I was doing better for a while, but then newsletter time got in the way of my blogging. However, the newsletters are in the mail now, and here I am.

Two stories have claimed a lot of news time since I was last here: one of which was about the lady astronaut who drove a million miles to try to kill a rival for some dude's attention. She has managed to set women astronauts back to Medieval times, huh? And I had those thoughts even before I saw all the political cartoons of astronauts holding rolling pins and women wearing diapers for anything requiring time.

The other news story ~ about Anna Nicole Smith ~ just leaves me shaking my head. With so many *important* news stories going on right now, the world waits with bated breath to find out who fathered that poor baby girl. I'm just as guilty as the next guy ~ but, in my defense, when I watched her biography on The Biography Channel, it was as much to see scenes of her hometown, Mexia, TX, as to know more about her. My baby sister lives in Mexia now ~ and today is her 51st birthday ~ so *HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SISTER!* :)

When I called Sister to wish her happy birthday, we got to talking about Mama ~ as we usually do. We both miss her desperately. Tonight I am listening to my iTunes, which include a few songs by Tom Jones. Mama was a *huge* Tom Jones fan, and we journeyed to Owensboro, KY, once to see him perform at some hotel. My staid accountant mama, who was already slowed by emphysema, managed to maneuver close to the stage and then to *jump* onto the stage ~ striding across the stage as if she belonged there ~ to kiss the man. I have pictures of her walking and then of her being led away by security guards. She started a stampede of little gray ladies, and Tom had to be hustled away by guards ~ but it was the end of the concert anyway. :) My mama was heroine to those little gray ladies, many of whom stopped by our table at breakfast the next morning to talk to her about the experience. And what did my proper mama have to say to them? *If I had thought about it, I would have felt to see if he's real!* :))) What was probably just another day at work for him made lasting memories for my beloved mama and me! :)

Not too long ago, I was extolling the virtues of a mild winter and remarking that cherry blossoms were fooled enough to be blooming in DC. As the kids would say, *My bad!* I must have stirred up the gremlins of winter, for Jack Frost has us firmly in his grip now with no relief in site. When thirty-one degrees looks tropical to you, you know it's been too darn cold. Therefore, in hopes of tipping the weather scales back the other direction, instead of posting a winter scene, I am posting a picture of cherry blossoms. Hey, Mother Nature! Don't you know that spring training starts in a couple of weeks???? :)

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!