Ode to Air Conditioning

First, I’d like to say Happy 4th of July to everyone!! Please be careful with all of those fireworks! Those sparklers can be dangerous! Well, can you believe it? We’re already in the middle of summer! The hottest months of the year are upon us here in the US. Where I live,we’ve been setting records with our unusually high temperatures. Not too long ago, they declared a “heat emergency” because we had so many days in a row with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees! It’s on these sweltering, humid days that I say extra “thank you” prayers for our air conditioner. Ah, yes, that amazing, incredible, brilliant invention that makes life so wonderful! I don’t know how I could ever live without it. Hey, that’s a good segue into the story I’m about to tell you! So, last night I was just playing around on my computer, doing nothing special, when I started to feel a little on the warm side. At first I thought it was just my imagination. So I turned on the ceiling fan and didn’t think much more about it. A few minutes later, I noticed that the room wasn’t getting any cooler, so I started to get nervous.I took a walk around the house to see how the other areas felt, and I discovered that all of the upstairs rooms were quite warm. The AC was on, but it was just blowing hot air. I ran downstairs to alert my dear mother of the problem, and she came up to investigate. She told me that the temperature upstairs was registering at 84 degrees! She went ahead and turned the air off completely, and went back downstairs to call the AC repair guys. Of course, no one would be coming out to fix it until at least Monday. Such wonderful timing!“Why do things like this always happen at the beginning of holiday weekends?” I wondered aloud. I began to think of all the ways this was going to effect me over the weekend. I would have to sleep on the couch downstairs for the 3 nights until someone would come to fix it. I’d have to rearrange my life so that I would spend as little time as possible in my upstairs bedroom. Oh my, how totally inconvenient! Ggggggrrrrrrr!It didn’t take long for my normal happy self to be replaced by a pitiful, sad, cranky self. I imagined myself telling this tragic story to audiences world wide, and I wondered who would play me in themovie. A few minutes into my “poor me” parade, my typical happy self regained consciousness, and she tapped my disgruntled, pitiful self on the shoulder.“Ahem, excuse me,” she said meekly, “But, um, aren’t you the girl who tells everyone how to have a positive attitude, even when they’re in tough circumstances?”“Uhhhh…” Pitiful self said, her face turning a lovely shade of red,“Well, umm… That was before our AC quit working.”Happy Self grinned sweetly. (That little goody-two-shoes.) “And don’t you tell everyone to focus on the positive things instead of the negative? You can be grateful that at least the downstairs AC is working. And at least you have a house to live in.”Pitiful Self threw up her hands in surrender. “Okay, you’re right. ”My inner struggle finally over with, I lay down on the floor as a sign of surrender.“Okay, Papa,” I prayed, “Here I am. I can’t change the fact that the AC is broken, but you can. So, of course my first request would be that you please fix it for me. But, if you don’t want to, that’s okay. I know that I’ll be fine either way. Please grant me the grace to deal with whatever happens, moment by moment. It’s only by your grace that I am able to do anything.”By this time, Pitiful Self had packed her duffel bag and hit the road, and Happy Self was back at the steering wheel. A gentle peace floated through me, and I felt ready to tackle anything.“Sleeping on the sofa won’t be so bad,” I thought, “I’ll just pretend I’m camping out. Maybe we can toast marshmallows in the fireplace.” I went back to my computer and worked a little harder to ignore the sweat that was forming on my forehead. About a half an hour later, I had a thought. “Hey Mom,” I called, “Can we turn the air back on up here? Just to see if it might work?”A minute later, she turned it on, and…Yep! It was working! I’m not even kidding! It started blowing glorious cold air all over the place! You should have heard the hootin’ and hollerin’ that came out of my mouth! Woohoo! I suddenly knew how the Oceanic 6 must have felt when they finally got off that silly island on the show “Lost”! (Okay, so maybe not quite the same thing.) What a relief! It’s been almost 24 hours since then, and everything is still working great. So, what’s the moral of my story? No seriously, I’m asking you. Did you learn anything? Hey! Guess what! I’m on Twitter now! Check it out atwww.twitter.com/littleandblind

News Flash!!!

Hey everybody! I just wanted to let you know that my Mom, Karen, and I just launched a brand new website! If you want to see it, head on over to www.KarenAndJulie.com. If that link doesn’t work, you can also click on “KarenandJulie” under my blogroll. Happy Memorial Day!

Puppy Love

It was hard not to get a little teary eyed as I lay on the comfy couch in my living room. I heard Mom sniffle a tiny bit, although it could have been her allergies.

The men on our TV screen were tough, hardened criminals that had been convicted of a variety of unthinkable crimes. Murder. Armed robbery. Assault. These men are the reasons we lock our doors at night. When we see their faces on TV, we shake our heads and say, “Who would do something like that? That man is pure evil. He doesn’t have a conscience.”

