Jesus, a cup of coffee, and me Sit back, relax, and ENJOY!!! You dont have to feel guilty about drinking a few cups of coffee!! I figure, if you wait long enough, some study somewhere, will find that there is some kind of medicinal benefit to just about everything we like to eat or drink. I like to have a few cups of coffee a day and now the researchers say it's o.k. Thank you God!!!

This afternoon I was sitting outside with my cup of coffee (I drink Fair Trade and Organic Coffee) taking a break, and reading my Christian romance novel, when I looked up at our house and noticed the patches on the siding. Our house is quite old, probably late 1800s. Although there have been many repairs in the last 24 years that we have lived here there are a lot more to be done. I am thinking we will never be quite finished.

I was looking at the house as I said, and noticed the patches. At one time there was a black stove pipe sticking out of the living room wall where we once had a Fire King wood burning stove. Now, there is a patch on the outside wall, as well as the inside. We just put a pantry in the kitchen where a small walk in mud room used to be. The door going to the outside no longer exists, and now there is a patch; just a piece of wood covering the outer wall, that is painted over with white outdoor paint for the time being. When we first moved in there was a small hole in the kitchen wall where there was some kind of pipe sticking out. The inside wall is sealed over but, well, just as you might guess, there is a patch on the outer wall that has never been repaired.

There are patches everywhere on the outside, but its the inside that counts-- where you live, where there is laughter, where tears are shed, where there is sharing at the dinner table-- the place where trials are conquered. Oh, and yes inside is the place where there is sometimes much disagreement. Sometimes we may have to live with the term agree to disagree. I cant say that Ive always liked this term, but if you think about letting some of the small things go, and only make battle with the BIG THINGS, your life will go on much more smoothly. Hold onto this thought: in an argument the best weapon to hold is your tongue. This is from (What an Angel Might Say Perpetual Calendar).

We have patches on the outer wall of our home, but this doesnt seem to have a bearing as to what there is going on the inside. The floors creek sometimes, and the Michigan basement smells (the term Michigan basement refers to DIRT). Our house reminds me of how I feel sometimes!! I have several surgical scars that make me look a little patchy and my bones creek sometimes. I refuse to say I smell like a dirt basement, but I bet after I have worked in the garden, I may smell just a little. God says its not what is on the outside that makes the woman (or man) but what is on the inside. Its how she or he treats others. It is how we let our light shine!! Our house
may look patchy on the outside, but at night, in the dark, when the LIGHTS are on, it is a welcoming sight!! It is homey looking, a place where I do not mind being. There is warmth here, and I feel at peace; he is happiest who finds his peace in his home (from What an Angel Might Say Perpetual Calendar).

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned drinking Fair Trade and Organic Coffee. Why do I drink Fair Trade & Organic? Well first off, it tastes good!! My husband and I have been drinking this coffee for about three years now, and we cant seem to go back to anything else. Second of all, I drink this coffee because I want to support Fair Trade, and Organic means no pesticide which in turn is a safer way of drinking coffee.

Fair Trade supports the small-scale farmers with a fair price for their crop; they in turn are able to give their families a better quality of life. The environment benefits from Fair Trade also. Fair Trade promotes sustainable farming practices that protect the land, and help preserve habitat for songbirds and wildlife, and I am all for wildlife - I live in the middle of the woods and couldnt imagine living somewhere where there wasnt some kind of songbird greeting me each morning.

Organic means, no harmful pesticides. I once watched a program on our local PBS station that showed children picking coffee beans. They were covered with sores due to the pesticides on the plants. I was shocked and this confirmed my personal feelings about ORGANIC!

Is coffee good for you? According to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, recent studies by the medical science community are now finding numerous positive benefits of moderate coffee consumption! These studies suggest that drinking coffee may reduce risks of colon cancer by 25% and cirrhosis of the liver by 80% and may reduce the onset of Parkinsons disease by up to 80%. Moreover, brewed coffee has been found to have three to four times the amount of cancer-fighting anti-oxidants as green tea. To make this even better, I just watched a News Report also praising the medicinal affects of coffee!!! Wonders never cease to amaze me!!

Still-Green Mountain Coffee Roasters doesnt recommend drinking coffee as a tonic. They, as well as I, think coffee tastes GOOD, and a GOOD cup of COFFEE makes us feel GREAT!!!

Blessings, Shyrll Olson
www.sandjcountrystore.com