Giving Thanks Early

God is good!  All the time!

Twenty Years Ago ... the Moss Family
The Moss Family ~ Jon, Rachelle, Terry & Derek (1990)

Just a couple of months ago, I had a hard time counting my blessings as I’d been taught.  Striving to praise Him during the storms, instead of just when the sun shines, so to speak.

Now, just a handful of weaks later, my cup overflows, my heart is bursting with joy and pride and my blessings seem as uncountable as the stars.

Yesterday, while I was shutting down and packing up to return home from work, I received a jubilant call from my son.  He’s currently wrapping up his college at SMU’s Guildhall in Plano, Texas.   The reason for the call?  He’d accepted an offer from Haliburton for an astounding salary (which I won’t repeat here to protect the parties involved).  As soon as I got off the phone with Derek, I spent the next few minutes bouncing off the walls and sharing the great news with my co-workers, who probably thought I’d lost my mind. Once my feet touched the ground again, I rushed down to the lobby to catch my vanpool ride home.  I shared the news with them as well and phoned my dad during the commute home.

Once home, I told Terry, because Derek hadn’t called him yet.  Later that evening, I received a call from my uncle and aunt in Virginia to congratulate and share in the good news.  Overall, Tuesday ended on a very high note.

Today, I received even more good news from Rachelle‘s boyfriend.  He also finally found employment in Denton, Texas, within just a mile or two of their house.

Derek marries Royna in July 2009
Moss Family Addition ~ Derek, Royna, Rachelle & Terry (July 2009)

I’m so excited for all my offspring and would-be-offspring.  Next week, when Terry and I head south to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with all of them (Derek & Royna and Rachelle & Nic), I plan to continue my continual prayer of thanksgiving with them.

One week to go before I can be reunited with my kids!  Lord, let the days fly by and my heart overflow with Your peace and grace.

Amen!

Stargate Served Cold

How many different ways can you dish up revenge?  Stargate Universe explored several possibilities in last night’s episode ‘Malice‘.

The Lucien Alliance loose canon, Simeon, not only escapes and kills his tag-along guard while free roaming Destiny, he continues his killing spree, taking down two civilians at once and multiple marines, raids the armory, takes a hostage and flees with her to one of the three planets in range of Destiny’s stargate. Rush, oddly enough, is first through the gate before it closes while Colonel Young et al. are still scrambling to catch up.

The IOA back on Earth wants Simeon alive, believing he and only he holds information regarding a Lucian Alliance attack on the home planet.  Those chasing after the resourceful cunning Simeon are not convinced he will impart the information even if captured alive or that the information is reliable.

The rest of the episode consists of a cat and mouse game with Simeon playing the cat to deadly and explosive effect.  Colonel Young didn’t heed the warning of the leader of the Lucian Alliance prisoners on Destiny, not believing that one man could prove so fatally dangerous.  The surprise, to everyone but me perhaps, is who finally outwits Simeon.

Many characters who are normally optimistic, forgiving and peace-loving, reveal their weaknesses during this crises, but forge ahead and prove their mettle.  Small steps with big results.

Next week’s episode trailer left me with a bad feeling.  Do we really need to ‘magically’ meet up with the stranded survivors who chase to leave Destiny last season? And they ‘magically’ bring back a shuttle to Destiny?  Pshaw!

Postscript on the location … eerie and alien … can you say ‘New Mexico’?  Here’s an excerpt from the link in the first paragraph above:

“We went back to New Mexico. To the Bisti Badlands. Not the same desert as we went to in the pilot, but another desert that is incredibly alien-looking. I went to the location for some of the shoot, and it was … I’d never seen anything like it on earth. It was a bizarre formation created by melting glaciers, and it is just … there’s these things called hoodoos, which rise up out of the ground, and there’s mineral deposits all through them. And so it looks truly alien. It looks incredibly remote, ’cause it is. We were in the middle of nowhere. Fifty miles south of a place called Farmington, N.M.”

(Executive producer Brad Wright, in an interview with Blastr.com)