A Blessing

Friends Sharing...

Thank You Bruce

Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.

Just A Blessing...

1.  Once upon a time, all the villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer all the people gathered but only one small boy came with an umbrella.

That's FAITH

2. WHEN you throw a baby in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them.

That's TRUST

3.  Almost every night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still we set the alarms to wake up.

That's HOPE

4. We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of absolutely no knowledge of the future.

That's CONFIDENCE

5. We see the world suffering and in turmoil, but still we get married.

That's LOVE

6. On an old woman's shirt was written a cute sentence - 'I Am Not 80 Years Old…..I Am Sweet 16 with 64 Years' Experience.'

That's ATTITUDE

7. Now that you've been blessed, don't be stingy with the blessing - pass this on!

That's CARING

Brain Tumor

By Nurse Diane

Years ago, when you heard about someone having a brain tumor, the information was usually passed in hushed tones.  Prognosis for this type of condition was not very good, however, research, surgery and medications have helped to control even erase tumors of the brain.

There are two types of brain tumors.  Brain tumors are either primary or metastatic tumors. Primary brain tumors are those, which originate in the brain. Metastatic brain tumors are those, which originate from cancerous cells that have migrated from other areas of the body.

Metastatic brain tumors are also known as secondary brain tumors. Not all brain tumors are cancerous – benign brain tumors are non-cancerous tissue and are harmful only when they grow to a size that affects adjacent areas of the brain. Benign brain tumors tend to grow more slowly than malignant (cancerous) brain tumors.

Signs of a brain tumor include:

• Seizures;
• Headaches;
• Fatigue, tiredness and drowsiness;
• Impaired speech;
• Difficulties when swallowing;
• In infants, an increase in head size;
• Impaired vision;
• Vomiting;
• Poor body coordination;
• Behavioral and mood changes;
• Weakness in a limb or on one side of the body;
• Difficulties with balance; and or
• Tingling sensations and/or weakness in the arms or legs.

This week is Brain Tumor Action week. Each year over 190,000 people are diagnosed, mostly children.  Brain Tumor Action Week seeks to raise awareness about brain tumors, including raising awareness about incidence, diagnosis, treatment and care of people suffering from brain tumors. Specialty care and follow up care, rehabilitative services and clinical trials are activities, which can enhance the quality of life of people living with brain tumors.  For More information visit: http://www.whathealth.com/awareness/event/braintumour.html

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Make your Dream Come True Day – January 13th

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By Terry Orr

I am a dreamer! I have a very creative imagination! As a person with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and or attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) I am able to hyper focus on my goals – in excess at times.  I play the bi-weekly lotteries (Powerball and Mega Million) – because it is possible I might win – odds of course are stacked against me – but if you don’t play – you will never win.

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Dreams give us hope – something to strive for – to help point us in a desired direction.

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I was asked by my Dad mom, what did I want to be when I grew up?  I told her a writer.  She asked what kind, and I replied, just a writer.  Little did I know that joining the Navy would point me in that direction so many years ago!

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I believe most of us know someone who is or has made their dream come true.  Many have overcome significant challenges to accomplish their dream.  People dreaming of a better life, a new country, better job, a new career, advance education, a goal or special achievement.

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What is your dream? What are you doing to make it come true? Are you living your dream now?  Let us know – we would love to read about them.

World Humanitarian Day 2012

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By Terry Orr

“This year’s World Humanitarian Day presents an historic opportunity to bring together one billion people from around the world to advance a powerful and proactive idea: People Helping People. That is the best way to honour the many fallen aid workers we mourn today, and to celebrate the efforts of others who carry on their noble mission by rushing assistance to those who are suffering.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Every day humanitarian aid workers help millions of people around the world, regardless of who they are and where they are. World Humanitarian Day is a global celebration of people helping people.

This year’s campaign "I Was Here" is about making your mark by doing something good, somewhere, for someone else.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) states:

Natural disasters, conflicts and other emergencies threaten the lives and health of millions of people every year. In the middle of such crises, thousands of dedicated humanitarian workers strive to care for those who have been affected and support local authorities to deliver assistance. On World Humanitarian Day, WHO and other international bodies are highlighting the roles performed by humanitarian workers, and remembering aid workers who have been killed or injured while performing their vital roles.

