Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

Trust me, I didn't disappoint myself! I mean, seriously...when one has eight cats, four, sometimes five dogs, two toddlers/preschoolers and the Mouse in the house at one time, well, life isn't dull. Case in point. Sunday. A bit of background first. My house is over forty years old. Its wiring has little to be desired. There has been more than one occasion that I've had issues with the outlets, not to mention sometimes the kitchen light. That, however is for another blog and another day. Needless to say, I've begun to think this house has a mind of its own and doesn't like me. That brings me to Sunday. I turn off my ringer for church. Always. Which means that anytime someone calls I usually don't get it until after church ends. Well, I've begun to take my Kindle to church because there's an app that allows me to make notes with the sermon. If you haven't seen this app, check it out, its called YouVersion and has the option to find a live sermo...

As I was getting ready to begin my day with my Granddaughters today, I was doing my morning prayers. Multitasking...something that I'm pretty adept at. Anyway, I reminded myself of an acronym for prayer, mostly because I felt that my morning prayers were getting pretty stale. If they felt stale and boring to me, I can't imagine how they must be for God. Anyway. As I said, I was reminded of an acronym; JOY. Jesus first; Others second; Yourself last. I didn't get much past the "y" because the thoughts that started to overwhelm me on the "J" took over. We celebrate Christmas to remember Jesus' birth, although we are not sure of what day He was born. We celebrate the coming of the Messiah, the One who will save the world, on Christmas, but very few of us think past that day until Easter time and the end result of Christ's ministry. As I was praying, or in my case, actually talking to  Jesus, it hit me. I couldn't have done what He did, kno...

Okay, so its been looking like Christmas since October, who are we kidding? But that hasn't stopped me from being over the top excited about two days from now. Let me explain. No, wait, let me start from the beginning of the year. To say that this year has been a strange one is an understatement. The world seems to have lost its collective mind in one way or another and all of us, whether we want to admit it or not, have been affected be it. From the shock of seeing one our own citizens beheaded by ISIS on the local news (the actual act, of course, not shown), to the deaths of two very different men in different circumstances by the hands of Law Enforcement. From the execution of our men in blue; to North Korea having temper tantrums of one degree or another; to losing one of the most beloved actors of our time taking his own life because of depression, the news has been fraught with stories that tug our heartstrings and stir anger, angst and outrage. There has been good in...