JOHN DAY — I find it hard to believe January is gone.  It’s even harder for me to accept that this week’s column is expected already — seems like two days ago that I did the last one.
Did you make it through January in fine fashion?  Considering all that might have happened, you can’t help but thank the good Lord for His mercy and grace.

But perhaps you’re thinking, “It could have been better.”  Maybe this will help with that, though. If you’re a senior reading this column, and do not attend the senior lunches regularly, join me Monday, Feb. 3, and I’ll buy you lunch. We will enjoy tuna casserole, garlic toast, mixed veggies and strawberry cream salad!  I bet that’s a recipe that would work for a salad or a dessert.  I like it already.

Monday’s invite is my treat, so leave your money at home. But there is a catch: You must come between 10 and 10:30 a.m. and mention at the welcome table that you are my guest. I will be there to greet you, and we can listen to great music as we get to know each other.

If you can’t attend Monday, the menu Thursday the 6th is green chili, rice, salad, fruit and the birthday cake of the month, sponsored by Driskill’s.

Last week Shay and his staff prepared two great meals and the five faithful volunteer teams did home deliveries and/or served diners who gathered in house on Monday and Thursday. 

New upgrades to the facility that were made with a recent grant include, but are not limited to, a floor sink in the janitorial closet, new water fountain/bottle filler, functioning faucets in both restrooms, and motion lights for night visibility coming and going on the new concrete pads at all entrances. Added to those are upgrades in the kitchen and a modern, up-to-date defibrillator to replace our antique one. 

If you are considering bingo that takes place every Tuesday at 1:30, avoid the line and come early to get your playing cards. In addition to the Tuesday bingo this week there will be bingo on Saturday the 8th at 6:30 p.m.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the meaning of “miracle” is an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs. Have you ever experienced such an event? Let me share one miracle I remember well.

In 1975 our lumber yard was in its third year of business, and on a good day our income would be about $3,000. Most of our suppliers offered a discount if their bill was paid in full by the 10th of the month. I always paid those bills first. The 2% discount was a huge savings to our small business.

On Feb. 1, 1975, I wrote the checks and deducted them in the checkbook and to my shock I was shy approximately $12,000 to cover them. Easily covered with a week or more of business, but I lose the 2% discount. Even the income from a better-than-average day of $3,000 wouldn’t be much help.

I was a new Christian and the man working for us wasn’t much older in Christ than I. But even with his brief walk with his Lord, he had learned to trust. Or perhaps he was testing the word. You could say he was a radical new believer.

I remember him saying, “No problem, we’ll just pray and ask the Lord for what we need.” So we did, or shall I say he did. He prayed and I nodded in agreement with his request. I may have agreed with the prayer, but my mustard seed faith was not yet developed.

Imagine the awe I felt at the end of the next business day, when the cash drawer totaled over $16,000. That was the beginning of many miracles in my life and the realization that my God cares for those who ask in sincerity. I would love to hear of your miracle(s), if you’d like to share, perhaps during lunch on Monday.

I mentioned activities in a prior column. Don’t give up, they’re in the planning stages right now.

And, of course, we always have need of volunteers to help with a variety of things. Can you help us? If so let me know and we can visit before you say yes. Call 541-620-2050.

MONUMENT — We are done with the first month of the year 2025! Yes, crazy, I know. I’m just here shaking my head as I am facing the month of February and already the calendar is filling up. Every day seems to pass by faster and faster, and I don’t really feel like I am getting much done. Why is that? I don’t think it has to do with age, either, because even the younger people are saying the same thing. LOL. So I think it is safe to say that it is not old age or my imagination! Ha.

Our greeters at the table were Sue Cavender and yours truly. We checked in all the guests, collected the money, and Sue and Jan Ensign counted up the money. Ellie Lucas led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. The winner of the free meal ticket was Jean Hammel of Spray.

Our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, made for us garlic chicken, rice pilaf, fresh green salad, and mandarin orange cooler cake for our dessert. It was a very tasty meal and I had to go back up for seconds. We thank our wonderful cooks for their efforts. We appreciate them very much.

We will be having our sewing get-together on Wednesday, Feb. 12. We start at 9 a.m. and go till around 2:30 p.m. We share a potluck lunch at noon. We have several sewing machines available for use if one does not have one to sew on, and we also have a serger or two available for use as well. We love getting together and visiting and sewing, crocheting or knitting. We hope you can join us.

Joni Kabana from Spray is offering dance classes at the Spray General Store. The time is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on the following dates: Feb. 8, March 22, April 12 and May 10. Couples and individuals are both welcome. They will be dancing the two-step, salsa, swing and more. This ought to get you up and moving from that sedentary winter routine and prepare for spring! Ha.

Well, I moved some male baby goats to be with the boys in their pen. I guess they have been crying. They will just have to buck up and take it, no pun intended. LOL.

I decided it was time because one of the males was getting so big and pushing and butting the girls around like he was the big boss. He needed to be taught a lesson and for another bigger male to put him in his place. He is one of the wild goats, so there is no emotional attachment there.

Too bad his sister is wild, too, because she looks so cute. I just did not have the time to tame her down. She is kind of smart, too, so that makes it doubly hard. Hopefully someone else can tame her down and make her into a good little milk goat.

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

PRAIRIE CITY — Cold enough for ya? My poor heater has been running day and night, and so has the Hall one, just to keep it almost comfortable. But snow is on the way! That means it will warm up! I had to wear my flannel-lined pants to church because I didn’t have any other warm clothing. Think that I will get a quilted bedspread from the thrift store and make an article of clothing that will be suitable for warding off the chill! Glad I live in a “temperate” climate. Ahem.

We had a meal that was guaranteed to warm your body today: chili! If it was too spicy, there was cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, mixed fruit and a bread slice to cool the tongue. And our dessert was the birthday cake donated by Driskill Memorial Chapel. Thanks so much for doing that each month. As I have said before, the cake is elaborately decorated but we never get to see it until after it is cut into servings and placed on a plate. Such is life …

Jason Wright led the flag salute, and Ginger gave the announcements and asked the blessing. The winner of the $10 gift certificate donated by Huffman’s Market was again our faithful volunteer Teresa Harwood. She was the only one who had had a birthday in January, so she won it fair and square.

The white board revealed that today was Oprah Winfrey’s birthday in 1954. Her quotes: “Failure is really God’s way of saying, ‘Excuse Me, you’re moving in the wrong direction.'” And: “Turn mistakes into wisdom. An example is: Expensive new silk ties attract spaghetti sauce. Back in the last century, the cooks always made spaghetti on the third Wednesday. Mother decided to make some terry cloth bibs for those of us who always managed to get some sauce on our clothes. So we would bring them on that day …”

Our volunteers today included Carla, Sharon, Mary, Pam, Teresa and Tom. Many thanks to you for your jobs well done.

An announcement: We will have a trailer at the old Texaco lot to receive your empty redeemable bottles and cans from your Super Bowl activities as a fundraiser for the center. Your donations are greatly appreciated. The trailer will be there from Feb. 5-18.

Found some more unfamiliar words from a book published in the 1880s. No. 1 is exequies (and my spell-checker has underlined it in red!). Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines it as a funeral procession. No. 2 is quiddities (red underline again): The essential quality of a thing. Now, your assignment is to work these words into a conversation this week. Think how many points they would make in Scrabble!

1 Cor. 13:1, 11 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. When I was a child, I talked …thought … and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish ways.