Bon Appetite? What’s for dinner at your house?

Taco Bell for lunch and then Baked ham with garlic "fritters" and green salad for dinner!  Yum

TR

Ooh La La both your meals sound sumptuously delicious.  Do you have a special sauce to dip the garlic fritters into ... like ... BBQ, Sweet & Sour, Honey Mustard or do you eat them plain?

Plain mostly.  There was some extra glaze that came with the Ham.  We could spoon a little on the fritters.

Home made tacos and Spanish rice for tonight, compliments of my daughter!

TR

What a thoughtful daughter to be preparing delicious meals for you and your wife.  I’m craving the glaze ham with lots of pineapple and maraschino cherries.  Hoping my sister-in-law decides to make that for our Thanksgiving meal instead of turkey.  I’m invited a week ahead of Thanksgiving ... your high watch date of 11/21. 😉

Those fritters and tacos I’m craving as well.  Instead I just had a small bowl of Jello with whip cream.

Since I will be out most of today shopping at Michael’s Craft store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Goodwill and Home Depot for more Behr paint sample jars. :wacko:  no cooking today ... for lunch I will quickly stop at Wendy’s to get a quarter pounder cheese burger/small fries and raspberry lemonade drink. :whistle:

I like the way you roll!

TR

So busy painting, decorating, unpacking, tossing things out ...  I put together this cute Christmas bike yesterday.  Hee hee

I don’t feel like cooking so I stopped to get a hot meal at the local grocery store food court.  Brought home Beef Brisket in a small container and added my own sides of cream of corn, salad, hot french bread with melted butter.

Dessert will be a small bowl of Nabisco animal crackers.

Is that the bike Santa uses?

Had some BBQ chicken the other night.  And waffles and sausage's last night.  Thinking about going to Denny's on Memorial Day and get a free breakfast.

TR

LOL  everyone is making fun of my little Christmas bike.  A cyber friend said “No wonder Santa switched to a reindeer powered sled.”

I just finished painting an entire cinder block wall.  Wow its a lot of work but boy does it look good now with the white paint.

Mmmm BBQ chicken sounds sooo good and the waffles too.   Glad to hear Denny’s honors the military with free meals on Veteran’s Day ... enjoy your breakfast on Monday.  I know it will be delicious. :yes:

Were you in the Army, Navy, Air Force , Marines, National Guard?

Air Force, 4 yrs active and two years on call.

TR

Just checking in to say :bye:

So you are a pilot.  Very cool :good:   How was your free breakfast at Denny’s?

Lately I haven’t been eating anything exciting ... I don’t have an appetite.  Just doing chicken soups or eating bite size frosted mini wheat cereal.  Tonight though I’m making grilled Chicken Caesar Salad but instead of Romaine lettuce it’s iceberg.

Free breakfast at Denny's was good, then had a free entree at Olive Garden.  Going out for BBQ pork ribs tonight, onion rings and cole slaw.  My daughter made a killer chicken noodle soup which I also had a couple of nights ago.

TR

Wow I’m happy to hear both freebie meals on Veteran’s Day were delicious.  I love Olive Garden meals.  Last time I was there was at Myrtle Beach in 2010.  Someone gave me the recipe for Olive Garden Chicken Tortellini soup a few years ago and I made it from scratch and it tasted just like the restaurant.  Sooo good.   I’m not sure where the recipe is though ... still unpacking.    What made your daughter’s homemade chicken soup a killer?  Any special secret ingredients added?  Glad she is taking care and spoiling you with many delicious meals! :good:

We bought a house together.  They live upstairs and my wife and I live downstairs.  So there's a lot of interaction.  She started her family late so my wife and I spent 20 years giving time, attention and meager finances for my first daughter and her family.  Now it was time to focus on my youngest daughter's family!  She often cooks for me.

Should the Lord tarry, they will inherit the house and the payments, till then it will serve as our retirement home!

