The Tablecloth

Here's a Christmas Story from Elida:

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later..

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. She asked, 'where did you get that tablecloth? '
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten The Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .

When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid who says God does work in mysterious ways.
I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today, to guide you and protect you as you go along your way. His love is always with you. His promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares we know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling seems difficult at best, just remember we're here praying and God will do the rest.

Here's the prayer attached:
God, bless all my friends and family in what ever it is that You know they may be needing this day! May their lives be full of Your peace, prosperity and power as they seek to have a closer relationship with You. Amen.

Announcing A New Blog

Things are coming together.
Found out that maryrosesgarden.blogspot.com was available.
Found my camera that takes, audio, video, and stills.
Have discovered that if I want my own TV show, then I have all that I need to get started.

From now on- family stuff will stay here and Discipline of Self-Esteem things will go to the new blog. Think that family stories that I want the world to know (DOSE-related) will be posted both places.

Think that I'll set a launch date for the video blog of December 18th. That will give me a day or two to recover after Lessons and Carols and the Christmas pageant. Also think that I should have a schedule of topics- as Mary Rose's Garden is complex.

Let's see my real-life schedule:
Sunday: Singing in the Choir, usually see a movie in the afternoon.
Monday: My faith formation class.
Tuesday: nothing exciting
Wednesday: Choir practice
Thursday: Nothing exciting
Friday: Avon order goes in- dinner out- sometimes a movie in the evening
Saturday: Weight Watchers, walking, shopping

So my blog schedule should be something like:
Sunday AM: Fitness journey
Monday AM: Fun things to do with your family- sometimes movie reviews
Tuesday AM: Weekly meditation
Wednesday AM: Life in Temple Terrace
Thursday AM: Prayers for the World
Friday AM: Most inspiring advice this week
Saturday AM: Most exciting thing learned this week

However, as this is around Christmas, and Christmas is a time when I do a lot of things- most of this will revolve around Christmas in the beginning.

See you soon!

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Country Casual

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Country Casual

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Thinking Big

Here's an intriguing question: What would happen to your life if you really and truly believed that anything was possible? What if you were the next Oprah? Someone once told me that her billion dollar idea for me was to be a talk show host. What if that was possible? I find that the more I think about it, the more possible it seems. I find that I smile more- that people notice my smile more- that I walk taller and prouder- that I feel more confident. Do not expect that anyone reading this will believe that I could be the next Oprah- but you do not have to believe. All you have to do is watch. Until the next time!

A Liebler Thanksgiving

Nothing seems to have made my Dad quite as happy as cooking in his own kitchen. Most of the time, my Mom cooked- but on the Thanksgivings we were home (every other year when the Elvingtons went to visit the Chase's in Florida), Dad ruled the kitchen. I was always up at the crack of dawn- so I got to see the master make his stuffing. I saw a stuffing very like this on a web site for early New England recipes- so this one may have been passed on down through the ages- even perhaps from a friend who had been there at the very first Thanksgiving- although at the first Thanksgiving history tells us that the bread would have been cornbread.

Dad's Stuffing
whole loaf stale bread
1 pound bulk sausage
1 pound ground beef
2 large onions
stalk of celery
whole bell pepper
2-3 eggs
Bell's seasoning to taste (if you can't get Bells think Scarborough Fair: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme with salt and pepper)

(Proportions might be off because the last time I saw Dad stuff a turkey was about 40 years ago- so adjust to your size bird).

First Dad took the great big cast iron Dutch Oven and browned the sausage and ground beef. As the meat released the fat, he added the onions and waited until they were nice and brown- then added the pepper and finally the celery until all were nice and happy. Then he took the bread and ran it under the water in the sink until it was nice and moist- he added this to our large ceramic bread bowl. The bread was followed by egg. Once the egg, bread, and some seasonings were all mashed together (with clean hands) in the bread bowl, the meat and vegetables were added. You needed enough eggs to get the stuff to bind but not to mush. At this point, Mom was called in to regulate the amount of additional Bell's to add. The kids would usually beg to taste too- and we would add little by little until most were happy- somehow there was never too much!

Now it was time for the Turkey!

Dad always bought three things:
Thanksgiving Turkey
The Christmas Tree
Christmas Roast Beef

I'm not sure there was any rule but GET THE BIGGEST ONE YOU CAN FIND! That applied to all three items. As a result, I don't think we ever had a Thanksgiving turkey under 22 pounds! Dad and Grandpa Elvington had this great contest over who bought the historical biggest roast. Dad won the Christmas roast beef contest the year he bought the whole side of beef ribs! I will never forget that roast beef as long as I live! For once there was all the meat anyone could eat all at the perfect doneness for their taste. And I don't think one bit went to waste- with seven children- there were 11 for the meal- and 9 for the leftovers. Think that there was some maneuvering getting that thing into to oven- which was just part of the fun! Mom had a fit about how he should measure the meat to make sure that it fit!

