The Giving of Thanks

2 Samuel 22:50

Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto Thy name.

1 Chronicles 16:8, 34-35, 41

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people… O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to Thy holy name, and glory in Thy praise…And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were expressed by name, to give thanks to the Lord, because His mercy endureth for ever…

1 Chronicles 25:3

Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the Lord.

2 Chronicles 31:2

And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord.

Nehemiah 12:24

And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.

Psalm 18:49

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto Thy name.

Psalm 30:4, 12

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness…To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever.

Psalm 75:1

Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that Thy name is near Thy wondrous works declare.

Psalm 92:1

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High…

Psalm 97:12

Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.

Psalm 105:1

O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

Psalm 106:1, 47

Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever…Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise.

Psalm 107:1

O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 118:1, 29

O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever…O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 119:62

At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgments.

Psalm 122:4

Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.

Psalm 136:1-3, 26

O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for His mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for His mercy endureth for ever…O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for His mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 140:13

Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name: the upright shall dwell in Thy presence.

Romans 16:4

Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

1 Corinthians 10:30

For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?

Ephesians 1:16

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers…

Colossians 1:3

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you…

1 Thessalonians 1:2

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers…

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth…

When Quirky Becomes Real

I was a teenager when I first saw Disney’s The Happiest Millionaire starring Fred MacMurray. I thought it was a fun movie – a musical about a quirky family. Almost like Mary Poppins but without the magic. This wealthy family just kept alligators, and had a boxing arena in the backyard, and couldn’t keep servants because they were just, well…odd. And since I like quirky (maybe because I’m not that way), I would say it’s one of my favorite musicals.

About that same time I started keeping a list of books movies were based on. If you’re like me and read most of the beginning credits of a movie (simply because you read every word in front of you), you realize that most movies come from a book. During this time period I read odd books like Blackbeard’s Ghost and The Apple Dumpling Gang. But, as you can imagine, most of these books are hard to find. And My Philadelphia Father by Cordelia Drexel Biddle with Kyle Crichton was one of them.

For some reason, I started thinking about that movie and the songs in it over the past few weeks. (You know how odd songs just jump into your mind at random times…) And I wondered if a library as old as the Carnegie system might have the book that movie was based on. The answer: yes.

By this point in time I knew that the Drexel Biddle clans of Philadelphia really did exist and had since the 1600s (in fact, they arrived before William Penn). And, of course, I knew that Cordelia Drexel Biddle (“Cordy” in the movie) married Angier “Angie” Duke of the great North Carolina family and Duke University. I even knew that the real Anthony Drexel Biddle – Cordy’s father played by Fred MacMurray – enjoyed boxing, had a Biddle Bible Class (a sort of predecessor to the FCA) and was involved with the Marines during WWI. What did I not know?

Well, now that I’ve read the book written by “Cordy” herself, I did not know that he really kept alligators. And they really did freeze over one evening thanks to a thoughtless maid, thawed overnight and were found running about the house the next morning. The real Anthony Drexel Biddle did sing opera for just about anyone, even though he wasn’t very good. Some invitations to Cordy’s wedding were misplaced (although by the postal service itself, not by Mr. Drexel Biddle). He was once on a chocolate cake diet. And, there is a real John Lawless.

Of course, the movie isn’t 100% accurate. (It couldn’t be when they break into song every fifteen minutes…) But it just goes to show that sometimes one’s imagination could never conjure up reality. I mean, who would have ever thought that alligators could survive freezing over?

Some Days Don't Go as Planned

If there is such a group called “Planner Anonymous” I should have a gold membership…maybe platinum. I’m about planning. I adore lists…and lists…and more lists. But some days just don’t go like you plan them.

Yesterday was supposed to be a normal Tuesday. Ed gets up and goes to work in order to be there at 3 AM. I wake up later and head to work a little before 8. I have a list of things to do at work, which I make my way through and hope I can stretch them out to last a full day. After unloading a 1,400 piece semi and putting the store in order, Ed gets home at some point (these days with the holidays coming, I’m never sure) and I get home a little after 4. We have a dinner, maybe play a game or watch a movie and go to bed. Simple.

Well, it started okay. Ed got up a little before 2 and headed out the door. Then I hear a funny noise. I figured it was his truck – it can make all kinds of noises – but when I heard it a second time, I got up. He was outside, a covering of snow on his truck, the roads and our yard trying to get his truck to move. Now it started just fine. It just wouldn’t go anywhere. And after a few attempts, I stepped out on the porch into a 15 degree morning and waved at him. He got out of the truck and joined me.

