Raised Hands Held High

It's amazing how sometimes the most subtle things can impact your life so much... My fiance B and I have been attending a church together with his family, which consists of B's mom, dad, and grandma. We have known for a long time now that B's grandma isn't doing so well and that at any time she may not be around anymore.

So B's grandma hadn't been to church the previous week and had stayed home because she was too weak to come. The following week, she went in for tests to make sure what was going on and to see if she were ok. They came back ok and she was given the free and clear but not without some medication changes.

I am not personally used to going to a church like the one we go to. I was raised completely different, and so far I haven't really felt any movement in the spirit. I guess to explain what I mean is to give you some insight on what it is like to feel God moving through a church. It's a feeling of happiness and of sadness, a feeling that nothing else can give you or compare to. It's kind of like winning a new car and not having to pay a dime for it. Pure Adrenaline pumping, elation, warmth, like someone has scooped you up and is holding you in their arms.

Church started like it normally does on Sunday at 10am sharp, because Pastor B is very punctual. The feeling began as soon as he walked up and stood at the alter. I don't know if it were the right songs that were playing, the right message that he was preaching that day... but I have never seen B's grandma soooo absolutely gloriously happy! The look on her face was so precious but I knew that she and God were having a conversation. Then she raised her hand in the air, and held it high while we started singing. Like she was reaching out and trying to touch something.

You should have seen the smile on that wonderful woman's face! It felt like the whole room was moving and being filled with the feeling of God's presence. I felt like He was holding me and comforting me too. I know that she isn't doing as well as her family keeps telling B and I, and I also know that B is not going to be able to handle the loss of his grandmother very well.

What God had said to her... I don't know, but I can tell you this, this was the day that I really started believing in God again. I have never seen a person more happy. I have always been a spiritual person but there had been a time in my old church where things were happening that were not right, and they weren't ever made right. I lost a lot of faith in the church and in God when I left it. I have since regained some of that faith now not only by meeting and being loved by B, but by his family loving me and accepting as well. They have picked up the slack that my parents left me with. I am so thankful for them. Everything happens for a reason. I think God does have a plan for all...

When B's grandma passes away, I know that her life will be mourned by the family and myself greatly. I know that God, that Sunday, was showing me that I will have the strength to help support the rest of the family. I know as I watched her raise her hand, the look on her face and the feeling that I had, GOD was with her and GOD was with me.

:)

Kissed by a new friend.

Lake Odessa, MI – 11-year-old Tabitha was born with spina bifida. This condition is a neural tube defect that occurs when the spinal column fails to close completely, causing spinal cord nerve damage. Tabitha is paralyzed from the waist down and must rely on a wheelchair and at times leg braces for mobility. She works hard every day at maintaining her upper body strength and frequently attends physical therapy. Tabitha has suffered from many complications due to her condition and has had to endure numerous surgeries.

After so many difficult operations and frequent stays in the hospital, what this courageous girl wanted most was an extra special vacation. And where better than Hawaii!

During her extraordinary trip to Hawaii, Tabitha and her family had no shortage of things to do. After checking into the beautiful Island Colony Hotel in Honolulu, Tabitha was anxious to start exploring!

Among many of her exciting ventures, Tabitha enjoyed a visit to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Her mom, Angie, said that they all had a wonderful time. “It was just great. Everyone was so nice to Tabitha and really paid special attention to her!” The family also spent an afternoon taking a lovely and relaxing cruise around the islands where guests could learn hula dancing, play the ukulele, feed fish off of the side of the boat, and learn how to make head leis, which Tabitha especially enjoyed. “It was really neat,” said Angie.

Tabitha also stopped by a pineapple plantation and later had a blast at a beautiful luau on the beach, where there was plenty of singing and dancing and food. “It was so fun!” said Tabitha.

The highlight of the trip however, had to be Tabitha's trip out to the Sea Life Park where she was able to get up close and personal with the park's dolphins by going into the water with them. “It was really cool!” Tabitha said. “They were really cute.” Angie said it was a joy to see how much Tabitha enjoyed herself. “She just loved it. Just being able to be in the water and to touch the dolphins was so great for her!”

Tabitha returned home from her trip with lots of pictures and even more special memories. Angie said the entire wish meant so much to her daughter. “Tabitha just had so much fun. Everything was great. We'll definitely remember this forever!” Tabitha herself had a hard time coming home. “I could have stayed a lot longer! It was so fun!”


Kids Wish Network is a nationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to infusing hope, creating happy memories, and improving the quality of life for children. If you know a child between the ages of 3 and 18 who may be in need of its wish granting services, please call 727-937-3600 or toll free 888-918-9004.

http://www.kidswishnetwork.org/

Online Love

Hi! I love your site. It is a definite must read for anyone who has a computer. I have been online for the last 3 years, and I think the Internet is a fantastic place. However, bad things happen to good people. Everyone needs to be cautious when chatting with strangers. That also goes for blind dates, and answering personal ads. I have done all of the above in the last few years. But I always used my brain first, and took steps to protect my identity, address, etc. from any man I dated. I have had my share of bad dates also, and oh, the stories I could tell you! My girlfriends used to love listening to my tales of the different men I met for dinner. And yes, some were losers and some were not. I never gave up though. I just kept looking. And in November of 1997 I found my true love.

