I'm not really a huge fan of horse racing, but I was a Barbaro fan who checked into two Web sites daily to see how he was doing. I prayed for him and cheered for him ~ and now I grieve for him. He was a true champion, and his courage and spirit are inspirations to those of us with only two legs. You can run free now again, Barbaro.

Yep ~ state of the union until 20 Jan 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Central ~ but who's counting??? :)

Short and sweet this week: Just a prayer request for my former student, Tammy, who has had a recurrence of the cancer we all thought she had beat a few years ago. Her battle will be more difficult this time. Doctors tell her the new cancer is treatable, but not curable. However, Tammy is a positive thinker, so we are praying for the best! Please join us?

We had a miracle here in the Midwest, and I want to share it with you.

A week ago Monday, a 13-year-old boy named Ben Ownby was abducted by a man in a rusty white Nissan truck. When, after four days, there were no further signs of Ben, the situation assumed the same bleakness that darkens too many stories like this one.

However, Friday afternoon, after some stellar police work and tips from the public, Ben was found in an apartment ~ and, amazingly, he was found with Shawn Hornbeck, who had been abducted in 2002 when he was 11! Since 2002 his parents had begun the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to help find other missing kids, and they themselves never gave up hope that they would find Shawn alive some day.

As you might expect, there are two *very* joyful families in St. Louis this weekend ~ and lots of thankful, happy people like me who have been watching TV reports and reading the stories in the St. Louis paper. Following the second of two family press conferences this morning, the KSDK weatherman was caught wiping his eyes with a tissue. His anchor lady covered for his emotion by pointing out that there were a lot of happy tears in the Midwest this weekend ~ despite the mother of all ice storms plaguing the area through Monday.

Thanks be to God! :)

Happy New Year ~ only a few days late. I haven't been too good about fulfilling my blogly duties lately, have I? Christmas vacation was a whirlwind, going by much too quickly. Please forgive me for not writing *here* because I was busy writing on the new novel and *finally* finished Chapter 1 ~ just in time to return to school and not much writing time again.

I was also studying a CPR manual since all teachers at my school had to take the Red Cross CPR training and test on our first day back. I am proud to tell you that I am now certified to administer CPR to adults and children ~ though, of course, I pray that I *never* have use this particular knowledge. Still, it's good to know.

You will notice the snow scene I am using to illustrate this post ~ mostly I *hate* winter weather, but I thought the picture was pretty. However, I indeed feel fortunate that we have been having a mild winter here in South Central Illinois ~ fortunate for a winter hater like me and for the strays that my neighbor and I feed. By the way, if any of you happen to have cat food coupons to share, they are welcome here! Back to the mild winter: have you heard that the cherry blossoms in DC have been fooled into blooming? I hope my lilacs aren't likewise fooled because we all know that Mother Nature would be biting their early heads off with a hard freeze that is bound to happen sometime in the next couple of months, right? And I do look forward to my lilacs.

Sad to say that another one of my Christmas-break goals was not achieved: my foot and ankle didn't improve too much. Any progress I had made was wiped out in a single misstep into my shed. :( It's always something, isn't it? Maybe I should just get used to walking like Igor?

Anyway ~ happy 2007 to y'all. I will *try* to be more faithful to my posting ~ but you'll notice that I'm not making any promises! :)

The holiday of giving thanks
Is always in November ~
But this Christmas time of year
Brings more times to remember
How very much we owe to Him,
Who gave His Only Son
In sacrifice to show His love
For each and every one.
So at this time of giving gifts
And parties and good cheer,
Let’s don’t forget to tell Him THANKS!
For all that we hold dear.

Have a blessed Christmas Eve and Day, everyone! My Fuzzy 4 and I send you lots of holiday huggies and kitty kisses!

(c2007 Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland)

