessing for me!!! That's one thing I'm thankful for this year, learning to walk in kindness with open eyes to see where I can bless somebody!

Happy Bird-day, Sally!!

My Pal Sal's birthday is on Thanksgiving this year! She's going to celebrate in style with her family! She always teases me the way I say "birthday," so that's why it's Bird-Day...or Birt-Day...I never say the full "th" sound! :) I love ya', Pal! This will be on your doorstep tonight! Enjoy your chocolate/mint cupcake!

Merry Christmas!

I woke up this morning with a wonderful kiss from my man! "Merry Christmas, Baby," he says! Oh, how he makes me smile...I'm so thankful God gave him to me! Yesterday John came home with a beautiful anniversary card! "Wait, is it Christmas Eve?" you may be asking yourselves. No! John just loves to on occasion on the 24th of the month give me an anniversary card. John doesn't believe in celebrating our anniversary only once a year. Of course, again, the little booger made me cry and thank him for marrying me!


On Christmas Eve we will celebrate 5 years of marriage and I still am in awe at how wonderful this life is being Mrs. John Turner! I still feel like "It sucks to be you," because I feel like God loves me more than anybody else by giving me this amazing man. This morning proved it again, just how special and loving John is and how gracious I am for my marriage! John is THE BEST husband, the man of every single dream I ever had...and also THE BEST example of a dad for my kids!! We all know our life wouldn't be anything like it is had John not married us, and we're so thankful for him! Merry Christmas!

Papa George & Nonni love Chelsea

Whether George & Barbara like it or not, Chelsea and Cameron have adopted them as their grandparents...not that the kids don't have grandparents and not that George and Barbara don't have enough grand kids of their own...it just happened that God blessed the kids with another set of grandparents!!! George and Barbara really had no choice in the matter, they just lovingly stepped up to the plate! Papa George is taking a digital photography class right now and learning all sorts of neat things to do with his photos...today my e-mail in-box brought me to tears when this was attached.

There are pictures of Chelsea & Wes, Chelsea & Barbara, Wes, and Chelsea. The picture of Chelsea in the middle is actually from a picture with George & Barbara's "real" grandson Dakota, who got cropped out, and was taken at George & Barbara's daughter Dawnn's wedding to Rick when Chelsea was like 3 years old. Don't you think Chelsea looks exactly the same!?!? Oh, time flies!! Thanks for the wonderful tears, George!!! We love ya'!

Roots!

You know, there are times when it's hard to count it a blessing what we endure, but truly, after an initial bit of a panic, we can count our blessings with the current catastrophe at the Turner Home. Our beautiful tree in the front yard that saves us considerably on air-conditioning costs in the summertime has caused a great expense. The roots have grown into the old pipes leading out of the house to the City's sewer. The plumbers put a camera into the pipe, and I was truly amazed that ANYTHING had been able to penetrate the weave of roots that has grown into the walls of the ceramic pipes that were used 60 years ago when the home was built! When the plumbers told me how expensive this fix would be, I told them, "Well, I know God will provide." Then I joked, "Man, I wish I were like Moses and could part the roots out of the pipes." Well, then I realized, regardless of the parting of the seas for Moses, God restored the water and didn't leave it parted...so, we write the 4,000-dollar check and give thanks that the pipes lasted as long as they did, give thanks that we can actually cover that check, give thanks that God allowed this to happen BEFORE the proposed new tax on services such as specifically, plumbing! Yep...we can count this a blessing!