“The emergency brake is frozen stuck,” he said. “I can’t get it to move. And it’s not going to thaw.”

Well, better I call in and switch my days around at work than he call in and leave a gaping hole in trying to unload 1,400 large pieces from truck. So, he took my car and I went back to bed.

I got up later and called into work, saying I was stranded for the day but would be in Wednesday and Thursday instead. (Which has worked out much better anyway!) And then I spent the day doing odd chores: unpacking some of my fine china and washing it for Thanksgiving next week, gluing some objects that needed fixing, laundry, cooking for the week, scrapbooking. All in all, quite profitable.

Ed got home around one or so and took a nap. Then he went out to try to get his truck to move. Since the temperature had only risen a few degrees all day, all he accomplished was to maneuver it up on the curb. So began the hour of “what now?”. Have it towed? Can we get it fixed? But they’ll just find other things to fix. Is it time to start getting it ready for inspection in March? How will we both get to work with one car? And most importantly, why can’t money just fall from heaven so we can buy a new/used car?

All this started a series of phone calls to AAA, the mechanic and his friend Dave who just happened to have a car to spare right now. All that settled and our evening planned to head to the South Hills, the tow guy called and asked what the trouble was. He gave Ed a troubleshooting idea to try and said he’d be around later. Ed went down to the basement, grabbed a bucket, filled it with lukewarm water and went back outside. He doused the rear brake drum with the water, started his car up and it moved.

So, the tow guy didn’t come. We didn’t go get Dave’s spare car. We set an appointment with the mechanic for next week just to see what this truck is going to need to get it through one more inspection. And Ed knew what to do this morning when the drum was still frozen.

I think all this is a picture of my future life come spring. Just imagine all the wrenches a baby can throw into my plans!

My Soap Box

In some ways I like to think I’m an easy person. I don’t get frustrated or angry easily. Most things I can let go without a lot of trouble. Of course, I’m human. All of the above does happen. Like recently…

Now, unlike most people, I have experience with a lot of DMVs. Six of them to be exact. (And one of them twice.) You see, when you’ve only lived in one state (out of nine, one of them three times and one twice) long enough to renew a driver’s license, you end up with a lot of stories to tell.

For example, standing in line in Massachusetts for over an hour to take a written exam that took me two minutes in order to get a learner’s permit.

Or the lady in Texas who agreed with my answer on my written exam about seat belts because she was from New York and thought Texas should have stricter rules. (Imagine the only friendly person at a Texas DMV being from New York!)

Or, again in Texas when I moved back, and another lady looked at me like I had two heads for being honest. The answer to had I ever held a driver’s license in Texas before was yes. It didn’t say anything on the form about 1999 being too many years ago.

In New Hampshire, you just expected them to be rude. All New Englanders are. I can’t say they were especially rude – neither the first time I was there or the one time I had to renew in the sixteen years I’ve held a license.

Minnesota was a bit odd. It was likely taking a tour of the town of Long Prairie. For you had to go to one place to take your written exam and then drive to another to actually get the license once you passed. For all I know, I was followed from one place to the other to insure I actually could drive – kind of like the driver’s test I never took. There, I had to report the states I had held a license in over the last 10 years. The line wasn’t long enough…and the lady quite impressed.

The one state I will give praise to is Indiana. Despite having to take a written exam, that is the one state that’s got it right. They don’t have a DMV but a BMV. And it’s privately contracted to a company so the state doesn’t run it. Instead, it’s run like a very productive and efficient business because they have to bid on the contract every-so-many-years. The people are very friendly. And, there, when they spell your name wrong, they just correct it and hand you another card. (Which are made on site – no paper thing as you wait for your real license to come in the mail.)

The one state I despise is Pennsylvania. Not because the people there are rude. (They are – but that’s a job requirement if you work for a DMV.) Because of the bureaucracy. Now I can be understanding about the whole we-can’t-change-your-name-the-way-you-want-it-without-this-that-and-the-other-because-we’re-Yankees thing. But when I take months jumping through every loop-hole you’ve created only to have the DMV send me a card with my name misspelled on it (and it’s not misspelled on anything I sent them), I think it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX IT!!!! But, no, I had to go to the DMV in person with all the same paperwork I had already sent in and get it fixed.

I am honestly starting to wonder why anyone lives in Pennsylvania.

