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Sorry guys... at least the ones that care... I just wasn't up to it this year. Wife had two major surgeries in the last three months I was nurse/maid/cook/leaf raker/gutter cleaner and whatever else needed doing. Took a week off for a Disneyworld trip right before Thanksgiving.... then right after that got hit with something that must have been akin to the black plague and eboli combined. From the day after Thanksgiving till this week it's been tough. Better now thanks to antibiotics and Hydrocodone cough syrup (that stuff is good !) Just didn't have it in me to put something together. I'll try to do two next year !!!
Hope all of the FTE family have the best Christmas ever and remember what we are celebrating. I've got twenty eight hungry folks that will start arriving here tonight for dinner and dirty santa...Let the fooding begin !!!
Sorry guys... at least the ones that care... I just wasn't up to it this year. Wife had two major surgeries in the last three months I was nurse/maid/cook/leaf raker/gutter cleaner and whatever else needed doing. Took a week off for a Disneyworld trip right before Thanksgiving.... then right after that got hit with something that must have been akin to the black plague and eboli combined. From the day after Thanksgiving till this week it's been tough. Better now thanks to antibiotics and Hydrocodone cough syrup (that stuff is good !) Just didn't have it in me to put something together. I'll try to do two next year !!!
Hope all of the FTE family have the best Christmas ever and remember what we are celebrating. I've got twenty eight hungry folks that will start arriving here tonight for dinner and dirty santa...Let the fooding begin !!!
later john
Merry Christmas John! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Merry Christmas to all my FTE friends!
w
Next year will be better, John. I always look forward to the words that you present so well, especially this time of year.
Merry Christmas and the best of New Years to All.
I hope that everyone in your world is well, and you have a very Merry Christmas John.
While I will admit that I miss your year end missive; it sounds like you have been busy.
Eat too much, laugh til it hurts and hug all around you.
John
I too miss your Christmas post but I hear you. My November and December up to today have been buried with everything but truck work. Built storage chests for my two grandsons (21 & 23). Like hope chests but rugged manly storage chests.
Built 6 hope chests for granddaughters over the last 20 years and never thought the boys would want hope chests, but they did. So I spent the last month and a half building them storage chests.
Truck work is on hold probably until the end of the year, then gangbusters through the next few months to get it drivable.
Just had 18 here for Christmas Eve. Love them all, but glad they have gone home
Look forward to hearing from all FTE members over the next few months.
...got hit with something that must have been akin to the black plague and eboli combined. From the day after Thanksgiving till this week it's been tough. Better now thanks to antibiotics and Hydrocodone cough syrup (that stuff is good !)
later john
That sounds like the symptoms of Covid. That's pretty much how we felt and was recovering this time last year. The good news is, and this is where we can count our blessings, is that we all recovered. Your words, John, have always been a source of encouragement and faith, written from the heart with feeling and emotion we can all relate to, so I hope you can receive something back from us this year. No one ever said life would be easy. In fact, it's written that we will have trials and tribulations throughout our lives. Some days will be better than others, and definitely there will be days where we will count our blessings. Today, Christmas, is one of those. We're given an opportunity to do good works, and to believe that one day through grace we will overcome all of our troubles and nothing else will matter, because born to us this day, in the city of David, is a savior, which is Christ the Lord. Those who believe have this to look forward to.
So this year, this season, enjoy your time with friends and family. We're here for a short time and every minute counts. We set examples to those around us and to the generations who follow us. This Christmas Eve the Wife and I spent 5 hours driving round trip in inclement and snowy weather to spend 2 hours visiting our grandchildren in Idaho. The time spent with them will be remembered by them long after we're gone. I really don't know where I was going with this. It's late, it's been a long day and I'm tired. I apologize if this sounds like rambling. I was just checking in quick before going to bed and saw this thread. So let me just say Thank You to John for his past epistles, to all my FTE family for your friendship and fellowship, the sharing of our collective wisdom, on many topics, and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
That sounds like the symptoms of Covid. That's pretty much how we felt and was recovering this time last year. The good news is, and this is where we can count our blessings, is that we all recovered. Your words, John, have always been a source of encouragement and faith, written from the heart with feeling and emotion we can all relate to, so I hope you can receive something back from us this year. No one ever said life would be easy. In fact, it's written that we will have trials and tribulations throughout our lives. Some days will be better than others, and definitely there will be days where we will count our blessings. Today, Christmas, is one of those. We're given an opportunity to do good works, and to believe that one day through grace we will overcome all of our troubles and nothing else will matter, because born to us this day, in the city of David, is a savior, which is Christ the Lord. Those who believe have this to look forward to.