TR

That was a very smart move.  Good arrangements for you both! :good:

I think its fun to have family so close.  When my parents newly married they went halvsies with my mom’s parents and bought a 2 family home.  It had a basement and an attic too.  My parents lived on the first floor and grand parents with their 2 kids on the 2nd floor.  Then when my aunt got married they converted the attic into a bedroom, a kitchen area and living room.  She had to go down the steps though to used either bathrooms on the 2nd floor or 1st floor.  She was able to save enough money to buy a home by living in the attic first.  My grandparents enjoyed having all their kids and grandkids in the same house.  Then my aunt purchased a home a few blocks away and my parents were going to buy right next door to her but the seller wouldn’t come down in price and my parent’s still owned half of that 2 family home.  So we moved 20 minutes away “in the country” where the homes were cheaper. It was a resort area with a lake for those in NYC to vacation at. Later on we saw why the sellers didn’t want to come down in price because the Lord arranged for the new person who bought next door to my aunt to be a believer.  She was the one who witnessed to my aunt and prayed over her and never gave up even though my aunt was fresh to her and said I can’t give up praying to Mary and would open up her back screen porch windows and blast the Beetles “Let It Be” over to her house. :mdrmdr:    That dear lady never gave up praying for my aunt’s salvation.  And about a year later my aunt got saved and then shared the Gospel with the rest of our family.  We all got saved except for my aunt’s ex-husband, her oldest son and 2 grandkids.  I’m still :prayer-hands: for them.

Today I have to go back to Home Depot and get 1 more gallon of paint for the basement walls so I will stop and order the lunch special - 2 slices of pizza and soda for $4.00 at a local pizzeria in that town.  Its good pizza ... taste like Northern NJ/NYC version. :good:

That's a great story, Geri.  So "what's for dinner" actually nourishes our soul in this post.  Thanks for sharing it.  Better than breakfast even, and wonderful to start Sunday with.  And I'll say a prayer for your resistant relatives too.

It's wonderful when God's goodness is demonstrated by His children.  We all will have our own stories to share when we get to Heaven, but they will all glorify God in the end!

TR

Hmmm my post said “its awaiting moderation”.

I’m going to try one more time ...

Oh that is so sweet to say ... “kind of like Chicken Soup for the Soul” stories.  Thank you for your prayers.  My aunt’s ex-husband is Joe, his son is John and the 2 grandkids are Nicholas and Rachel.

I compare my grandfather with his brother Phil and the rest of his siblings.  You clearly see the blessing was bestowed on my grandfather lineage vs. his older brother and his 3 younger sisters. I know their dad (my great grandfather) must have gotten saved because on his deathbed my aunt, was a teenager, (wasn’t a believer then until she reached 33) and recalls him saying “I hear the sound of beautiful music (violins) and he wasn’t afraid of dying.”  So apparently someone must have talked to him about Jesus.  He had odd jobs and one was a shoe shiner so perhaps he received not only a tip but a Bible Tract as well?   Sadly, I don’t think his wife made heaven.  My grandfather told me she was a nasty person and would often beat him up for the stupidest things.  For instance my grandfather went for a swim in the Passaic River (back then it wasn’t polluted) and he got a beating for that and yet her oldest son Phil could do no wrong and was the favorite child.

Phil - the oldest brother I heard was a mean spirit cop that would often beat the black people.  He had 6 kids - only his oldest daughter, Grace, became a believer on her deathbed.  My aunt gave her the Gospel. That’s it. He had no grandkids.  Only 2 daughters out of the 6 married but that was late in life.

Tony - (my grandfather) he and my grandmother got saved.  All 3 of his children - got saved.  7 out of 8 grandchildren got saved and my aunt had 2 miscarriages so technically 9 out of 10 grandchildren are heaven bound. 14 out of 16 great grandchildren got saved and 2 miscarriages so technically 16 out of 18 great grandchildren are heaven bound.  6 great great grandchildren are in Christian homes under the age of 10 ... hopefully they will become believers.