Danielle's Update From India

Friends and Family, Namaste!This is the greeting they use here. Whheeww...By God's good grace wearrived here in India safe and sound with all our baggages, rearing togo! Airport security was a breeze and we were put to rest as we sawlittle Linnet jumping up and down amongst a crowd of people waitingoutside the airport. How that little body found us through all thosepeople was another miracle...though i am sure 11 Americans wanderingaround in Chennai's airport is hard to find! :o) We were greeted byLinnet Gupta and her fearless accomplice, Sushima. Both ladies were sowelcoming and graciously provided us with cool towels and cold water(it is almost 90 degrees, and 80% humidity), swooped us up and we wereon our way to the HBI campus.HBI has generously provided us with nice living quarters...way nicerthan I expected. I am rooming with Linda Pearce on the first floor (orthe ground floor as they call it) with Charlotte and Barry next doorto us and the others are on the 3rd floor (2nd floor). We have acommon room up on the third floor that is connected to all theirrooms. this is where we meet in the mornings to pray and discuss ourprevious day as well as the agenda for our current day.We have been blessed by very warm welcomes from the people here;during our introductory seminar yesterday, 4 girls from the HBI schoolcame and dressed us with home-made jasmine/rose leis, a traditionalcustom here. We have also been able to attend a church service ourfirst night here...Unfortunately we were all exhausted and fightingjet lag that we must of all looked like sleepy bobble heads,continuely nodding off. Thankfully the people here understood ourexhaustion and shooed us off to bed. For the most part, all of us ourrecovering well from the time difference and have almost caught up onour sleep. Today we were blessed by visiting a senior citizen home.There we were able to visit and pray with the elderly residing there.To our surprise many of them knew English and Jesus!!! They prayedWITH us and ' I was sung to by a sweet lady by the name of Mary Paul.The men recieved little pieces of paper a senior man, named' andHerold made in the form of a mini bible with one page. Opening it upthere was handwriting, inside it read "Let the peace of God rule inyour hearts" and "The Lord crowns you with loving kindness and tendermercy: Praise the LORD." Please keep these people in your prayers forthey have such a sweet and tender heart...they just crave for visitsfrom people.We'll I must run off to tour around the campus...We have the 2ndsession of the Truth Project going on as I type and tom we start ourWomen's conference and painting training. Please pray that these goover smootly as well as the upcoming pastor's leadership seminars,child development teachers' training as well as the continued showingsof the Truth Project and possible medical camp activities. We havefaith that the Lord will go before us, prepare the way, and provide uswith the right culturally sensitive yet effective words. So far ourhealth has been good with the exceptions of a few minorailments...please continue to include our health in your prayers,especially with this heat. We have only just begun the journey of ourmission here...Thank you all for your continued Prayers and Support! We really feelthem here---all the way on the other side of the world!!Love you all and many blessings sent your way from India!Peace, love and JOY,DanielleIndia Team 2008

International Tri-tip???

Anybody that knows me knows how interesting I find my local Mexican Markets! For a while there I was going daily and would share with everybody all the wonders of the Mexican Markets, but I had to stop those daily excursions because I was spending too much time away from my desk when I could be working, as well as too much money. Last week for Halloween I found THE CUTEST little painted pumpkins with feather hair...too cute and only 99 cents! Funny thing is we went to Super Target in Menifee while we were camping, and the exact same little painted pumpkins were $3.99...how crazy is that?? But today's find is a bit different, as well as perplexing...if you look at this label you'll see what I mean. "Tri-Tip Roast Product of US, Canada, and Mexico," huh????? Did the little cow walk all the way from Mexico to Canada and back to the U.S.? Gram thought maybe it was bred in Canada, Raised in Mexico, and slaughtered in the U.S. I don't know...what do you think??? It's in the smoker right now, so I'll have to let you know how it tasted...my little international tri-tip!

Praying for Danielle and Team

Today's the day and Danielle and her team left for India for their trip. Things have been hectic this week for her, but as I write this, she is at the airport ready to start the adventure.


Two weeks ago we met Papa George at Naleeni's church service on a Friday night so that Naleeni could pray for Danielle and give Danielle an opportunity to just talk to Naleeni for advice and encouragement. It was an awesome night and was such a blessing for Danielle to have somebody pray so specifically for her. Of course, the Lord revealed to Naleeni Danielle's specific fears and concerns, and the power of the Holy Spirit lead her prayers.

We're anxious to hear how the Lord has used Danielle and we'll be kept posted on the team's adventure. Please keep them in your prayers. I will update the specific requests or victories the team has as I am updated.

Prophetic?

