The Stranger....A MUST Read For Everyone!

This was sent to my husband by a family member. I found it to be quite interesting and correct.

The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped

Talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular

Basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished.

He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?.... .. .

We just call him 'TV.'

(Note: This should be required reading for every household in America !)

He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

Family members who read this blog and have chosen this path...again...Please reconsider! I am not your judge and am not without fault in hosting the stranger and his wife in the past, yet I am worried at the things my nephews and nieces are being introduced to by this stranger. My own children and I struggle at times with the strangers' wife so I definitely am not judging. However, it is time to tell the stranger, "No thanks to the vile conversations that he holds, the suggestive remarks and examples he shows, the politics and values that he has perverted" and tell him to leave and maybe even take his wife with him! The muzzle we have on his wife here at this home helps somewhat...but we still spend too much time entertaining her and not the Honored Guest who lives here too! The Honored Guest MUST not become a stranger and He has told us He cannot live in a divided house! Yet His family is bringing in the other stranger and his wife and making them the honored guests.

Please kick the Stranger out and make LOTS of room for our Honored Guest who simply wants to spend time with us and help us make His home our own one day soon.

A Melancholy Morning? Not any longer!!!

Last night I took a trip down memory lane. I found a neat site that has pictures, updated information, etc. about my graduating class from high school. It was funny looking at the way people dressed back then and I even saw a goofy picture of myself. In fact, I showed that picture to my son this morning and he said there was NO way that could have been me....Not sure if that is a compliment or not! LOL

As I scrolled through the site, seeing the pictures of the 10 and 20 year reunions which I was unable to attend, I realized that even though I went to that school, I was never really a part of it. What I mean is that I was a Pentecostal (one of two that I knew about) girl who wore skirts, had uncut hair, wore no make-up, and was not in the "in crowd." I didn't attend the football games (except for my senior year homecoming game), didn't party very often (except my rebellious senior year), didn't have a whole lot of friends, etc. I seriously doubt very many of the people I did count as friends even remember me today, I was that "unassuming."

At first I felt a little ache in my heart that I was so forgettable. That if I were to run into one of my classmates, or even attend the 25th reunion, they probably would have to put on one of those fake smiles we use when we are trying to pretend we remember someone and say, "Oh, my, it is SOO good to see you!" while not even having a clue to who I was or how they knew me. But then the Lord reminded me that His Word says that I am to be in the world but not a part of it. We, the believer who has been blood bought, are to come out of the world and be a separate people. I must say that this helped me to reconcile my unpopularity in high school.

While searching through the archives, I found some old friends and I have sent them e-mails letting them know that I am alive and look forward to reminiscing with them. I already received one reply and that too helped me overcome my melancholy. Kendra was so excited to hear from me after all these years (I think it has been at least 8 years since we last reconnected.) We are going to be chatting via e-mail and such to catch up with each other. How exciting!

So...if you promise not to laugh TOO hard, here are some pictures of me from that long ago era of high school and the 80's style!

Did you promise???? Truly??? Cross your heart and all that stuff???

Okay...here goes....

Funny huh? Oh, well...you too probably have pictures you would rather never ever again saw the light of day!!! LOL

I am thankful that I have a heavenly Father who loves me just as I am and who has called me to come out of the world and to be a separate people! The people of the Name MUST continue to be a separate, holy people as this world grows more wicked and rapidly approaches the return of Christ!

Stand up and be counted as a Holy Ghost filled, One God Apostolic, Tongue talking, Holy roller, Born Again believer in the liberated power of Jesus' name!!! I am determined to stand for holiness and righteousness of the inward AND outward man come what may!

Devil, I serve notice on your little army of wIMPs...you know the ending of the Book and I come against your vile attempts to destroy my family in the name of Jesus! Satan, you are defeated and I have a Master who is working ALL things for my good! He hears my cries for my lost loved ones and the ones who are falling away from Truth and Holiness. Come what may, I will fight you for the souls of my children...and I WILL win because I have a larger army at my disposal and my General...he knows every move you might make and He will counter them at every turn!!

Whew....feel like dancing on the enemy right now! I hope you feel the same way....Excuse me while I go shout!

Promised Pictures and More

The promised pictures of Justin's "whiskers" are below. Sorry they are so dark. His hand is healing nicely and we continue to thank God for protecting Justin's life.


