Jars of joy lined my pantry shelves. Preserves and jellies, dilled pickles and basil-blemished tomatoes. Strawberry-Fig Preserves that called my name and turned me into an addict. In no time they were gone, consumed on home-made scones, walnut-studded brie and other edibles.
The pounds added up and my pants were too snug for comfort.

It was then that I realized that I was addicted to the white stuff. No not cocaine- but sugar!

drug rehab

I suppose that everyone dreams of taking a vacation that will totally rejuvenate them- one that might even change them in some wonderful new way.

The options today for life-changing adventures is almost unlimited! Adventures, retreats, workshops... don't forget to pack your travel insurance!

Bangle bracelets can be worn with any number of different objectives in mind. While they can be used as strictly fashion accessories, don't stop there!

Lots of smart women assign jobs to their bangles. For example, some women use bangles to keep track of the number of glasses of water they've consumed in the course of a day. They begin with all their gold bangles on one wrist and through the day, they move the bracelets to the other wrist after each glass of water.

"... see how the flesh grows back across a wound, with a great vehemence, more strong than the simple, untested surface before. There's a name for it on horses, when it comes back darker and raised, proud flesh, is all proud of its wounds, wears them as honors given out after battle, SMALL TRIUMPHS pinned to the chest." ~ Jane Hirshfeld from For what Binds Us

I read this today as I waited on clothes at the laundry. My washer and dryer are not hooked up yet. They sit in their new connectionless space, waiting for the skills of an electrician and plumber to put them back to work.

I discover that washing clothes at a community laundromat is an adventure that passes all too quickly. Life is full of surprises. With an inexplicable eagerness I look forward to my next jaunt to the Havana Coin Laundry. For while there, seeds for stories were sprinkled across the fertile soil of my imagination.

A good cure perhaps for writers block and stagnant sentences.

drug treatment

Now that I don't have a swimming pool, a backyard or private gardens of my own to maintain, I feel sort of foot-loose and fancy-free. You know what? I like it! I never thought I'd feel this way! Wonders never cease!

Now, I can think about going places and enjoying other forms of recreation on long weekends.

One of the trips I'd love to take this spring around Easter is a spa/golf trip. Better stock up on some golf balls!

I consider it a blessing from the heavens above that while smack dab in the valley and pit of pending foreclosure, I was able to sell my home.

Considering that my house was not even on the market or listed with a real estate agent! There is no doubt in my mind that this sale was orchestrated by the hand of a loving GOD!

Foreclosure is a scary thing. But when we place our difficulties and trials in the competant hands of our creator, the truly extraordinary can happen.

On Friday I attended a Internet Seminar at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tallahassee. A new friend had invited me to the seminar and since the seminar was about something that I was in the market for, I jumped on the opportunity to learn about owning my own online store. Dejavu?

Having already done an online store opportunity, I understood what is involved in the marketing of an online business- massive amounts of time, often with very little, if any financial reward.

Yet, somehow I got temporarily caught up in all the hype and bought into the program.

But after doing my due diligence after the seminar, I came to my senses and realized that these guys were simply selling a dream, the Internet was populated with complaints about the company, its products and its tactics.

Tomorrow I'll call and cancel the "license" that I bought from them and take my refund and shop for valentines day gifts from someone else's online store.

"God never forgets what he is doing with us." I heard this statement a couple years ago in a sermon at a church I happened to be visiting one Sunday morning. The words hit a chord deep in my soul. It was as if it had been ordained by divine orchestration that I hear those words on that particular day. They filled me with an inexplicable hope that all that I had been through during my life was not lost. I began to see an outline emerging, an outline of connect the dots that in God's hands could be used for purposes beyond my scope of understanding. Now that a few years has passed since first hearing those words, I have come to a place of deep and abiding faith in knowing and believing that our GREAT & WONDROUS GOD has not forgotten anything that he has done with us, even though in our human weakness, brokeness and spiritual frailities we might.

Last night I was working late at my desk and a telephone call came in from another time zone. The caller didn't realize that I lived in Florida and apolized for the lateness of the call. The amazing thing is that the call couldn't have come at a better time. The call was based on a seed that I planted in August of 2005... 2 1/2 years ago.

While the call was profound on many levels, the real take away lesson for me is the call I hear whispered deep in my interior to return to the spiritual blogging that I first started with on Agape Cove Living. Somehow I've moved away from that inner desire to share through my blogs the amazing things that God does in my life every day. Sadly I have gotten too caught up in political correctness and have silenced the voice that sings the amazing melodies in my heart. The voice that would often whisper... "Kathi, write this in your blog."

I will try to abide more in HIS will and less in mine. I will try to be a bold voice on the world wide web, that shares golden nuggets from the heavens above.

Even though the Agape Cove Bookstore is no more, the desire that I feel to tie together the spiritual and gourmet are not dead. From a blogging assignment for communion invitations to the exciting possibilities for organizing foreign food tours with a spiritual flavors. God's orchestration? I believe so because HE NEVER FORGETS WHAT HE IS DOING WITH US!

I recently read an article where the politician being interviewed said that his biggest fear in life was being bored. That comment triggered my imagination as I praised God that I have never really known boredom. The comment stirred me to contemplate what my biggest fear in life is. For several days I simply couldn't come up with any real big fears. I know the reason that I don't have any big fears is because I try to turn everything over to God. If I had to depend on myself, I'd surely be a fearful wreck. But with HIM, I can boldly and fearlessly live out my life hopefully in the way he intended.

Two nights ago I talked with a friend who was in the hospital. Her undaunting attitude of fearlessless amazed me. During our conversation I came face-to face with my greatest fear - 1.)being operated on and 2.) not having health insurance in case something does go wrong with my health. Because of my friends particular situation, she is the recipient of medicare insurance.

As we look at our options for the next president of the United States of America, perhaps we should take a serious look at each candidates stand on health care. I believe that our nation has a health insurance crises brewing that could be avoided by choosing leaders who will make a difference, not just to the bottom lines of big corporations but to the lives of countless millions who start each new day without the safety net of health insurance. It is really a life or death issue. How many new cancer victims go undiagnosed in the early stages simply because they can not afford simple preventative screening.

We need to wake up and focus our agendas on real issues that impact the health, safety and quality of life for our citizens and put the love of money on the far back burner.

Thorns ~ Author Unknown

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss.Troubles had multiplied.Her husband's company "threatened" to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend suggested that Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder. "Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child's?""Good afternoon, can I help you?"Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk. "I . . . I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra."For Thanksgiving? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?""Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer,"Hi, Barbara, let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers."Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched - was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed."Yes, please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said, as she gently tapped her chest.Sandra stammered, "Ah, that lady just left with . . . uh . . . she left with no flowers!""That's right," said the clerk. "I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery. That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel.""So what did you do?" ask ed Sandra."I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and I never questioned Him why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, 'Why? Why me?!' It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."Just then someone else walked in the shop."Hey, Phil!" the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man."My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement . . . twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator."Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?""Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced," Phil replied. "After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem, the Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us."As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!""I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life" Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too fresh.""Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment."I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out."I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute.""Thank you. What do I owe you?""Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me."The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."It read:"My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns. God Bless all of you. Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you."Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave therest to God."We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and Duct tape. God did it with nails.