Rose - his sister - couldn’t have kids.  Adopted a daughter called Rosetta. Not sure if Rosetta made heaven or not.  My aunt did speak to her before she died.  Rosetta’s 2 kids and grandkids are unsaved.  Rose died a catholic and trusted in her works - she went to mass every day.  However, her husband Tony never went to church and on his deathbed in the hospital Rose called up my aunt and said please visit my husband and tell him about the Bible.  My aunt said I will be right over.  She gave Tony the Gospel and he said the sinners prayer before he died!

Mary - his sister - was always kind to my grandparents.  She claimed to be a believer.  She had 2 children - oldest child, Freddy claims to be a believer as well as his son.  His son died while saving someone else from drowning.  The sister, Rosemary, refuses the Gospel.  She calls Born Again believers loose cannons.  Rosemary’s husband died an unbeliever and at his funeral we met his side of the family.  Guest what ... they were born again!  Rosemary has 2 children who are unsaved.

Nancy - his sister was mean to him. She became bitter to God because she left her baby on the kitchen table and went to get a diaper and the baby rolled off the table and hit the floor and became an epileptic afterwards.  Here it was her own stupid fault but she blamed God the rest of her life.  Her and her husband died unbelievers.  Both her daughters are unbelievers - one is an atheist.

So there you have the lineage of my grandfather vs. his siblings.  Oh and when Phil died ... at his funeral his cruel sisters Rose and Nancy said to my grandfather “the wrong brother died”.  My grandfather’s response was “what do you want from me, God didn’t want me yet” and this was before he got saved.  But this was the mental abuse he faced with his family.  In spite of his mother abusing him ... my grandfather still showed her respect and visited every Sunday with his family.  Perhaps the Lord honored that because its a mystery of why my grandfather lineage was showered with the blessing over his siblings.  I’m just so grateful to be in his lineage and to be saved!

I agree T.R. its going to be grand hearing the testimonies of all believers!  I hope there is a library in heaven that has the books on the life of each person and how they got saved. :yes:

Oh that is so sweet to say ... so glad you were encouraged by the testimony ... “kind of like Chicken Soup for the Soul” stories.  Thank you both for your prayers!  My aunt’s ex-husband is Joe, his son is John and the 2 grandkids are Nicholas and Rachel.

I think you will enjoy this tidbit ...
I’m fascinated by the comparison between my grandfather lineage to that of his brother Phil and the rest of his siblings.  You clearly see the blessing was bestowed on my grandfather. I know their dad (my great grandfather see picture) must have gotten saved because on his deathbed my aunt, was a teenager, (wasn’t a believer then until she reached 33) and recalls him saying “I hear the sound of beautiful music (violins) and he wasn’t afraid of dying.”  So apparently someone must have talked to him about Jesus.  He had odd jobs and one was a shoe shiner in NYC so perhaps he received not only a tip but a Bible tract as well?   Sadly, I don’t think his wife made heaven.  My grandfather told me she was a nasty person and would often beat him up for the stupidest things.  For instance my grandfather went for a swim in the Passaic River (back then it wasn’t polluted) and he got a beating for that and yet her oldest son Phil could do no wrong and was the favorite child.

Here is a picture showing her favoritism between boys.  She has her arm around her first born and my grandfather was a baby and she shows lack of concern he could fall off that pillar.

Here’s the bio on each of the siblings ...

Phil - (the oldest brother) I heard was a mean spirit cop that would often beat up the black people.  He had 6 kids - only his oldest daughter, Grace, became a believer on her deathbed.  My aunt gave her the Gospel. That’s it. He had no grandkids.  Only 2 daughters out of the 6 married but that was late in life.

Tony - (my grandfather) he and my grandmother got saved.  All 3 of his children - got saved.  7 out of 8 grandchildren got saved and my aunt had 2 miscarriages so technically 9 out of 10 grandchildren are heaven bound. 14 out of 16 great grandchildren got saved and 2 miscarriages so technically 16 out of 18 great grandchildren are heaven bound.  6 great great grandchildren are in Christian homes under the age of 10 ... hopefully they will become believers.

