I just don't understand people who say they will do something and just plain don't. I especially don't understand people who insist they are going to do something and then just plain don't. I had originally laid it right on the line as to what things I would do to help and what things I wouldn't do. Unfortunately, my name was on the flyers that had gone out. When I saw that lots of things were not getting done I felt obligated to pick up the slack.

 I'm sure my biggest mistake of all was not taking it to the Lord in the first place. A long time ago I had offered to help the band director put on a golf tournament if I was provided with a minimum of five hard-working parents to help. When the booster club president went to the band director with the idea of putting on a tournament my name was mentioned. So, since my offer had already been on the table, I didn't stop to pray about it. Big mistake! Shame on me!

Well, I have now closed the chapter of my life called golf tournaments! I finally finished putting together a manual with all the things I've learned about putting on a golf tournament. I'm going to hand it over to the two booster clubs for which I've organized tournaments. All they will need to do now is find people that are seriously committed to help put them on. Now that seems to be the hardest part from what I've seen.

All I have to do is box up the things left over from the band tournament and hand them over. Poof... done!

Our topic for Vacation Bible School is "God Made...." This coming Wednesday we are going to look at plants. The following Wednesday the topic is animals. After we are done God will have revealed Himself through His creation.

It has been very interesting so far. We have quite an age-spread and it is important to keep it interesting for everyone. God gave me a good topic to teach to a varied age group! There's something in it for all! We are enjoying examining the earth that God gave us.

We just found out my father-in-law has colon cancer. If God lays it on your heart, please pray for a complete healing and, more importantly, that he get his relationship with the Lord right. Thank you!

Last week for Vacation Bible School I printed out bookmarks and ended up having to do them one at a time because even two on a page was too many. Today my husband and I found a good buy at Costco. It is a Lexmark Z65... it is quiet and it is fast! The printer sits on a shelf that is against the wall to the bedroom. The old one would make chunk chunk chunk sounds and rattle the wall. This one is almost silent! Plus, there is a TV in this room and my husband would always turn up the volume when I was printing something. Hooray! Quiet printer/quiet TV!

 Plus, this one has a second paper tray! So many times I've put in mailing labels or card stock and forgotten to take it out. I printed out four pages of email on mailing labels once. What a waste of money! I'm having some problems with it, however. I had the same problem with my old one so it could be something in my computer. When I print out spreadsheets it has a ghostly print out on part of one of the pages. The printer is not matching up with what it already began printing. I've emailed Lexmark. I hope they have an answer. In the meantime, it is a lot better on the other things than the old printer! Good! I have things to print for Vacation Bible School.

I keep thinking I am going to get caught up with things and be able to devote more time to the Clarion Call and it just doesn't happen. It seems there is always something coming up or going on. I've been taking care of our neighbor's dogs while they are on vacation. I think I take things way too seriously. All they asked was that I let the little dogs out of the house a couple of times during the day and feed them once. I go over there and play with them. I open the doors and windows and let the house cool down at night and in the morning. My husband is feeding the outdoor dogs. I've ended up going out there and petting them, too.

They have one dog that is chained up for some reason. That poor thing had clumps of fur hanging all over it. I've been taking my dog brushes over there and brushing it a couple times a day. Good grief! What am I doing? I'm spending more time with their dogs than my own! I think I have too much compassion. I feel sorry for the animals that don't have their own humans home with them. No wonder people like to ask me to watch their animals!

I am very sorry I didn't get this updated last week. I was having an interesting and yet frustrating experience with a car dealership. It turns out it wasn't the dealership at large, it was the greed and pride of a few people there.

We were pushed into buying things we found out later we didn't need. That was the greed part. Then my husband and I were treated extremely rudely by a supervisor. We were in an unusual position and were basing something on the word of our salesman and the finance guy. This supervisor was insinuating that we were lying.

When I finally was able to talk to our salesman I was able to verify that we were not lying. While I was at the dealership the same supervisor was again extremely rude to me. As a matter of fact, I'm ashamed to say, he caused me to start crying.

To make a long story as short as possible, I went home began planning how we were going to obtain a refund on the alarm system we didn't need and how we would report unethical business practices to the proper authorities. We had been treated shabbily by every person we were in contact with there except for our salesman. My husband and I were even going so far as considering picketing the place.

The whole thing was very confusing and frustrating. To begin with, I had been sure that God was the one that placed that particular vehicle in front of us to buy. If that was the case, why were we being treated so shabbily? While putting together a LONG letter to the owner of the dealership, I ran into my Internet prayer partner and she brought me back to reality. The reality was, God was capable of dealing with all these problems. I hadn't released them to Him!

So, once I let go of my anger and my strategies, God was finally able to get His plan across to me. I was to write the letter and let everything else go.

Taaa daaaa! My husband and I ended up being treated like royalty by the owner! He was so apologetic he was falling all over himself trying to make us happy! He gave us the refund for the alarm and then offered to put it in for free. We didn't take him up on that offer because we did not need it, as I had already told him in the letter. The vehicle already had theft control devices.

We ended up getting a 12 month servicing contract from them for free and he also took our car over to the Ford dealership (we bought a used Ford at a Chevy dealer) and had them make us new keys and got the remote door locking devices for us. That saved us a couple of hundred dollars as they all had to be electronically programmed.
Then we got the motor replaced on the passenger window, which they weren't going to do because it wasn't all the way broken... and we got a rental car while they were working on ours!

Now I know what it feels like to be treated like royalty! We were escorted around the place and people were told to do things for us that were unusual. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they knew we were someone special.

WE ARE SPECIAL! We are CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH GOD! Think about it. That is the way we are to be treating each other! We are to "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" according to Philippians 2:3. Everyone should have the opportunity to feel special!