A side view of the cut

The "whisker smile"

Full view of the hand and injury

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A new addition to our family of sorts. Freckles has come to live with us. He is a "mutt" LOL His previous owner said that he is Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua/and who knows what else. The kids love him and carry him everywhere they go in the house. He is a cutie but Mark and I are not SOOO excited about the potty training and teething that comes with a puppy, cute though he may be.

The following pictures are of Freckles and his introduction to Anabelle, our Dachshund.


"I am no threat to your reign...really!"


"Whew...I am so tired from all this meet and greet."

Freckles...a cutie, huh?

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Here are some silly pictures of Justin from last night. He was eating an orange and decided to make "Billy Bob" teeth from the peelings. Hope these bring you a chuckle like it did for us.

A cheesey grin...

Bucktooth grin...

"Look ma, I am losing my teeth!"

Emergency Room Joy

WOW...4+ hours later and I have just gotten home from a trip to the Emergency Room with Justin. We have had quite the excitement tonight! Justin cut his hand quite deeply on a piece of glass from a picture frame and we couldn't get it to stop bleeding. SO...here came the EMT's and Fire Department. Nice guys!! The 911 operator had given us good instruction on how to lessen the bleeding and then the emergency crew helped to make sure he wasn't going to bleed to death on us. They wrapped it with some gauze and made sure it had a good pressure on the wound. We opted to drive Justin to the ER ourselves and quickly were seen by the RN's and even a Dr! Then the wait began!!!

After the Dr. had cut off the bandage looked at the wound, she told us her A-team would be coming to sew him up. So, with the wound covered lightly by the cut bandage, we sat there and waited, and waited, and waited. Then, Justin says, "I feel liquid running down my arm!" Sure enough, there was a river of blood streaming down his wrist. So, I wiped it off and we went back to waiting and reading a comic book together. A few minutes later, more blood flowing down his arm. I got a couple of napkins from the dispenser and laid them under Justin's hand. It wasn't long until Justin said, "I feel wetness on my leg!" The bleeding had gotten worse and now his brand new gray courderoy pants had a huge blood stain! Okay, it was time for help.

One of the nurses walked by and I asked if there was something we could lay on his lap since the bleeding was ruining his clothing. She came over and lifted the bandage to see what was up....there, up on his forearm, was a sign of arterial bleeding!!!!!! She was cool about it but immediately started checking out the wound more. She could see a pulsing when the wound was bleeding and so she put a pressure, and I mean PRESSURE, bandage and wrapped his hand to see if the bleeding would stop. Back to waiting.

When the Resident came to do the stitches, he knew that he needed to be watching for the arterial bleed signs. As he removed the pressure wrap, he was surprised by the amount of blood that had bled out. If there had only be veinous bleeding, the pressure bandage would have stopped the flow. With the amount of blood on the pressure bandage, it indicated that indeed the artery had been nicked or cut. So, before he began the stitching, he placed a blood pressure cuff on Justin's forearm and pumped it up to 120 to slow the blow of blood to the hand.

After the injections of the Lydocaine and Epi, which Justin was VERY brave in how he handled the pain, Dr. Brown, the Resident, and a student PA, gave Justin 8 very nice stitches. Justin says it looks like a cat's face with all the "whiskers" on his smiley shaped cut. LOL Justin just about talked the ears off the doctor but the doctor enjoyed the banter and was very patient with him!

Justin and his wrapped hand. The cut is at the base of his Right thumb.
I will try to get a shot of the "whiskers" tomorrow.
The pressure of the bandage needs to stay on his hand to make sure he
doesn't continue to bleed.

Right now as I type, I am crying as I realize how close we came to having a serious injury tonight! The artery must have been nicked and with the initial pressure from me as we waited on the ambulance and then the first pressure bandage, there was no spray of blood. But after the removal of the bandage and Justin moving around while waiting for 1 and half hours to have the stitches put in, the nick grew larger. I am very thankful that God had his hand on Justin and didn't allow him to "bleed out" from an arterial cut! I am also thankful that though the cut is VERY deep and over 5 centimeters long, there was no nerve or tendon damage! Justin will still have full mobility and feeling in his thumb and hand. He WILL have a very impressive scar as a reminder!