We tend to think of these men as beyond hope. Just keep them locked up for as long as possible.

But, wait a minute.

Is that man crying? Yes, he is bawling like a baby. He can hardly speak through his tears.

I thought he was a hardened criminal. But, it seems that inside the calloused criminal is a lost little boy. A little boy who is crying out to be loved.

He is crying as he talks about his relationship with a puppy. Yep, I’m serious. A little four legged fur ball has reduced this big tough man to a puddle. There is a program called Puppies Behind Bars that pairs up each inmate with a dog that he is responsible to train. The helpless puppy is entrusted to the inmate who takes care of the dog’s every need. They spend 24 hours a day together, and that includes sleeping side by side in the prisoner’s cell. And the best part is, when the inmate is finished training the puppy, the dog is sent to live with a wounded soldier that is returning home from war.

I was amazed at the impact these dogs had on the inmates who were being interviewed. These men that society has given up on and condemned were so grateful to be given a second chance. These hopeless, hardened convicts were allowing their hearts to be opened and touched. They were suddenly so broken and vulnerable, and were willing to be honest about their lives.

So, what was it about the puppies that the prisoners responded to most? What did the dogs give them that made such a big difference? The answer is so simple, but sadly it’s something these men have never had before.

Unconditional love. Pure, honest, no-strings-attached, tail wagging, face licking love.

Wow. Imagine what would happen if these men caught a glimpse of the love our Papa has for them. Deep, true, life changing, redeeming love. There is no man so lost that the grace of our Father can’t reach down and touch him. Jesus loves to take His glorious light into the darkest of places. And when He does, nothing ever stays the same.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Check out this video. These kids are hilarious! Copy and paste this link into your browser:
http://carolynspreciousmemories.com/Videos/kids_artlinkletter.html
Enjoy!

A Little Update

Hello, my dear bloggy friends. Thank you for stopping by today! How is your day going? I hope all is right with your world. I just wanted to write you a little update so you’ll know what’s been going on with me lately. My first piece of exciting news is that I went to the dentist yesterday. Now, ordinarily this item would not be listed under the “exciting news” category, but oddly enough, I have almost come to enjoy this semi annual event in my life. The hygienist that cleans my teeth is such a sweet lady, and the two of us always have a nice chat while she does the Hokey Pokey in my mouth. (She puts her right hand in, takes her right hand out. You get the idea.) She’s very fast, and good at what she does. Yesterday I was in and out in about twenty minutes! And that included X-rays! If you don’t believe me, ask my mom. Speaking of my mom, she went to the doctor last week and found out that she has terrible food allergies. From now on, she has to avoid eating anything that has the following ingredients in it: yeast, eggs, milk, (anything dairy) sugar, (including artificial sweeteners and anything that will turn to sugar. Say goodbye to starch.) corn, peanuts, oranges… I could go on, but I don’t think Word Press has enough space on their website to accommodate the rest of the list. My poor mother! The good thing is that she can still have meat and most vegetables. So really, she just has to cut out all the things that none of us should be eating anyway. She’s going to be so healthy! And maybe if I can follow her example, I will be healthy too!
In other news, this past weekend, Mom and I took part in a really neat event called Share Fair. It’s a convention for all sorts of women’s ministries in the area. Mom and I had a booth in the “information exchange” and we had a chance to meet all kinds of interesting and wonderful women. Now, I must tell you that a miracle took place on that Saturday morning. I actually got up at 6:30 a.m. and I survived the experience! When I was in high school, I would routinely get up at 5:30 a.m. to be ready for school. But as soon as graduation day was over, I made a vow that I would never get up before sunrise again, unless I was being held at gunpoint by some sort of crazy person who was up at such a ridiculously early hour. Now, I really do consider myself a morning person. It’s just that I’m more of a “later in the morning” person. And the best thing about being self unemployed is that I am allowed to set my own schedule!
All righty then, let’s move on to the next item of business. My niece Ashlynne is still amazing the world with her overabundance of cuteness. She will be two in May, and every time I am around her, she finds some new way of melting my heart into a gooey puddle of love. She’s talking up a storm, and my favorite word to hear her say is “Juju”. She’ll take my hand and say, “C’mon Juju!” and then she leads me over to whatever adventure she has in mind for us to go on. I have such a great time playing inside her little world. She’s just an inch or two away from being as tall as I am. That means that I can play with all her toys! I’m the only adult who can ride in her Little Tikes car, I can fit perfectly in her “play kitchen” chairs, and I can play in her small inflatable ball pit. Pardon the pun, but we always have a ball in there! She has such a fun personality, and she’s at the age where she tries to copy everything. A few weeks ago, she found a back scratcher somewhere in their house and she started carrying it around with her like it was a cane! “Where did she learn about walking with a cane?” you might ask. I guess she’s been watching Aunt Juju! I really have to be careful with what I do!
Well, I had a couple more things I planned on sharing with you, but I’ve suddenly run out of energy, and my brain is getting foggy. I’ll be back sometime in the near future with more tidbits of information that you never knew you wanted to know about my life. Until then, I pray you will enjoy this adventure that we call life on planet Earth.