Rose - his sister - couldn’t have kids.  Adopted a daughter called Rosetta. Not sure if Rosetta made heaven or not.  My aunt did speak to her before she died.  Rosetta’s 2 kids and grandkids are unsaved.

Mary - his sister - was always kind to my grandparents.  She claimed to be a believer.  She had 2 children - oldest child, Freddy claims to be a believer as well as his son.  His son died while saving someone else from drowning.  Her daughter, Rosemary, refuses the Gospel.  She calls Born Again believers loose cannons.  Rosemary’s husband died an unbeliever and at his funeral we met his side of the family.  Guest what ... they were born again!  Rosemary has 2 children who are unsaved.

Nancy - his youngest sister was mean to him. She became bitter to God because she left her baby on the kitchen table and went to get a diaper and the baby rolled off the table and hit the floor and became an epileptic afterwards.  Here it was her own stupid fault but she placed blame on God the rest of her life.  Her and her husband died unbelievers.  Both her daughters are unbelievers - one is an atheist.

So there you have the lineage of my grandfather vs. his siblings.  Oh and when Phil died ... at his funeral his cruel sisters Rose and Nancy said to my grandfather “the wrong brother died”.  My grandfather’s response was “what do you want from me, God didn’t want me yet” and this was before he got saved.  But this was the mental abuse he faced with his family.  In spite of his mother abusing him ... my grandfather still showed her respect and visited every Sunday and brought over his wife and kids.  Perhaps the Lord honored that because its a mystery of why my grandfather lineage was showered with all the blessing over his siblings.  I’m just so grateful to be in his lineage and to be saved!

My grandfather, his sister Rose,  Mary, Nancy

Yes, T.R. I agree ... its going to be grand hearing testimonies up in heaven and I hope there is also a library with the lineage books recording the life of each believer and how they came to a saving knowledge. :yes:

Wow!  I'm impressed Geri.  I could never mount that kind of interest in my ancestry.  I figure I'll meet some / all? / of my ancestry who were saved and enjoy discussing Jesus presence in their lives.  I wonder if I'll actually become close friends with any of my forebears.  (That'll be an improvement because at the moment I don't even know the names of those three bears.)

It was easy to do the research on my grandfather’s side since his family stayed in Northern NJ region and didn’t relocate around the country.  I’ve notice when witnessing, the Lord has believers in almost every family because the person will often say “you sound just like my aunt, or uncle, or sister” so chances are even if we don’t know our relatives of long ago I personally believe each one of us will be pleasantly surprised that we all have some believing relatives and will be introduced to them someday in heaven. :yes:   The way I look at it we all come from one of Noah’s 3 sons and, of course, Adam and Eve so deep down we are somehow all related. B-)

I encourage those who have the time to do the research on your family because it is fascinating.

While doing the ancestry on my grandmother’s “real” dad ... this is him

I was able to get the skeletal info for free by the clues I had and I used the following free tools ... Ellis Island website, Ancestry.com (I didn’t even have to register for the free trial) and the census records.  I was also able to unlocked the records at Harvard University by asking a certain question to get the years my great grandfather attended and read his speech on when he served during WWI in Paris France as an ambulance driver.  Once returning from the war (only served 1 yr) he finished up to get his degree and gave a speech to his class of his tour of duty.  He went on to become a successful lawyer in Manhattan and later on he worked for Congress in Washington, DC before his death.  His mom wrote books about Sons of the American Revolution since his forefathers all were active in both the American Revolutionary War, Civil War, etc. and wrote a book about the history of Essex County, NJ where they lived.   His family personally knew both President Washington and Lincoln and had important positions in the military.  The patriarch of the family that came over from Great Britain was given the job of keeping the American Indians in check and he was the tax collector in Kingston, NY.  2 of his sons built a successful farm ... guess where?  Right next to where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought.  So the family farm is now part of Gettysburg’s park for people to tour.  My grandmother said a very rich family wanted to adopt her but her mom couldn’t go through with it after seeing her big brown eyes.  Things sure would have been far different if she did go through with the adoption.  I wouldn’t be here typing this up right now.  LOL.  There is a strong possibility that my great grandmother could have been a believer because she had Pentecostal believers come over to her house to pray over her for healing because she had an asthma problem.  Chances are they could have also witnessed to her.  I saw the tombstone on-line of this rich great grandfather and there are no Masonic symbols carved in his tombstone so that is a good sign “perhaps” he might have been a believer as well.  My research is from arrival at Ellis Island till now.  Going back to other countries you then have to pay money and it really gets complicated.