With the earthquake last night and this cut tonight, I hope my children are listening to the warnings God is giving them! The earthquake happened as I was dealing with attitude from Jessi and tonight's experience came because of an explosion of temper after being teased. No, Justin did not punch anything or break anything. However, he did storm off into the front room and in the dark did not see that Jessi had left a piece of glass from a picture frame lying in the chair he threw himself onto in his fit of anger.

Jessi learned a lesson tonight...follow through and put things in their proper place. Justin learned that he should not overreact and throw a "fit" when he is upset. Marissa learned that she should not tease her brother and cause him to sin in his anger. I learned that I still have a love for medicine and a fascination with how things were done tonight in the care of Justin's wound. Who knows, perhaps I will find a way to complete my education in the field of medicine of some sort, as well as pursuing my love of Speech communication.

I pray your evening was less eventful than ours. This has been quite cathartic to write about the experience AND it has helped me to finally wind down and be sleepy enough to finally crawl into bed and rest. Pray for Justin to heal quickly and for the McVay family to listen and learn from all life's lessons!!!

Good night...ummm...morning... :-)

Sundry Joys...

Today was the beginning of the Bible Quizzing Season. JOYful, JOYful...a time of intense practice and studying, and a time of fun and friends as the tournaments begin. Jessi and Justin have learned 20 and 15 verses this week, respectively. They are studying the book of Luke and are doing very well so far. Jessi is learning 5 verses each day for the Senior Division and Justin is learning 4 a day for the Junior Division. They had pizza and juice before a team meeting and overview of what is expected. They will have their first tournament the end of January. Jessi has to know over 90 verse while Justin needs to know 65 by then. Marissa is opting out of the quizzing experience but she will be learning verses each day as part of her homeschooling.

Mark and I need you prayers. We are facing a big decision over the next week and want to make the right one. Mark wants to be sure that we follow Biblical principles as we make this decision. Our hope is in the Lord and we trust Him to lead us to make the right decision. Not a lot of JOY in this section but I keep reminding myself...the JOY of the Lord is my strength.

Tonight at dinner, Jessi was having a moment of "attitude" and we were discussing how she needs to be careful not to be disrespectful due to the impact that could have on her soul. ALL of a sudden, the whole house started shaking, rolling and rocking. Earthquake! After the shaking stopped, we all were holding hands, making sure everyone was okay, while Mark checked the gas lines and such, when I said, "See, we have to always be ready for God to come for us." Jessica immediately looked at me with a white face and said, "I was just thinking that." She felt that God had made sure she got the impact of what we were discussing! I have to agree the timing was PERFECT! :-D I think she will not soon forget that discussion and I pray that it helps her to be more careful of her attitude. Oh, the JOYS of teenagers and pre-teens!

Now, it is time for bed and I am exhausted. My eyes have been hurting all day and I have been fighting a headache. My glasses help a "little" but only to keep the blurriness from getting worse.
Oh, and thanks for stopping by every now and again to catch up on the JOYS of the McVay household!

A Resolution?? The Joys of Dieting!

Well, here we are in 2009 and still overweight! However, I am determined to do what I can to lose the weight this year. I have noticed other friends who have blogged about this same topic and are determined to lose weight in '09. I wish them success!

To help with motivation and tracking my journey of loss, I joined a really cool website called SparkPeople.com. They have a nutritional tracker which gives you a suggested menu for each day, counting the calories, carbs, protein and fat grams you intake. Their exercise tracker helps you build a custom plan for your lifestyle and goals.

I WILL lose weight....Slowly...50 pounds over 12 months averages a little over 4 pounds a month. I am challenging Mark and Marissa to lose weight as well and challenge all 5 of us to exercise regularly!!!! I am tracking all 5 of us through SparkPeople so that we can each see how successful we can be at getting healthy.

It is time to take control of our health, physically AND spiritually. Along with the diet and exercise, we will endeavor to spend less time on the computer and more time reading and learning the Word of God. We have already made strides with making the Bible first priority yesterday. We read and discussed several chapters from Proverbs and Psalms and we prayed together as well.

Are these resolutions? Probably....but not ones we are going to break!!

In Jesus' name, we have the strength to overcome our physical weaknesses of junk food and lack exercise! In Jesus' name, we have the power to overcome our prideful ways, lack of spiritual growth, and the power to stand strong in the face of compromise around us.

I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me! So can Mark, Rissa, Jessi and Justin!
As well as YOU my blogger friend!!