So this year, this season, enjoy your time with friends and family. We're here for a short time and every minute counts. We set examples to those around us and to the generations who follow us. This Christmas Eve the Wife and I spent 5 hours driving round trip in inclement and snowy weather to spend 2 hours visiting our grandchildren in Idaho. The time spent with them will be remembered by them long after we're gone. I really don't know where I was going with this. It's late, it's been a long day and I'm tired. I apologize if this sounds like rambling. I was just checking in quick before going to bed and saw this thread. So let me just say Thank You to John for his past epistles, to all my FTE family for your friendship and fellowship, the sharing of our collective wisdom, on many topics, and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
Wayne, that is a pretty good off the top of your head epistle. But if it's in your heart it must come easy. We have much to be thankful for especially at this time. But remember, as important as the birth of Christ is, what is more important to us is his sacrificial death and then his resurrection! It is not written that our life will be easy. We will have trials and tribulations but remember, "This is not our home!" And in the end, God Wins!
I came back today, specifically to read your epistle. Sorry to hear about the rough times you've had to endure. Glad you're still with us. That's a lot of people to feed!
Merry Christmas! And I too look forward to your 2022 epistle.
Merry Christmas John and the rest of the FTE family. Your trials and tribulations this year just confirms that we all struggle at times. God Indeed is Good and our faith will help us through anything before us.
Being optimistic toward tomorrow doesn't hurt either. Here's to a better New Year.
To all who have had a rough year we wish next year to be something to look forward to. John, I have read many of your inspirational Christmas words and will be looking forward to next years. If any of us need a reminder we can go back and reread your previous epistles, they are great reminders to all of us of what this time of year offers us.
Please be safe out there and Christ be with you.
John hope today finds you and your wife better. Merry Christmas. I posted on another thread about your epistle. I think we all will forgive you this time . Remember the Volare install plans you sent me at least 4 years ago if not more well I finally paid it forward and a friend of friend is putting a volare in his 56 so he has it now. Wanted to know how much for it and told to do the same just pay it forward.
Merry Christmas Jon and all FTE'ers. Been a busy/rough couple years here, too. Haven't been here enough to stay relevant, but wish you all the best just the same.
Well, I sure had a little pity party there didn’t I ? But you guys put the boot to the pants and straightened me out …so I’ll do this on this Christmas day instead of earlier as usual.
Wayne, it wasn’t covid or pneumonia or the flu…doc tested for all that and found me clear. He said the intense coughing started with fall allergies which morphed into the ‘plague/ebola crud’ that got my upper respiratory pipes highly inflamed and every time I started coughing it just made me cough more… like coughing till your view went black ! But that Hydrocodone syrup and antibiotics got me cleared up pretty quick. That syrup is some reeeeaaaalllly good stuff. And your post did a lot to get me back on track…thanks for those good words !!
Tom, busy is good…keeps you from straying and moving in the right direction… And, it’s your fault that my belly hurts from overeating, my sides hurt from laughing (we have an entertaining group some times. It might be the Mimosas.) And my shoulders ache from all the hugging… thanks for that.
Listening and talking to kinfolks last night it really dawned on me that my little respiratory issue was nothing… we have family and friends that are really having hard times, lost jobs , lost loved ones… illnesses that are serious, one sister in law got out of the hospital Friday and couldn’t join us…Makes me ashamed to complain There are so many people in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky lost everything… EVERYTHING. Sweet baby Jesus…HOW DO YOU COPE WITH THAT ??? God always… ALWAYS has a way to show me how truly blessed I am, and still with all my complains, He continues to pour grace on me like a waterfall. There is a check going in the mail Monday to Sumaritian’s Purse… who were one of the first there and still there feeding, clothing and healing those in need. They are the hands and feet.
BJ, you put a fine point on it.. be optimistic ! That’s the attitude we all need to have. Sadly sometimes I get the opposite and do the ‘whoa is me’ thing…But there again, God shows me opportunities to help someone in need or just be a positive influence in their day.. never fails to set me on the right course again.