World Humanitarian Day offers the chance:

• for the public to learn more about the humanitarian community, what aid workers do and the challenges they face;
• for nongovernmental and international bodies and UN agencies, to demonstrate their humanitarian activities;
• to pay respect to those who have died or been injured in the course of their humanitarian work.

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References and links:

http://www.un.org/en/events/humanitarianday/background.shtml

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/world-humanitarian-day-2012-and-older-people-helping-them-help-each-other/

Rain Day Festival

Rain, Rain,

Go away;

Come again,

April day;

Little Johnny wants to play

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By Diane Forrest

I remember saying this little rhyme alot while I was growing up.  Kids don't like the rain, especially during the summer.  It keeps them from being able to play outside or do other fun activities.  I have a friend who is in Florida now on her vacation at Disney World.  If any of you have ever been to Disney world, you know that it will rain every day.  It usually doesn't last long, but it always happens at the worst time. I’m sure they make a fortune selling those little plastic rain ponchos.

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Most of the country is asking for rain, half of the country is in a drought now.  Last summer, my cousin was married in Texas.  Actually, today is her anniversary.  She was married outside, on a farm, on probably the hottest day of the year, in the middle of a drought. The farm, her husband's family farm, was about an hour from town, so they rented a bus for the guests.  Unfortunately the air conditioner went out, so they all melted.  They didn't want the rain to go away, they were wishing for rain to come.

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In Waynesburg, Pa, they celebrate a rain day festival today.  It started out innocently enough.  Rain Day got its beginning in the Daly & Spraggs Drug Store, located in the center of Waynesburg. Legend has it that one day a farmer was in the drugstore and mentioned to Byron Daly that it would rain the next day, July 29. Mr. Daly asked him how he knew and he replied that it was his birthday and that it always rained on his birthday. He had a journal for several years in which he recorded the weather and always had noted rain on July 29th. Mr. Daly thought this was too sure a thing to let pass, so he started betting salesmen who came into his drugstore that it would rain in Waynesburg on July 29. The bet was usually a new hat, which of course he would win.  This tradition began in 1874, and as of 2011, it has rained 113 years out of 137 years of score keeping.

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In later years, Byron Daly's son, John, continued the tradition of wagering a hat on Rain Day. John was an attorney in Waynesburg, a very gentlemanly individual, who always tipped his hat to the ladies he passed on the street, and spoke with a kind soft voice. Although he had fun with Rain Day, he also took it very seriously. He liked the idea of keeping it as a local phenomenon.

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These days, the town celebrates with an annual festival.  It begins with a pancake breakfast and spends the day with live entertainment, contests and activities for children.  They still continue the tradition of hat betting; only now the duties have been handed over to a commission.  There have been many celebrities who have won hats, some including:

• Bing Crosby
• Bob Hope
• The Three Stooges
• Arnold Palmer
• Jay Leno
• Will Ferrell

In 1983, Willard Scott the weatherman on NBC's Today Show was the bettor who gave Rain Day the most notoriety. Willard, being a weatherman, the phenomenon of Rain Day was of special interest to him. Mr. Scott not only mentioned Waynesburg on Rain Day, but talked about it the day before and the day after. Although it didn't rain for Willard's year, he sent a beautiful Stetson cowboy hat.

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This year, as the country looks at Waynesburg, PA to see how the annual tradition plays out, the rest of the country can do a rain dance to see if perhaps they too can get a refreshing rain shower today.

National Dance Day

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I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.

By Diane Forrest

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Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 says To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.  I am a Baptist, and I don't know what they were thinking when they read this verse, because dancing is frowned upon in my church.  I remember one year our minister of music arranged a ballet performance depicting a Biblical story, and it was a scandalous event at the time.

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I never took dance when I was growing up, my father told me I was just not coordinated to try to dance.  I would go out with friends in college, and I would always be on the sidelines, scared to dance because someone might laugh at me, or worse, I would fall down.  None of the weddings I went to ever had dancing, they were always held in the church's reception room with cake and punch.  The first wedding I went to that included dancing was my stepson's.  My husband, who was in his wheelchair, asked me to dance.  He wanted me to sit in his lap as he twirled his chair around.  I was too afraid of hurting him, or putting too much weight on his chair, so I said no.  That was the last time he was out.  A week later he was placed on bed rest to heal a decubitus ulcer that had formed on his bottom, and he never recovered from that.  I wish I had said yes.

