For once, I cannot tell you what you missed because I wasn't there! My dear friend, who doubles as my step-father, Howard Norton, had open heart surgery on the day of the meeting. I'm not one who looks for any excuse to not work, but I couldn't imagine not being at the hospital to support him and my mother. Of course it was a long day; it always is when you are spending all day in a hospital waiting room.
It was a busy day at the hospital with the swine flu being the reason! Its beds were full, as was the E.R. waiting rooms! Of course the flu was on everybody's mind, especially those of us who were thinking about Hod having surgery.
My wife has a theory about the Swine Flu which I think makes a lot of sense. The swine flu passed our way a couple decades back-- who could ever forget that name! A lot of people got sick at the time and, as I recall, I was one of them. The people who were exposed may have gotten the equivalent of a vaccination at that time. That would explain why it is hitting the younger group so hard today! That is just a theory.
During that day in the hospital, we all washed our hands whenever we saw one of those hand wash dispensaries. Everything went well for my step father and we are so thankful for that! At over 80 years old he is having a slow recovery, but each day he grows stronger! I know that many of you added him, and the whole family to your prayers. Thank you!
I understand the club meeting went well and we had a very good turnout! I would like to welcome our new members Glenn VanderVeen from Plainwell, Michelle Batten from Kalamazoo and Richard Lubic from Plainwell. Also, I hear I missed Ken Edwards, the husband of our interpreter, Kathleen. David and Phyllis Nelson from Benton Harbor were visiting. Also we had two visiting interpreters, Natalie Zarb and Tiel Mathy for our deaf members. The interpreters are both from Lansing!
Steve Jellison, Henry Hoadley and Dan Clark had birthdays! Steve and Henry are now 46 and Dan is older than I am (which is older than dirt!)
Linda Sherwood was absent and I have sent her an e-mail to find out if everything is OK.
Our friend Connie Herkel has resigned as club secretary and Anna Matecun has taken that spot. I do hope that we get to see Connie from time to time.
The club discussed the fall hunt and everybody agreed that it was a blast! The official count was a total of 50 club members who came to the hunt, but only 26 actually hunted. The kid's hunt had 9 entered. They too had a great time! Thanks again to Tom and Jackie Latterner for opening their home to us!
The two big $50.00 cash prizes were won by Deb Wittkowski and Dennie Noel.
Last month we
started
selling tickets for our famous
"Old Coin Raffle." This time
around we have a sweet coin
that you will want to win! It is a
U.S. 1901-S $5.00 gold coin!
How would you like to win
that? It only costs $1.00 for a
ticket, and on the first night we
sold 48 tickets! I don't know
about you, but I cannot wait to
buy my tickets! At the rate
tickets are selling, we will be
giving it away soon!
This month will start our Miscellaneous category in our Find of the Month contest. This is an area where you can enter something that you added to your collection of treasures since the last meeting. This is for non-detected treasures. It can be something that you found in an estate sale, flea market, or even something you inherited. Let me also make it clear that is not a junk category, so please enter things that are of value and interesting. You may enter one item and it must be something new to you since last meeting.
This month two door-
prize tickets will be drawn.
They will be good for a couple
of big fat Thanksgiving
Turkeys! Each November we
give away two turkeys and we
do it again in December! But
remember, you have to be at the
meeting with a door prize
ticket! Pick up the door prize
tickets where you sign in at the
entry door! Good luck!
I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We shouldn't have just one day set aside each year to proclaim our thankfulness. It should be an hour by hour thing! I'm thankful for each one of you who thought about, or prayed for me as I went through this fight with cancer. I cannot tell you how much your cards and encouraging words have meant to me.
Just this last month I went to a funeral for a dear lady who has been my friend since my earliest memory. Her cancer wasn't caught as early as mine and, because she was such a small person, there was little they could do to fight it. In fact, when she passed away, she weighed less then the 80 pounds that I lost during my treatment! Her friendship is one of the things that I am thankful for.
Do you ever think about the value of friendships? I think about God's special timing for each of our lives. I am thankful that I am sharing this small time-slot on God's earth with the friends that he has given me. Most of you who know me know that I am not bashful about knowing God, and you show me your respect. I am thankful for that. Some of you have told me that you are OK with my faith, but it just isn't for you.
I cannot help but think what a shame that is. Have you ever wondered how this earth, and life as we know it will end? Well, like it or not, the Bible has some clues for us to look for as we speed towards the end and Thanksgiving plays a big role! My pastor in his November newsletter asked, "Are you a thankful person or do you take what God and others do for you for granted?"
God takes unthankfulness seriously! He actually lists that sin as one of the signs of the last days! II Timothy 3:1- 4 says, "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy
4: Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."
I know that is not something that you want to hear, especially while reading your club newsletter -- but why not think about it? I heard an ad for a local church on the radio this week where the pastor said, "You would think if someone announced that there was a way to escape an eternity in a horrible existence apart from a loving God, and that this escape was offered for free, that people would gladly flock towards it shouting with glee! The truth is, they hate it!"
Isn't that something to think about? Folks don't want to hear about it, and they refuse to believe it! The fact that people would hate this alone is evidence of its reality and truth!
OK, this is still a free country and I can still write something like this and not fear being killed. There are some middle eastern countries where I could be sticking my neck way out, literally.
How about our troops? I don't know about you, but I am thankful for each and every one! I work next door to a U.S. Army recruiting center and I get a chance to meet some of the men and women who have volunteered to defend our freedoms. Many people have a false conception about what kind of people they are. The ones whom I have come to know are amazingly intelligent men and women who really care about serving and defending our country!
It is my prayer that our country's leaders will value our freedoms and thereby give our troops everything they need to get their job done! It really doesn't look good at this point. I also want our leaders to honor and respect our veterans after their tour of duty! We must always care for those who have been hurt in any way in the service to our country.
I hope that each of you take the time to truly be thankful this Thanksgiving. I wish each one of you and your families the best for the holidays!