My grandmother’s mom was born and raised in Italy and had a boyfriend.  Her dad died so her brother sent her off to America at the age of 17 and matched her up with some Italian guy.  He was an unfaithful rat and played in a band with his brothers and was never around.  Her sister didn’t want the same fate so she eloped with her boyfriend and went to Argentina to live. Back in the mid 1990’s our church supported a missionary to Argentina and while they were showing slides of the tent meetings .... we noticed a lady on film that was the spitting image of my mom and I looked over at her and someone in front of us turned around in the pew and commented about the uncanny likeness.  My mom said I have relatives in Argentina.  So perhaps that is one of the relatives that got saved? :unsure:

Anyway I urge everyone, if they have the time, to do research on your own families.  Its fun unlocking the past.  I even discovered which opera singer my grandmother is nicknamed after!  The opera singer was from Great Britain and made songs like DannyBoy famous and was entertaining the troops in Paris at the time when my “real” great grandfather was serving as an ambulance driver.   My uncle (my mom’s brother) was clueless I just finished doing all the research (March 2019) ... meanwhile he had a DNA test done and the Ancestry workers were telling him where his roots are from and he was puzzled because he thought his bloodline was from .... and thought they have got to be mistaken. Then when he found out what I discovered about this mystery “great grandfather” it all matched up with what the Ancestry workers were telling him. :mdrmdr:

So I encourage everyone if you want to know your past to research your lineage.

Back to the cyber dinner table ... I skipped breakfast so for lunch I grilled a small steak, side Caesar salad, 2 oatmeal raisin cookies and a small glass of crystal lite lemonade.

We have remained an applied mixture of X and Y chromosomes throughout history...  "Lineage algebra?"

Honestly, Geri, better you than me.  Solomon warned In Ecclesiastes 12:12, "... Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh." :groan   I remain in awe. :yes:

Ha!  I hear ya ... Algebra is not my cup of tea.   :negative:   What made it easy was I spent a lot of time with my grandmother while my siblings were being driven down to college and she innocently gave me clues and I was able to use them to piece it all together.  For instance, my grandfather received his pension check in the mail while I was staying with them.  The clue she gave was ... she revealed they had the wrong social security number for her and she had to get that straightened out and had to be driven to Pittsburgh, PA.  I thought that was odd because why not Philadelphia ... it was much closer to where she grow up the early years before moving over to NJ to attend jr. high school.   Now it makes sense with the mix-up of the social security number because when the adoption fell through she must have been assigned a different number.  So I knew where her birth place was and quickly found the info on ancestry.  After she passed away my aunt was cleaning up and found her autograph book for 8th grade.  Back then 8th grade was like 12th grade.  My aunt asked me if I wanted it.  I said sure.  Another big clue ... written in the book was the school name, address and graduation date.  This helped me find the location because the school was eventually knocked down.  So having all the background clues made it easy.

I wouldn’t dare attempt to research my dad’s lineage ... I was too young when we visited them Missouri so I have no clues whatsoever to go on.  All I know is we think my dad’s mother could have been a believer even though she married an unsaved Catholic man.  My dad recalls her singing hymns of the faith while baking bread and working in the kitchen.  My mom said she saw her reading the Bible and my mom asked her do you understand what you’re reading?  Her reply back was “yes”.  My mom was amazed.  Then a few years later when my mom got saved she wondered why her mother-in-law didn’t share her faith.  I said perhaps she just didn’t know how to or was to afraid?