Jimmy’s Christmas Wish
c2004, 2006 Vikki L. Jeanne Cleveland

He looked in the window, then looked in his hand ~
Not nearly enough there for what he had planned.
His eight-year-old face showed the wisdom of years ~
From a heart overflowing with pain and with tears.
His father, you see, had died in the spring,
And now it was Christmas, and this one would bring
To Jimmy’s young mother more worry and woe,
From too many bills from the too much they owed.
Amid all their sadness at this time of year
When others were smiling and full of good cheer,
Jimmy remembered the times when his dad
Would shiver and shake when the winters were bad,
And now Jimmy worried his dad would be cold,
So he walked to the store where the blankets were sold.
He picked out a red one ~ his dad had liked red ~
But then at the checkout, the lady had said,
“You don’t have enough ~ now quit wasting my time ~
There’s nothing to buy for your dirty ol’ dimes.”
So Jimmy went home ~ his mom was asleep ~
She worked a lot lately, so Jimmy would keep
Himself very quiet ~ she needed her rest.
He tried every day to do his very best ~
The best of behavior a young boy could do,
For he feared that somehow he’d lose his mother, too.
From his window he saw on the sidewalk below
The cold winter day would be ending with snow.
He thought of his dad and how cold it had been,
And young Jimmy knew before his day could end,
He had to do something to help out his dad.
Then he noticed the Mickey Mouse blanket he had ~
The one that his Grammy had made just for him
With his name at the top and the Goofys for trim ~
The one he loved most when he snuggled real tight
With his mom and his dad as they kissed him good night.
But with his dad now in Heaven and his mother asleep,
Those kisses were only a memory to keep.
So he folded his blanket beneath his small coat
And quietly left. He walked into the snow ~
He walked and he walked, for the distance was great,
Especially for little boys just barely eight ~
A figure so tiny, surrounded by white ~
A figure determined, alone in the night.
At last he was there where his father now lay ~
No stone yet to mark it ~ just one sad bouquet
Of faded red flowers that his mom and he
Had left for his father on Thanksgiving Eve.
So gently now Jimmy brushed snow off the grave
And spread out his blanket, this gift that he gave,
From his heart to Heaven, with love for his dad
To keep his dad warm when the weather was bad.
He waited awhile; he whispered the words
“I love you” toward Heaven. He hoped his dad heard.
As he turned to head home in the snow and the cold,
There was his mother, arms spread to enfold
Her son who had grown in both wisdom and size.
She wrapped her arms ‘round him as tears filled her eyes.
“Your dad would be proud of this gift that you gave,
But look, Jimmy, now at this snow on the grave ~
This blanket is special and sent from above
From God and the angels to show all their love ~
And love of that kind will keep your daddy warm
On the coldest of days, in the very worst storms.”
Then mother and son ~ and Mickey Mouse, too ~
Went home, and since then this is happily true:
When Jimmy would kneel by his bed for his prayers,
His mother made sure that each night she was there
To tuck her son in with his friend Mickey Mouse
As love once again chased the gloom from their house ~
And though at this Christmas the presents weren’t much,
Their love and their laughter were just the right touch
To remind us all here, both the big and the small,
That love is the most precious gift of them all.

Merry Christmas!

Wow, twelve days have passed since I last posted. Time surely gets away from a person, huh? Have I mentioned what a killer this school year has been?

However, Thanksgiving break offers a few opportunities to catch my breath ~ and today marks the official beginning of Christmas season. Therefore, I send you holiday greetings. :)

Did you know that in 1882, we had the first string of electric lights for Christmas trees? President Grover Cleveland ordered electric lights to be placed on the White House Christmas tree. Light bulbs were too expensive for average Americans to place on their Christmas trees. Pictured here is Cousin Grover's famous tree. :)

When Cousin Grover first became President in 1885, he hardly stopped working long enough to celebrate anything, let alone the Christmas holidays. Then in 1886, the 50-year-old President married his deceased law partner’s daughter, 22-year-old Frances Folsom, and between terms their first child, “Baby Ruth,” was born.

Although there was no Christmas tree during the first Cleveland administration, when daughters Ruth, Esther, and Marion were born, this oversight was quickly rectified. In 1895, a tree was set up and decorated with electric lights, gold angels with spreading wings, gold and silver sleds, tops of every description, and lots of tinsel. Under the tree was a miniature White House and a doll house for Esther, who was the only daughter of a President to be born in the White House.

Mrs. Cleveland’s main Christmas activity, rather than entertaining and decorating, was her work with the Christmas Club of Washington to provide food, clothing, and toys to poor children in the D.C. area. She took the time to wrap and distribute gifts to the children and sat with them for a Punch and Judy show. Although Christmas Club charities in Washington date back to the 1820’s, no previous first lady had taken as prominent a role in these activities as Frances Cleveland, who helped set a tradition of good works carried on by Lou Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt and many other First Ladies.

I borrowed this information from http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/WHChristmas/Cleveland/ to use in the December issue of my Cleveland Family Chronicles.

Aren't we all happy to have the elections OVER with? Why do so many candidates campaign by denigrating their opponents rather than by talking about their own qualifications and visions for their positions? If Candidate A spends more time blasting his opponent, Candidate B, than telling me about why I should vote for Candidate A, I'm suspicious.

That's not to say that I haven't done my share of voting *against* a candidate rather than for his opponent. In Tuesday's election, I was grievously angry with our governor and state rep for raiding the retirement funds of downstate teachers, so I vote against them. Unfortunately, both won ~ reference the cartoon posted here.

However, what upsets me even more is their cocky attitudes since. Both are acting as if they won mandates within their state/district. The governor won by less than 50% of the vote ~ the third party candidate won 11%! Some mandate! And the rep won by just 100 votes ~ recount pending. Barely getting elected didn't teach either of these guys anything.

I'll stop now because I'm getting mad all over again, and Sundays are for *peaceful* reflection. :)

My baby boy is a celebri-kitty. :) Thanks to his Auntie Em in Minne*snow*ta, I submitted his picture for consideration as *Cat of the Week* in a Santa Barbara online magazine ~ and Joey won for Halloween week! :) As you can see, he has let celebri-kitty status go to his head ~ he thinks he's hot stuff on the stove top! Hey, that's about all I use my stove top for anyway 'cause I hate to cook. :) Martha Stewart has nothing to worry about from me. :)