Category Archives: For Family & Fun

Share Your World Feb. 20, 2017

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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It has been a busy week. We have four people in hospital or rehab this week and one of our dear ladies went on hospice two weeks ago. A family in our church lost their daughter yesterday; So there has been a lot of pastoral work going on in addition to our normal ministry activities. I am thankful that I walk this road of pastoring with a group of wonderful fellow staff pastors and that our lead pastor is such an organizational genius.

In spite of the busyness I have a wee bit of time this morning to join Cee’s SHARE YOUR WORLD CHALLENGE. Every week Cee asks us five questions and when we her contributors answer them we share our worlds with all of you our readers.

Cee’s questions and my answers are below, but when you have finished reading them please follow the underlined link to Cee’s blog and see how her other contributors answered the questions.

When you cut something with scissors, do you move your jaw (as if you were about to chew)?

Probably. I have been told that I unconsciously follow other people with my lips when they are speaking; So I cannot imagine that I would not follow the clacking of a pair of scissors

Do you chew your pens and pencils?

I not only chew my pens and pencils. I chew other people’s pens and pencils when they lend them to me. Again it’s an unconscious thing, but I have gotten a lot of new pens and pencils this way.

Are you a collector of anything?  If so what?

I collect Books and walking sticks, although I have not gotten a new walking stick in quite awhile.

What size is your bed? 

I have a full sized bed.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful to have increased my writing time over the last few weeks. I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to see Josh Garrels in concert this week with my friend Jody. Please watch this very important and moving video by Josh.

 

Finally I am grateful to have had a chance to go out to lunch and a movie with my daughter Amanda. We had Thai food and went to see THE GREAT WALL.

I am looking forward to increasing my writing time again this week.

Share Your World Feb. 13th 2017

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

It is that time of the week again to SHARE OUR WORLDS.

Every week Cee asks the world five questions and when we answer we are sharing our worlds. Do you want to join in the fun? Just click the link above and you will be transported into a world of sharing.

Here are this week’s questions and my answers.

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Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

Sheets usually end up on the floor so I guess even if they start out tucked in they don’t stay that way very long.

In this way sheets seem counter-productive.

Have you stolen a street sign before?

Never. It seems counter-productive.

Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?

Never. It seems counter-productive.

Do you have freckles?

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Me and Snug at an art show in Winchendon

 

No. I have moles. Just not on my face. ( I bet you expected me to say something about the counter-productivity of freckles didn’t you)

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful to have had a great Facetime appointment with my publisher. The book is coming along. Even if the process is slower than I anticipated, it is a lot of fun.

This week I am looking forward to spending a lot more time writing.

 

Share Your World- Feb. 6 2017

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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Share Your World is a weekly challenge hosted by Cee Neuner. Every week Cee asks five questions and in answering them we, her contributors, SHARE OUR WORLDS.

To see all of Cee’s contributors answers or to share your world with them click the underlined link.

Here are this week’s questions and my answers.

Regarding your fridge, is it organized or a mess inside?

I guess you would call it an organized mess. All the produce is together. All the  sandwich meats and cheese are in the same drawer. I know where things are without having to look for them but you might not be able to figure out my system.

Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?

I am a great casserole lover. I also love a plate full enough that all my food is forced to touch.

Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational? 

I am a reader of fiction, non fiction and educational books. Right now I am reading

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Take Charge of Your Destiny: 1 by [Keiran, Alan]

and

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Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?

My left Achilles tendon is telling me it is going to snow tomorrow. I need to stretch.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful to have gotten so much writing done last week and I am looking forward to my Facetime appointment with my editor and publisher.

 

Share Your World- Jan. 30,2017

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

I am just coming back to the blogoshere after vacationing with my son Joe. My first blog this week is going to be Cee’s Share Your World Challenge..

If you have never played it is so simple. Cee asks five questions and in answering them the world is shared…at least a little bit . And folks every little bit of sharing in a positive light these days helps.

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Here are Cee’s five questions and my answers:

What is the most incredible natural venue that you’ve ever seen in person?

Oh gosh this is a hard one. I have been privileged to see so many amazing sights.

I think the grandest sight in nature I have seen has to be the Grand Canyon.

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I have been twice and both times the sight just took my breath away

A close second was Angel’s Peak in Zion

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Third was the Cliffs of Moher

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The Cliffs of Moher

And The Lower Lake in Killarney was also pretty impressive

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How many siblings do you have? What’s your birth order? 

I have one sister, Brenda. I am two years her senior. We are very close. She is a missionary in the Netherlands.

If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?

I am a slipper, not very impressive on the surface and certainly not a very exciting shoe but I am comfortable and warm.

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What is the strangest/weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

Ostrich jerky.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am so grateful to have had a week with my son. We went to Boston and Keene NH. We played board games and ate out a lot. We also got a chance to catch up. Joe is quite a conversationalist.

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This week I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things at Cornerstone Church. I sense this going to be a year of change and my word for the year coming out my time of fasting is LEAD.

 

Share Your World 2017 Week #2

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

It is time once again to SHARE MY WORLD WITH CEE! I am pretty much patting myself on the back that I am actually getting to this challenge two weeks in a row!

Here’s how the challenge works. Cee from Portland Oregon asks five questions of her contributors and her contributors from literally all over the globe answer and thereby our world’s are shared!

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Below are the five questions of the week and my answers. You can click the underlined link above to see how the rest of the world answered Cee.

If you lost a bet and had to dye your hair a color of the rainbow for a week, what color would it be?  

