A PERSPECTIVE ABOUT OLD BARNS

Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking.

He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him right off he was crazy.

He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked.

Sure, it was a handsome building in its day.

But then, there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind.
The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's gone, and the wood has turned silver gray.
Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.

He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale.
I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.

That set me to thinking.

I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn.

The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road.

He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful.
Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

It came to me then. We're a lot like that, you and me.

Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too... and lean a bit more than

we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He's doing.
And as the years pass He's busy using the hard weather of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of beautifying our souls that nothing else can produce.

And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy!

They took the old barn down today and hauled it away

to beautify a rich man's house. And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch.

And I suspect we'll be more beautiful then for the seasons we've been through here... and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father's house.

May there be peace within you today.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

And...I do sincerely Thank God for my wonderful friends and family who love me even though I show signs of weathering. : )

One Flaw in Women

Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,

but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy

and laugh when they are nervous.

They fight for what they believe in.

They stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer

when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel

and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about

a birth or a wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member,

yet they are strong when they

think there is no strength left...

They know that a hug and a kiss

can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you

to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what

makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.

They have compassion and ideas.

They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Between Friends

Sometimes in life,

you find a special friend;

Someone who changes your life

just by being part of it.

Someone who makes you laugh
until you can't stop;

Someone who makes you believe

that there really is good in the world.

Someone who convinces you

that there really is an unlocked door

just waiting for you to open it.

This is Forever Friendship.

What has this "world" come to??? Know your rights!

Florida lawsuit: Abusive debt collector calls killed husband:

Tampa, Florida-Stanley McLeod was a man family members say always tried to pay his bills on time.
But, after a massive heart attack, the Sears employee had to quit work and fell behind on his mortgage payment, prompting calls from a debt collector.
"There were about ten to twelve calls a day," says Stanley's wife, Dianne McLeod.
But the calls were far from ordinary. In fact, a first of its kind lawsuit filed by Tampa based law firm Morgan and Morgan alleges the company's calls were so frequent and harassing, McLeod's blood pressure and stress levels shot through the roof, enough to ultimately contribute to his death.
"He'd get very red in the face and short of breath," recalls Mrs. McLeod of the calls her husband would often take while she was at work. "I believe it contributed to his death, I really do."
The McLeod's saved tapes with some of the messages left on their home answering machine. A male debt collector can be heard commenting on the expensive helicopter ride that saved Stanley's life:
"Get your act together and make the payments on your mortgage. Why don't you have that helicopter pick you up and bring that payment to the office."
That recording eventually made its way to Tampa attorney Billy Howard, who heads the consumer protection unit of Florida mega firm Morgan and Morgan.
"They don't care, they just want to make money," said Howard, who says his office has started receiving hundreds of complaints about overly aggressive debt collectors. "No one has held them accountable."
Morgan and Morgan is among a growing list of law firms focusing their attention on debt collection abuse. The company has even produced a commercial urging potential clients to save answering machine recordings if an aggressive debt collector calls.
"It's time to fight back against the banks and debt collectors and make them responsible for their conduct," Howard says. "The way to stop them is in the pocketbook."
The McLeod case is not an isolated one. Howard provided us with a CD full of similar calls, many containing profane language and even racial slurs.
In one of the calls, the debt collector can be heard calling a man the "n-word" after threatening to dig deep into his background.
Howard says while debt collection companies have every right to go after money owed to banks and other companies, a Florida law protects consumers from calls considered harassing.
"You have to do it in a nice manner, period," says Howard, who adds most Floridians don't know their rights in these type cases.
He also adds, in some cases, people don't even owe money, and are either victims of identity theft or mistakes on the part of the collection agency.
"These people are innocent, and they can't get the calls to stop," Howard says.
On one of Howard's cases from July, he says, a debt collector called the best friend of a woman suggesting the friend had died. Ericka Cartagena of Winter Springs says her friend frantically called her brother, throwing her entire family into a panic when they couldn't reach her by phone.
"Everyone thought I was dead!" said an angry Cartagena who, to this day, has no idea why the debt collection company called. She is making payments on a used car, but says she previously made all her payments on time.
She and her attorney believe the statement suggesting her death may have been a mistake, but is often a deliberate attempt by collection companies to prompt an immediate call back from unsuspecting family members.
"To use something like that against somebody is the most egregious collection abuse that is imaginable," Howard says.
A spokesperson for the debt collection industry says he believes cases involving harassment are isolated.
"I think it's the rare exception. Every customer has the right to be treated with dignity and respect," says spokesman Adam Peterman, director of government affairs for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA).
But Dianne McLeod says her husband, while still alive, was treated with anything but dignity and respect.
"They humiliated him, they harassed him, and they didn't care," says McLeod. "You know that if things had been handled differently by this company, he may still be here."
Now, she wants to collect, from the company she blames for harassing her husband to death.
In one of the calls, the debt collector can be heard calling a man the "n-word" after threatening to dig deep into his background.
Howard says while debt collection companies have every right to go after money owed to banks and other companies, a Florida law protects consumers from calls considered harassing.
"You have to do it in a nice manner, period," says Howard, who adds most Floridians don't know their rights in these type cases.
He also adds, in some cases, people don't even owe money, and are either victims of identity theft or mistakes on the part of the collection agency.
"These people are innocent, and they can't get the calls to stop," Howard says.
On one of Howard's cases from July, he says, a debt collector called the best friend of a woman suggesting the friend had died. Ericka Cartagena of Winter Springs says her friend frantically called her brother, throwing her entire family into a panic when they couldn't reach her by phone.
"Everyone thought I was dead!" said an angry Cartagena who, to this day, has no idea why the debt collection company called. She is making payments on a used car, but says she previously made all her payments on time.
She and her attorney believe the statement suggesting her death may have been a mistake, but is often a deliberate attempt by collection companies to prompt an immediate call back from unsuspecting family members.
"To use something like that against somebody is the most egregious collection abuse that is imaginable," Howard says.
A spokesperson for the debt collection industry says he believes cases involving harassment are isolated.
"I think it's the rare exception. Every customer has the right to be treated with dignity and respect," says spokesman Adam Peterman, director of government affairs for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA).
But Dianne McLeod says her husband, while still alive, was treated with anything but dignity and respect.
"They humiliated him, they harassed him, and they didn't care," says McLeod. "You know that if things had been handled differently by this company, he may still be here."
Now, she wants to collect, from the company she blames for harassing her husband to death.