The State in which I Live

It is true that some people live in their own little world. I confess that I have my moments. After all, I do enjoy writing. And I heard an author once say that a real writer is the person who, before they even enter the convenient store, has already played over the entire conversation with the clerk in their head. Guilty.

But some days my wildest imagination couldn’t conjure up the real world in which I live. Namely Pennsylvania. This state really isn’t making it easy to call it “home”.

Most of us who have our eyes even slightly open will say that the United States of America has come as close to being a Socialist nation (without actually taking on the name) as a country can get. I learned recently that Pennsylvania had a hand in that, lobbying all its forces behind Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Which goes a long way to explaining this state.

Now, Pennsylvania has a lot of wondrous beauty. It also has a lot of great history (especially in Philadelphia). But if you want to live here, be prepared to be taxed to death. I’m not talking the usual income tax, Medicare, Social Security and state income tax. I’m taking about the tax for the town you live in, followed by the tax for the town you work in, followed by paying for all the unemployed people who live in both of them. And let’s not forget the wonderful thing called “Use Tax”. This is if, say, you buy something online and don’t pay sales tax on it. Be prepared to report that on your state income tax and pay for it. (Made worse in Pittsburgh which taxes you another percent on top of the state sales tax.) And businesses aren’t exempt. They have to pay it, too. Along with a thing called a “privilege tax”. This is for the “privilege” of driving into the city limits of Pittsburgh. Add all this up and I could go to the Bahamas for a vacation.

You would honestly think that with all the taxes you pay, you’d get some benefit out of it. But, apparently not. As some of you know, I’ve had a time and half getting my name changed correctly because these Yankees remain determined to stamp out Southern traditions. Even with my Social Security card correct, I couldn’t get my Pennsylvania driver’s license to read “Melissa Sturm Camus” without a 1) voter’s registration card (which I couldn’t apply for without a driver’s license), 2) a passport (which takes weeks and Pennsylvania requires you get your license within fifteen days of arriving in their state) or 3) a W-2 (which you don’t get until the end of year and doesn’t have your middle name on it anyway)! So, I had to get what I could and then gather everything else over the next months. Then, I had to fill out forms again, mail them and wait for my little card that you put with your actual license that has the change on it. FINALLY, it arrived in the mail on Friday. And guess what it read:

Melissa Strum Camus

Really? 

Reality Begins to Set In

I can’t tell if I’m an averagely excited going-to-be-a-parent or a below averagely excited. I’m guessing the latter just because I try very hard not to get excited about anything (or – at least – not to show it). I do know I’m not like some soon-to-be-parents. Since we rent, we won’t be going all out in the nursery. I haven’t even thought of things to hang on the wall (except one thing I saw). Even if I did decorate, I’m no where close to most people on Pinterest. And we’re just now starting to look around at things like cribs, strollers and all that fun stuff. I mean, I am getting nearer the half-way mark!

In the back of my mind, sometimes, I just can’t believe I’m really having a baby. Especially since the first trimester sickness is over. I mean, I am a bit fatter. I do eat a little more. I can’t run 10 minutes miles anymore. I have to visit a doctor. And I haven’t slept so late since I was a teenager! So, looking at things for the baby seems odd. I mean, other people have babies. Not me.

But I’m by no means a procrastinator. This baby will not arrive and my bike and boxes and other random things remain in the spare room. There will be a crib, and blankets, and clothes, and diapers, and a bathtub…and so-on-and-so-forth. Because not being prepared is as unlike Melissa Sturm Camus as leaping for joy is.

Of course, we aren’t going to find out what we’re having. So, buying clothes is a little difficult in a world fraught with gender-pointed clothing and not gender-neutral. (Which is odd in a world where adults can’t seem to decide what sex they actually are.) But, as Allyson wisely pointed out, it keeps you from spending tons of money on adorable pink and purple jumpers or sleepers with fire trucks. (Which I so easily could do!) There’s enough neutral stuff to get by until people start piling cute clothes on you and that suits my budget very well.

Meanwhile, there’s the important stuff. Like the little vibrating seat I bought at a consignment shop last weekend. I’ve wanted one of those since one of the infants I babysat back in the ‘90s had one. So, now it sits in my spare room. And shouts at me every time I walk by. Because it brings the reality home. It makes me realize that I’m really going to have a baby. Ed and I are going to be parents. We will have a little one sitting in that chair sleeping or smiling at us and filling our hours with little sleep, tons of diapers, hours of eating, some frustration and all the joy in the world. 

It’s too amazing to believe.