I have a website that is very popular among the BBW crowd. My page is linked on alot of pages, and I used to chat quite frequently on IRC. Since I was a single 28 year old gal, my pic and bio were posted on 5-6 different BBW websites. From those postings I usually received 2-3 emails a day from guys. Most of them were outright proposals to just meet and have sex. Those I deleted at once, since I was not looking for that. Occasionally, I would respond, chat online with a guy, maybe call him once or twice, and meet for dinner. After doing this for about 1 and a half years, I was sick of it. I was beginning to give up hope. I stopped answering personal ads, stopped replying to emails, and turned down any blind dates. Family and friends kept telling me, stop looking so hard, it will happen when you least expect it. I was like " yeah right". But it actually happened to me.

On November 1, 1997 I received an email from a guy who lived in my state, who wrote that he saw my bio on a BBW page. He went on to say that he thought I was pretty and we seemed to have a few things in common. He meant that about my comment that my favorite ice cream was mint chocolate chip-the green kind. He seemed nice from the letter, spelled most things correctly and I figured I would write back to him. We exchanged emails for about a week or so, everything was going fine. We agreed to meet on IRC and chat live. We did that for about another week, for hours on end. I was careful, asking questions, being honest, never giving my last name or phone number. We had alot in common, agreed on the same things, and thought the same way about most stuff. He actually gave me his phone number and asked me out for dinner on a Saturday night. I called him the Friday night before, and we spoke for 6 hours non stop. Thank god we lived in the same state.

I was so excited, he seemed fantastic. We had exchanged pics, told each other a little bit about our past history etc etc. But I was still a little nervous of course. After giving my friend his name and number and telling her where we were meeting for dinner I left for out date. I spotted him at once sitting in his car in the parking lot of the restaurant. I pulled in next to him, and he came over to me carrying one pink rose and a box of mallowmars! (He had found out earlier that I craved them all the time.) It was so sweet. And so was he. We went inside and had to wait for an hour or so to be seated. That was fine, we talked, and laughed and joked. It was not awkward or tense at all. We had like a 2 hour dinner. I was in love! He was gorgeous, funny, smart, sweet, basically everything I was looking for. He seemed to be liking me too, so I was in heaven. After dinner, he walked me to my car, and it was just beginning to snow. We stood outside for a few minutes, I explained I had to go as I hate driving in the snow, but he did not want me to leave. He offered to buy me a cup of tea at a McDonalds a block away so we could chat for a while longer. I figured why not, I was having so much fun. I followed him in my car to the McDonalds( to this day he kids me about me thinking he was an ax murderer and not getting in his car). When we got there, we realized it was only a drive thru McD's. So we laughed ourselves silly in the snow outside the cars. We chatted for a bit longer. He asked me out for the following week. I of course accepted and tried to to burst into hystericaly giggles. We were standing quite close to each other and I was getting ready to say goodbye. I had decided I had to kiss him, I just had to! And my policy was always, no kissing on the first date!! But he melted my heart! I just kept smiling at him, while he was talking nervously to me. I belive I just said to him, are'nt you going to kiss me now? And he did! And it was heaven. We were standing there in the deserted parking lot in the snow, kissing for the first time and then we heard a very garbled version of "Can I take your order please"? coming out of the McD's drive thru window. We looked over and there was a car there placing an order. We cracked up laughing!

I could go on and on, and tell you thousands of things about this relationship. But I'm sure it would bore you and your readers! Let me just sum it up and tell you this. That night I met the man I was going to marry. We are living together and we wed November of 2000. I still have all the emails he has ever sent me, I used that very first one as part of our wedding invitation. We are madly in love, meant for each other and it was all made possible throught the Internet. Good things can happen, but you just have to be patient and very careful. Thanks for letting me share out story with you.

:)

Ice Cream Nostalgia

As a little girl my family lived on a dirt road, and in the summer we had so much fun harrassing the ice cream man. My sister reminded me of that when I met her at my mom and dad's house. There was the ice cream trunk that would come down our road... almost like clock work... at the same time everyday.

My sister and I would hide behind our front door and scream... at the top of our lungs...

"STOP! STOP!" lol

Then we would shrink back down under where the screen didn't show us. We'd move to where we could watch out the window out of a corner so that we couldn't be detected.

The man would stop his truck... get out and kinda do a chinese fire drill around the truck looking for kids. He'd Cuss and get back in the truck and drive on... then we would do it again! He would repeat the chinese fire drill lookin for kids. Then get back in and drive off...

My sister and I at that point would be rolling on the floor in our living room giggling. We were so bad but we had fun doing alot of silly things. The ice cream truck in the summer was the best! Of course we ended up buying lots and lots of ice cream from him when we got older cause we felt bad.

I LOVE ICE CREAM!

See Happiness...? Share Happiness!

Here we are as human beings in a time where life has become more of a joke than a blessing. Here is my mission... We need to find happiness again. Whether it be just a picture of a flower or a few words about how someone special in your life made you feel. Comforting things that we have been given as natural gifts in this world, that speak to our hearts but are rarely translated into words. So this my friends is what I plan to accomplish with this blog. I need you to send happiness my way and in turn I shall post it and share it with the world. Everything is strictly anonymous. There are no need for names. Just share the Happiness!

How Do I Share My Happiness?

Each post can be a story of hope, a funny experience, an unseen kindness, a belief, a feeling, or even something that changed your life for the better. Pictures of a newborn, just got married, how cute your puppy is when he chases a ball, share with the world your happiness. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. You can email them to me directly and I will post them as they come in.

EMAIL : PostHappiness@yahoo.com



I look forward to your responses!

:)

Post Happy