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This is National Dance Day.  Today, more than ever dancing is all around.  There are televison shows such as "So you think you can Dance?" and "Dancing with the Stars", there are movies about dancing such as Footloose, and even video games like Wii dancing.  Dancing is great exercise, it allows you to shake your booty, and gets the blood flowing.  It strengthens your muscles and your heart.  So today,

Work like you don't need the money.

Love like you've never been hurt.

Dance like no-one's watching.

Sing like no-one's listening.

Live like there's no tomorrow.

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National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month

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By Diane Forrest, RN

What does Country singer Donna Fargo, Mousekateer Annette Funacello, Actress Teri Garr, Singers Lena Horne and Alan Osmond, and Actor Richard Pryor all have in common?  They all suffer from Multiple Sclerosis.  Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It normally affects women between the ages of 20-40, however it can happen to anyone at any age.

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Multiple Sclerosis is caused by damage to the myelin sheath, the protective covering that surrounds nerve cells. When this nerve covering is damaged, nerve signals slow down or stop. The nerve damage is caused by inflammation. Inflammation occurs when the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system. This can occur along any area of the brain, optic nerve, and spinal cord. It is unknown what exactly causes this to happen. The most common thought is that a virus or gene defect, or both, are to blame. Environmental factors, family history or the location of where you live may play a role.  MS attacks the body at different intervals. Symptoms vary, because the location and severity of each attack can be different. Episodes can last for days, weeks, or months. These episodes alternate with periods of reduced or no symptoms.

People with MS suffer many symptoms such as:

• Muscle weakness, tremors, difficulty moving arms and legs and painful spasms;
• Fatigue, usually in late afternoons;
• Double vision and hearing loss;
• Difficulty talking and swallowing;
• Incontinence in bowel and bladder; and
• Depression.

To determine if you have MS, a neurological and eye exam will be performed to detect any problems, also a lumbar puncture or MRI bran scan will be used to detect any abnormalities.  There is no cure for MS; there are some treatments that will help the symptoms.  These include:

• Medications;
• Bowel and Bladder retraining;
• Physical therapy, including speech therapy and occupational therapy;
• Changing your diet to foods that are easily swallowed; and
• Changing your home to make things safe for moving around.

Complications for MS include:

• Frequent urinary tract infections or the necessity for indwelling catheters;
• Depression and difficulty thinking;
• Inability to care for yourself;
• Acquiring bedsores; and
• Side effects from medications.

The outlook for people with MS is good, although there is no cure; life expectancy is 20 years or more.  Most people return to normal or near-normal function between attacks. Slowly, there is greater loss of function with less improvement between attacks. Over time, many require a wheelchair to get around and have a more difficult time transferring out of the wheelchair.

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March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month.  To find out more about MS, visiting this site.  http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx

“Hope is not a dream but a way of making dreams becomes reality.”

National Day of Hope

April 7, 2011

Hope is defined as the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.  In the Bible, I Corinthians 13 discusses the greatest things, faith, hope and love.  Another version of that text describes hope as charity.  Today is National day of Hope.  This is a day to bring into focus the catastrophes our fellow man is experiencing and what we can do to supply hope to those in need.   It is very hard during a time of crises to have hope.  However, when things seem to be at their worst, it is the sense of hope that allows humans to keep moving instead of lying down and giving up.    The world has gone through so many catastrophes and crises lately.  From the tsunami in Japan to the war in Libya, it would be so easy to just give up...lose hope, but the human spirit continues, and hope is constant. 

·       I believe we are put on this earth to help our fellow man.  When we hope and pray for help, there is a person who is aware of that need, and provides it.

·       I recall a story about a church that was gathering supplies to send to Missionaries in a jungle area.

·       One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter.

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "...and it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby'll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, " ...And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?" As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, "A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!" I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That afternoon!" "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24

How can you help?

There are many ways you can give hope to someone else.  You can volunteer your time by tutoring a child, sitting with the elderly, reading to the sick.  You can donate your money to a charitable organization such as HOPE.org, the Red Cross, and the united way.  You can make sandwiches for the homeless or donate used clothing and shoes.  If you see a need that you can't fill, you can locate someone who can.    As long as we have hope, we have life.