Thought for the Day

The Lord will never give you more than you can handle!!

HANDBAGS-THIS IS WORTH SHARING!!! PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR GRANDMOTHERS, MOMS, DAUGHTERS, GRANDDAUGHTERS AND GIRLFRIENDS !! !!

Have you ever noticed girls who set their handbags on public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table?
Happens a lot! It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress. Sometimes 'what you don't know will hurt you'!

Read on.............

Mom got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their handbags down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that handbags are really dirty, because of where they have been.
It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think about where your handbag goes during the day.

'I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the floor of the bus a lot,' says one woman. 'On the floor of my car, and in toilets.'

'I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the floor of the toilet,' says another woman 'and of course in my home which should be clean.'

We decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake , and then we set out to test the average woman's handbag.
Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared.
Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty.
It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked.
Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick.
In one sampling, four out of five handbags tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. 'There is fecal contamination on the handbags' says Amy. Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than those without, with one exception.
The handbag of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. 'Some type of feces, or possibly vomit' says Amy.
So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat. Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen counter top.
Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of shoes. 'If you think about putting a pair of shoes on your counter tops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your handbag on the counter tops.'
Your handbag has gone where individuals before you have walked, sat, sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc!
Do you really want to bring that home with you?
The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.

R.I.P. Tito Monzon! (tio)

A death in the family leaves a void that cannot be filled. No one can ever take the place of this individual in the world. We should not try to comfort the family by saying that "it was his time anyway", or, "he was suffering". These may be words of comfort later. However, there must be time to mourn the fact that things will never be the same. One minute he was here and now he is gone. The human mind must be allowed to sit with this reality. Mourning is a necessary part of the human experience. If it is ignored, a general feeling of sadness may pervade the whole family.

When someone we love passes away,
We ache, but we go on;
Our dear departed would want us to heal,
After they are gone.
Grief is a normal way to mend
The anguish and pain in our hearts;
We need time to remember and time to mourn,
Before the recovery starts.
Let's draw together to recuperate,
As we go throught this period of sorrow;
Let's help each other, with tender care
To find a brighter tomorrow.

Spectacular California Fire Images

Smoke from the Station Fire rises over downtown Los Angeles Monday, Aug. 31, 2009.

2Smoke billows from the Station Fire in Los Angeles in this image taken from NASA's Terra satellite August 30, 2009.

A Los Angeles County fire fighter monitors hot spots as he fights the Station Fire August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

A backfire burns near homes during the Station Fire in La Crescenta, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

A vehicle travels past a wall of flames at the Station Fire in the Acton, California area north of Los Angeles, August 30, 2009.

Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies and residents help evacuate horses as the Station fire burns in the hills above Acton, California on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009

A modified Martin Mars seaplane tanker aircraft drops water trying to contain a fire threat to a historic observatory on Mount Wilson northeast of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 01, 2009. Mount Wilson is home not only to the observatory but numerous television, radio and cell phone antennas serving the metropolitan area.