Dan, those chests are awesome ! You’re giving those boys something they will cherish and hand down grandaddy’s talent to the next generation. Of all the things I have, the things that mean the most to me are items that came from family and wonderful friends.. a simply 50’ tape takes me back to times helping my brickmason uncle laying out a footer when I was a teen. Those things are the real things.
Thanks guys for putting up with my moaning…Blessed I am!! I have a house paid for, food for a long time, two cars and a hobby truck, money in the bank and no debt. That puts me in the top 5% of all the people in the world. In that perspective, I’m truly blessed… That one thought changed my attitude tremendously. I’m 74 and reasonably healthy … I can’t complain about that. I have a wife that loves and tolerates me and family that like me, mostly… another check in the plus column. Friends that support me. I really really ain’t got it so bad.
So in a few more days or so we can wave good-bye (your choice on number of fingers to wave with) to 2021 and concentrate on the next year and our opportunities. I’m gonna do that with a “glass overflowing” frame of mind and forget that half-full or empty thinking and I encourage you to try the same technique.
My God has blessed my life abundantly in more ways than I could ever even realize. My pastor told us in the past that God blesses us in abundance, not so we can have a lot of stuff but so we can share our abundance with others. And if we do.. it comes back to us with more blessings. That ain’t a bad investment in my mind. It’s far more than I deserve. God gives us both grace and mercy. Grace is Him giving us something we don’t deserve. Mercy is Him NOT giving us what we do deserve.. I pray for both.
So, as always here’s my suggestions for 2022.. some of you see this every year, but I’ll do it till my keys won’t work !!
Treat 2021 at a learning experience and move forward. Forget the negative stuff from 2021 and concentrate on the positives in 2022.
I’m walking into 2022 with a clear heart and mind. If you owe me, don’t worry about it – you’re welcome. If you wronged me, it’s all good – lesson learned. If you’re angry with me, you’ve won, congratulations. If we aren’t speaking, its cool..I wish you well. If you feel I wronged you, I apologize. It wasn’t intentional.
I am grateful for every experience that I received.
Life is too short for all the pent up anger, holding grudges and extra stress & pain.
I’M READY FOR 2022 !!
Remember, forgiving someone is for you..NOT THE OTHER PERSON
So don’t block your blessings. Make 2022 a year of positivity following
A season of forgiveness
And this gets put in every year… For all my FTE friends and family
My Christmas and New Years wish for all of my FTE family…
I hope that you and your families are in good health and spirits.
I hope that you are close to all of them and share good times often.( of course following government gathering guidelines J)
I hope if that isn’t the case and it's your fault that you fix it …. Soon. And even if it's not your fault… fix it…. SOON.
I hope that you can't begin to count all your friends. Not just your facebook friends… real people !
I hope that you have a God that you believe in and TALK TO.
I hope he listens to you and answers your questions and prayers.
I hope you thank your friends for being your friend and tell them how much it means to you just to have them in your life.
I hope you'll share these Christmas wishes and thoughts with every one you encounter, both friend and foe, loved one and stranger.
Be politically incorrect and wish EVERYONE Merry Christmas!!
Be careful on ladders
Remember who’s birthday it is !!!!!
I hope you'll drop a dollar or two in the Salvation Army Bucket… make that bell ringer feel useful AND stick a couple of bucks in their pocket or a Starbucks gift card to get themselves a couple of hot chocolate on you.
Perform random acts of kindness to strangers… tip big occasionally… take a dozen donuts to the firehall…stop and shake a policeman’s hand and say thank you sincerely. If you see a soldier eating out (or a group of soldiers !!) pay for his meal, and keep it anonymous.
Pay for the guy behind you in the drive thru at McDonalds or Starbucks
I hope you'll send a Christmas Card with a check in it to the local mission or to Toys for Tots, or pick up a gift for an Angel Tree child. My favorite charity is St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital…(for obvious reasons) they do good things with your money.
I hope you’ll pray for our service men and women who won’t be home this Christmas.
So, that’s probably 15 minutes you’ll never get back. But I really wrote it more for me than you
Merry Christmas FTE family and a happy, peaceful, love filled 2022 to all of you
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Remember the Volare install plans you sent me at least 4 years ago if not more well I finally paid it forward and a friend of friend is putting a volare in his 56 so he has it now. Wanted to know how much for it and told to do the same just pay it forward.