Well in heaven we will either have books to read on the lineage, or perhaps be able to watch DVD’s on the timeline and how they grew up and got saved.  Or better yet ... hearing their own testimonies directly!

How much back story we will get with regards to lineage will remain to be seen.  I do look forward to finding out and fellow-shipping with saved family members in my own lineage.  As to why some members weren't saved might be kept from us all.  And that might be a good thing.

I have always been amazed at God's goodness directed towards me throughout my whole life.  And have marveled as to why God saved me alive against all odds in the flesh.  Perhaps I was an answer to someone's prayer?  If so I would like to acknowledge their faith!

God seems to be into lineage, as a way of not forgetting anyone.  He offers himself to all, and desires relationship with all.  Truly, it is difficult to relate to long past relatives to who I have never met or was involved with personally.  That said, I can be grateful for appreciate them!

I do hold as a temper, that all before me were sinners as well.  I do however want to refrain from any ancestral idol worship.

TR

DVD huh?  I kinda' imagine that the same ancient existing storage technology that God will use or now uses to "...bring into judgment every deed, including every hidden thing..." that kind of technology, should be a lot easier to use than DVDs.  Or even long strings of URLs / references on various servers.  "A heavenly version of being online..."  Maybe there's one server for all of creation or at least all of a certain dimension with indexing across dimensions.  Sigh!

What a concept!  Data rates that will enable your entire life to be replayed in an instant, as related by many who have had near-death experiences...  Wowza!  And I suspect that with appropriate access permissions, anyone might be able to rerun any incident, for example, from my relatively uninteresting parochial life down here to observe what I did at any age, anywhere, and view it from any angle... with reruns on demand.  It would be pretty cool if some of my best puns have been captured so I could enjoy them again, although I'm one of a vanishing few who would actually enjoy them.

Sorry.  Imagination run amuck!  Over and out.

LOL ... well I did leave out the “VHS” tapes ... but you do have me wondering about the advance high tech services in heaven ... did man already reach the limit of knowledge with DVD format or is there something far greater that the Lord uses?

Oh no worries, Dan ... all your hilarious puns are being stored in the clouds so you can refer back to them and we can all laugh in eternity. B-)

I do often wonder what John saw when he wrote the book of Revelation.  As he was taken up to heaven and witnessed the entire church age up in heaven worshipping around the throne and yet the majority of the believers weren’t even born yet.  Talk about time travel!  Then he was watching who the AC will be (I kind of wish he would have described him better so we can gauge how close the rapture event truly is) and all the high tech military equipment, weapons, explosives, surveillance equipment, etc.  Does heaven have a computer room and he was sitting down viewing the future from numerous flat screen monitors?  Here we are fascinated with all the miracles during the Bible times and want to see them in motion picture ... the creation story and what the Garden of Eden looked like before sin, the building of the ark and flood, parting of the Red Sea, David fighting Goliath, etc. and yet I’m sure the believers in Bible times and the early centuries are curious and interested in knowing how we lived our lives right this very moment with the advancement of technology of the computers/iPads/cell phones/vehicles, etc.

In agreement T.R. I marvel at the Lord’s love and mercy of His generous free gift of salvation.  So grateful and thankful to be grafted into God’s family.   And you brought up a good point about whether our saved relatives of long ago were praying for their future lineage to also be saved.

That is a funny cartoon, Geri.  I expect my jaw to be dropping for perhaps millions of years over wonders of God newly revealed and / or discovered.  I love 1 Corinthians 2:9 that you quoted / posted in Main Forum, "... Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

God is just cool that way!

TR

I skipped breakfast.  Lunch was a small steak and Caesar salad.  1 Gingerbread cookie (store bought but taste like homemade) and Crystal Lite Lemonade.

Ok back to painting walls ...