Oops!

Two snakes were slithering along one day. One snake turned to the other and asked, “Hey, are we poisonous?” The second snake replied, “I don’t know. Why do you ask?” The first one said, “Because I think I just bit my lip.”

Everybody Counts Again!!

I’m so excited!! It’s time for Everybody Counts!! Last Friday, I spoke to the third graders at one of my favorite elementary schools. We had so much fun!! Tomorrow, I am speaking all day at a different school! I’m not sure how many classes I will get to be with, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great day!! I LOVE spending time with kids!! And I love this program!! This will be my fourth or fifth year as a speaker. I have such fond memories of my time spent with these kids, and I am always so excited when I get to do it again!
In other news, I got a new wheelchair today!! When I go to the mall, airport and other places where we do a lot of walking, I often ride in a wheelchair because I have trouble keeping up with my average sized family and friends. I also have joint trouble every once in a while, so it helps to ride in a chair when my legs are hurting. My old wheelchair is about 12 years old. It’s getting pretty worn out and pathetic! We have recently been told that the average person uses a wheelchair for about 5 years! So, we thought it was about time to upgrade to the latest and greatest model. (ha ha!) We picked it up this afternoon, and I’m so impressed! It’s a pretty blue color. Okay, you might be asking yourself: “How does she know it’s pretty?” Well, I let my mom pick the color, and I trust her judgment. I’ve never been able to see colors, so I really have no clue what blue looks like. Yes, I know that the sky is blue, the Blue Man Group is blue, and Smurfs are blue. But other than that, it’s all pretty meaningless. Don’t worry, I really don’t mind. I’m pretty happy in my black and white world on most days. I’m really looking forward to Heaven though. I hear it’s going to be really colorful and gorgeous there, and I can’t wait to see it all!

The Bucket List

The Bucket List
Place an (x) by all the things you’ve done and remove the (x) from the ones you have not. Then send it to your friends (including me). This
is for your entire life!

( ) Been to Europe

( X ) Been on a cruise (My favorite kind of vacation!!)

( ) Gone on a blind date

( ) Skipped school

( X ) Watched someone die

( ) Been to Canada

( X ) Been to Mexico

( X ) Been to Florida

( X ) Been on a plane

( X ) Been lost

( X ) Gone to Washington , DC
( X ) Been to Vegas

( ) Climbed a lighthouse

( X ) Swam in the ocean
( X ) Cried yourself to sleep

( X ) Played cops and robber.

( ) Flown a plane
( ) Owned a boat

( ) Watched grandchildren grow

( X ) Recently colored with crayons (With Baby Ashlynne! She loves to color)
( ) Been to the Kentucky Derby

( X ) Been to Key West
( X ) Been to a rodeo
( X ) Sang Karaoke

( ) Paid for a meal with coins only

( X ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t?
( X ) Made prank phone calls. (No comment.)

( X ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose (I laugh a lot!)

( X ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

( X ) Danced in the rain

( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe

( ) Watched the sunrise with someone

( ) Seen the green flash at sunset … what flash?

( X ) Blown bubbles

( ) Gone ice-skating

( X ) Gone to the movies

(X ) Owned a convertible (My Barbie Corvette counts, right?)
1. Any nicknames? Jules, Juju, Ju Boo, Juke-aboo… (I could go on for a while!)
2. Mother’s name? Karen
4. Body piercing? No. Hey, what happened to #3?
5. How much do you love your job? I LOVE it!!!
6. Birthplace? Washington
7. Ever been to Hawaii? Yes
8. Ever been to Africa? No
9. Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? That sounds like something I might do.
10. Ever been on TV? Yes, I was interviewed on PBS. It was so fun!
11. Ever steal any traffic sign? Ummm, no. What kind of question is that?
12. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, but I was too young to remember it.
13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? I don’t drive. That would be so dangerous!
15. Favorite number? 7
16. Favorite movie? Anne of Green Gables
17. Favorite holiday? Christmas
18. Favorite dessert? Anything chocolate
19. Favorite food? I like pretty much everything except brussel sprouts
20. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
21. Favorite kind of body wash? Bath and Body Works
23. Favorite smell? Something yummy baking in the oven.
24. How do you relax? Listening to books on tape, watching movies, listening to relaxing music
25. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Still 3 feet tall, but much wiser.

Life Without Limbs

Here is a video to inspire you and uplift your spirit. Copy and Paste into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtweZxNGk1Y

What Are We Missing?

Here is an e-mail forward I just received:
This will make you think….

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to
meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for
work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the
mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents,
without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He
collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with
a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception,
taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate
it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing
the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?