A U.S. Forest Service hotshot wipes his face while taking a break from fighting the the Station Fire August 31, 2009 in Tujunga, California.

A large cloud of smoke from the Station Fire is seen above Angeles National Forest as the blaze marches westward towards the communities of Sunland and Tujanga on August 31, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Smoke, ashes and embers fly into the air from a canyon just off Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 near La Canada Flintridge, California.

The Los Angeles skyline is obscured by smoke from the Station Fire north of the city August 31, 2009.

Firefighters look for hotspots on a burnt landscape in the Acton area in California on August 31, 2009.

Firefighters take a break during the Station Fire in La Crescenta, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

Charred trees are silhouetted by the glow of the Station Fire August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

A firefighter photographs caged tigers awaiting transport in a trailer as workers and volunteers evacuate animals from the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon as the Station Fire draws nearer on September 1, 2009 near Tujunga, California. The wildlife sanctuary houses a large number of tigers, lions, bears, chimpanzees, mountain lions and numerous other animals in the brush-covered mountains outside of the city.

Smoke rises and ashes glow on hills that burned during the Station fire in the Acton area of Los Angeles, California August 30, 2009.

Julie Garcia, 59, and her daughter Jessi Garcia, 19, hug each other on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 after seeing their home destroyed by the Station Fire that swept through their neighborhood on La Paloma Canyon Road at Vogel Flat in Tujunga, California

A helicopter is just visible before large clouds of smoke from the Station Fire above Angeles National Forest on August 31, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

A motorcycle burns during the Station Fire in the Big Tujunga area of Los Angeles, California August 29, 2009.

A helicopter carrying water passes in front of the sun as it flies over a residential area during the Station Fire in La Crescenta, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

A firefighter looks out from the fire break that kept a fire in the Deukmejian Wilderness Park, background, from jumping into a neighborhood in the La Crescenta section of Glendale, California on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

Sitting on a roof, two residents watch a wildfire burn during the Station Fire in La Crescenta, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

Ted Hamm uses a firehose to mop up hot spots after the Station Fire swept through his property August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

Mushrooming clouds rise to sky as the Station Fire gradually marches west towards the communities of Acton Agua, Dulce, and Sunland Tujanga on August 31, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Firefighters work a threatened house in the La Crescenta section of Glendale, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

Melted metal from a vehicle that burned during the Station Fire is seen in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles, California September 1, 2009.

A smoke cloud raises from the wildfires near Mount Wilson in Los Angeles, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009.

Fire fighters walk through thick smoke from the Station Fire August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

The sun sets in a red sky as smoke from a wildfire enshrouds Los Angeles, California on September 1, 2009.

A deer walks through charred forest on Mount Gleason in the Angeles National Forest August 31, 2009 near Acton, California.

Firefighters start a controlled burn during the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest beside the suburb of Glendale on the outskirts of Los Angeles city on September 1, 2009.

Spot fires glow after the Station Fire burned through August 30, 2009 in Acton, California.

A small unknown structure burns during the Station Fire in the Big Tujunga canyon area of Los Angeles, California August 29, 2009.

Parts of the front of this vehicle melted during the Station Fire in the Tujunga area of Los Angeles, California September 1, 2009.

The ruins of a home or vacaton cabin, destroyed in the Station fire in an area known as Stonyvale in Big Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles National Forest northwest of the city of Los Angeles, seen Tuesday morning, Sept. 1, 2009.

Firefighters climb up a hill during the Station Fire in La Crescenta, California, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009.

U.S. Forest Service firefighters monitor a backfire on August 31, 2009 in La Crescenta, California.

From a lakeside dock in Yucaipa Regional Park, the McHenry family cheers as a Sikorsky S64 Sky Crane firefighting helicopter goes "in the dip" for another load of water in Yucaipa, California on Tuesday, Sept 1, 2009. The parents and their son spent the night camping in the park after receiving a mandatory evacuation order from their nearby home.

A DC-10 converted to an air tanker drops fire retardant as the Station fire burns in the hills above Acton, California on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009.

The Station Fire moves through brush September 1, 2009 in Sylmar, California

Firefighters monitor a fire as it burns near the suburb of Glendale on the outskirts of Los Angeles city on September 1, 2009.

Angeles National Forest, in the hills outside of Los Angeles currently has several wildfires tearing through it, the largest of which - named the Station Fire - has so far burned over 140,000 acres, destroyed nearly 100 structures, and claimed the lives of two firefighters whose vehicle fell from a road into a steep canyon. Evacuation orders are in place for thousands in communities around the city, and residents of Los Angeles itself are contending with thick smoke and ash hanging in the air, causing air quality to drop to unhealthful levels in many parts. Currently, the Station Fire is estimated to be 22% contained, and favorable weather appears to be aiding the efforts of the firefighters.