CAMERON
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: KAM-rən (English), KAM-ə-rən (English) [key]
From a Scottish surname meaning "crooked nose" from Gaelic cam "crooked" and sròn "nose."

So when Tommy and I decided on the name "Cameron" over 21 years ago, never did we think we were being prophetic...another broken nose...it's getting more crooked with each season playing hockey! Talked to Cameron last night and got the lo-down on the latest broken nose. He said while sitting in the penalty box after the latest scuffle, he noticed pressure against his eye and realized it was his nose out of place. Having had previous broken noses he knew to get it repositioned as quickly as possible so he "crunched" it back into place...then at the period break the coaches and trainers saw it was a bit too far to one side, so they "smooshed" it back into place again. After the game the team doctor took a look at it and realized it still wasn't in place properly, so "crunch, smoosh, crack," back into place! Ick!

Poor Gram!

Grandma's blood pressure has been up a bit this past couple of weeks, so we had to go in for a checkup today. When I got to her house she told me she had a "little rash." Immediately I see the "rash" that extends from the tip of her finger, all the way up into her arm pit. I said, "Gram, that's not a 'little rash,' that's shingles." She says, "Honey, I think I just got bit by a spider." "No, Gram, those blisters look just like when I had shingles; that's shingles!" Well, sure enough, the doctor walks in the room, looks at the rash, and says, "I know exactly what it is; one second." He comes back with a diagram of a body that shows the nerve tracks on your body and says, "Yes, it is shingles attacking your C8 nerve," which explains how it is all the way up her arm. The doctor explained her blood pressure being elevated is a side effect of the shingles and just upped her dosage of blood pressure medication for a bit. This picture doesn't even do it justice, to show how horrible her little arm looks. She looks as though somebody has poured hot oil down her arm. Poor little Gram! I explained to her that the reason he prescribed Vicodin was because by tomorrow she probably will begin experiencing extreme pain. She said, "No, I won't. I will myself to not have pain, Honey. Where there's a will, there's a way!" So, we're going to believe she's not going to be in pain, and that this pass quickly. I told her we would be praying for the same, so please do too! The only thing that is bothering her right now is she can't have her glass of wine before bed!

Election 2008

It's a big day in our country and a big day in our family! Not only did our nephew Brenton turn 16 today, but Chelsea got to vote for the first time and exercise a right that our great country affords us! I'm so excited for her and proud of her for standing up and letting her voice be heard. Although we got Cameron registered before he left for the season, his paperwork didn't come back early enough to be able to vote as an absentee voter. Conspiracy against yet another registered potential Republican voter??? Now we just wait to see how things come out. I've prayed and prayed, and we all know that God has a plan, so regardless of the outcome, there is a reason! God Bless America...please.

Roughin' it!

Roughin it! We took the condo out this weekend to camp near Kelly & Trudy's house so we could zip over there for Halloween! The campground had tons of activities all weekend long for Halloween and actually did trick'r treating on Saturday night instead of Friday for the safety of the kids with incoming campers on Friday night. To identify the camp sites giving away candy the kids had to look for signs posted at the sites, so they didn't disturb the others. We wanted to see all the cute costumes, so we picked up our sign. We passed out 6 bags of candy in 20 minutes and ran out! We had to take down our sign and go in and turn out the lights...there were soooooo many kids. I have to say, they were the most polite kids I've ever experienced! Well, done passing out candy, we headed inside, turned on the big TV, put in "Journey to Center of the Earth" in 3-D, put on our 3-D glasses and sat back to enjoy the show. 3-D movie, under-the-counter lights, and surround sound on a 32-inch High Definition TV! My kind of camping!

Happy Harvest!

Ally & Chelsea
Favorite Cousins
Ally was a Girl Rapper
and Chelsea was a
Cave Woman










Chelsea & Wes...awwww aren't they a cute couple??

The Homies-Ally, Chelsea & Wes!
We had a great time at my brother's house. Sorry, no pics of my nephews. Brenton was already out with his friends, he is going to be 16 on Tuesday, so he's just too cool for us! Chad was a camo commander, so you can't see him in the pictures because he blends right in!