Oh I would like my hair to be green for a week. Especially if it were around St. Patrick’s Day. That would be fun!

If you could choose one word to focus on for 2017, what would it be?

Lead.

What was one thing you learned last year that you added to your life?

I learned that I take greater care of my schedule and say “no” to other people’s agendas for my life.

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

I would be….. a dragon fruit.

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I am not exactly sure what makes me a dragon fruit. I would just like to be one.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to preach last Sunday at Cornerstone church. This week I am looking forward to team preaching a message on worship with one of my fellow staff members, Pastor Donna. The message is entitled “The Magnificent Seven: Seven Powerful Words Of Praise”

Share Your World 2016 Week 52

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

I have been coming to Cee’s blog for about four years now to participate in her various challenges. Share Your World was the very first challenge I took up as a blogger. In Cee’s own words here is what share your world is all about.

Share Your World (SYW) is all about having a safe place for everyone to answer random questions that I post each week.  Here is the basic format.  I will ask you:

  • To answer four questions each week.
  • Bonus Question is always the same “What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?”  Because we all need to be reminded that there are many things in our lives to be grateful about.  

Here are this week’s questions and my answers:

What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?

I think this changes regularly but right now it is Mount Washington Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. I think I will have to have a bowl tonight!

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If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to? 

Right now it would be a shoulder and foot massage. My shoulders are killing me.

Have you ever been drunk?

No. in fact I can count on one hand how many times I have even tasted alcohol and I would still have at least one finger left over.

Complete this sentence: My favorite supposedly guilty pleasure is… 

Right now it is Bryan Davis’ series Dragons In Our Midst series.

Enoch's Ghost by Bryan Davis

 

 

 

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

It was a wonderful Christmas service. I am glad the piano work came off so well. Here is Pastor Deb and I performing the song Noel on Christmas Eve.

This week I am looking forward to a fairly quiet week as we await our first Nor’Easter.

 

NOW CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW OTHERS ANSWERED THE CHALLENGE.

A Very Lillie-Put Christmas

Posted on by under C.cada: Arts and Stuff, For Family & Fun, Pastor Wrinkles

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I struggled with my list of who to send out my family and friends Christmas letter to this year. I did the same thing last year and by the time I got done creating the send list it was St. Patrick’s Day and the point was moot. So rather than make the same mistake this year I decided just to make my letter a post and anyone who is a follower on WordPress, Facebook, or Linked In can read about the past year in Lillie-Put if they care to.

So 2016. What a wild and crazy year Ay? As my lead Pastor would say. It was full of busyness and blessing.

The kids? They are all doing fine.

Joe continues to teach in South Korea

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He is travelling between four schools and teaching English and Western culture to children from elementary through High School. He loves it and is finding a home there. I do look forward to having him home for a week in January. We have some fun plans!

Amanda is living here with me in Winchendon MA and is working at a Dayhab in Ashburnham, as a one to one aid. She also got her certification as a minister with the Assemblies of God and is praying about her next steps in ministry.

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She was also just given the post of Vice President of the Special Touch Ministry REACH New England chapter. She will be working with the leadership of this group to bring ministry to the disabled population of North Central Worcester County.

Melanie and her husband James continue to work  and minister in their church in Saugus MA. Melanie is the Children’s Pastor and James is an assistant to the lead Pastor there. Both also continue to work in youth ministry and hold down full time jobs. They are very busy people as you can imagine.

End Time project

My sister Brenda has returned to the Netherlands, her mission field, and is continuing to work with the theater ministry out of Ichtus Church in Zaandam. She is also going to language school and now sometimes when she calls she forgets I don’t speak Dutch.

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She has a beautiful little apartment on an island farm on the outskirts of Zaandam. Amanda went for a visit last summer. I hope I get to visit before her job requires her to move.

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Brenda’s Apartment

As for me…I continue to work as the assistant pastor of Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA. Amanda and I live with my Mom in the house I grew up in. Mom just turned 80 in September and is still pretty spry. I have to watch her or she’ll start shoveling the drive or lugging wood from the wood pile. She does let me cut the lawn and do the grocery shopping and the lions share of the cooking but she still insists on doing the laundry and the dishes and God forbid I should try to vacuum the rugs downstairs!

This year was a really busy year in ministry, especially the fall. In August I led worship for a week in Berkshires for Special Touch’s New England getaway. In September I was privileged to be a part of planning and running the Toy Town Fall Fest. We had about 3,000 people in attendance on the newly acquired Ingleside property. This was a culmination of three years of work on behalf of our committee to buy and create a makerspace in the center of Winchendon.

One week after the Fall Fest I was a presenter at our church network worship conference where I got to explain our artist’s collaborative to about 50 worship leaders from the Tri- state area. From there it was a mad dash to get ready for C.cada’s ( our artists collaborative) fall art show in October. We hung over 100 works by our collaborative, presented an evening of music and held several workshops for the public.

Finally in November Cornerstone opened its doors to Special Touch to do a regional Disability Training Conference. After that it was an end run to Christmas and here we are. The season has been full of parties and concerts. Tomorrow night we are having our annual Christmas Eve service and then on Sunday we have my favorite service above all other services. Christmas Sunday. It only happens once every seven years and while I am not sure why it is my absolute favorite service period!

The church is fully decorated. My teams are rehearsed. The special music is ready. All my Christmas food is bought. Now I just have to wrap presents.

To you and yours Lillie-Put wishes you a very merry Christmas!