So Dad would pull the largest turkey you ever saw out the refrigerator. We would then ALWAYS discover that it had not been defrosted! So the stuffing goes into the refrigerator and the bird went into the sink where Dad would fill it the sink- try to get into the cavity- then dump the water- then refill the sink and start the process- until FINALLY- we got the giblets out- HOORAY! All the while Mom was getting hysterical believing that the turkey would be frozen until sundown (not withstanding the fact that we ALWAYS had dinner by noon!).

Dad loved the giblets but the whole family hated them- so Dad used the giblets to make a wonderful broth. First he took the giblets, covered them with water and put in more onions and celery with a little salt and left them to simmer as low as possible and still keep the water hot. As soon as the water boiled- it started to smell like Thanksgiving. Homemade giblet gravy was the world's first simmering potpourri!

Once the giblets were out- the bird was officially defrosted. In went the stuffing which somehow was always enough without any left over- Dad never used string to close the bird- he liked crispy stuffing so he just kept adding stuffing until the bird over flowed! Once he was done with the front- he would head to the back! That bird was stuffed! Then into the oven immediately! We would put the bird in under a high heat until it was browned, then tent it with aluminum foil. That way it was always nice and juicy- might have sacrificed a little on the presentation but the bird was sliced before it went on the table anyway. Aluminum foil also cut down on the cooking time- which is important when you have that big of a bird!

Once the bird was in, Dad retired from the kitchen and Mom went to work. She mixed up a batch of pie dough, rolled it out, then made the pumpkin pie filling. She always followed the recipe on the back of the Libby's can- and it was always perfect!

Next was one of my favorite parts! She took the pie dough scraps (think she made extra to ensure there WERE scraps), then spread warm butter and cinnamon sugar on them- put them on a baking tray- and popped them into the oven on the baking tray. Hot out the oven- the only breakfast you need for Thanksgiving morning! Once the cinnamon roll-ups were out- in went the pies! She always made pumpkin and mince meat. Mince meat came out of the jar into the pan. Sometimes she would add a little whiskey or rum- whatever was handy (mostly whiskey- Dad was a whiskey man- but Mom loved her rum in her egg nog). Maybe the mince meat got things going because I always remember Mom with her egg nog and Dad with his 7 and 7 sitting down in the living room while the pies were baking.

Time to set the table! I always loved to do this part- it was my job! First you start by cleaning off the table and the buffet (ours was always covered with stuff). Then you took out the lemon pledge, put it on a clean rag, and wiped down the old cherry table with lemon oil until it shone and glistened. Next came the table pad, then the linen table cloth, then the lace cloth. We got out the china (here is the pattern for Mom's china), the glasses, and the flatware. We took a dish rag and made sure that every piece glistened and shown. As each piece was inspected and approved- it went on the buffet- laid out on a clean buffet scarf.

First went down the plates, then the napkins carefully ironed the day before and placed in the buffet (my job too!), then the flatware and finally the glasses. Then we got out the serving pieces, the turkey platter, the vegetable dishes, the gravy boat- and all the serving flatware- and shined them too. When all was finished, I felt like an artist.

In the meantime, the troops were called out to prepare the vegetables. Dates were stuffed with peanut butter, coated with sugar and put out for the parade. If there was whole cranberry sauce, it was made now. Chips with onion dip were set out for the parade. Mom always had a magnificent fruit bowl out for the parade with apples, pears, tangerines, grapes, and bananas. There was also a mixed nut dish with several nutcrackers, which only slightly kept the fighting over getting one to a minimum. Tons of potatoes had to be peeled, mushrooms sliced, green beans snapped. These were from our garden. By this time, the parade was on and we were all the living room getting the veggies ready and put in water. As I never missed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, I have no idea what happened next.

When the parade was over, the meal had been miraculously created! I went and got out the ice water to finish setting the table- then all the food came out and messed everything up! But it was delicious. I loved it when there was champagne. My favorite was pink champagne.

Dinner done, everyone retired to the living room for the football game. Mom had a rule that there was no pie for 30 minutes after eating- so someone (Susan? Bill?) was always running out into kitchen to see if the time was up yet. Then came out the coffee for the adults and the pie. A lovely Thanksgiving again!

Anadama Bread

A few years back- more than 22 years ago, Mom copied out all the family recipes by hand, put them in a nice little recipe box and sent them to the family for Christmas. I put mine on my Adam computer and then thought that I would have them forever- but all the memory was in the tape drive which one day stopped working- and that was the end of my copy. One of the recipes in the box was for Anadama bread. This supposedly came from Grandpa Elvington's family with this little story- from my memory:

One of our ancestors had a wife named Hannah. She was young and beautiful but did not know how to cook. All she could make was corn meal. Sam would come home from work night after night- and all he got for bread was corn meal mush. It was good corn meal mush- but he definitely wanted something more. What was worse- sometimes there was left over corn meal mush and she would keep it in the pot all night- then serve it for breakfast. Sam decided to find a way to make bread that HE could cook when he got home at night. It had to be something that he could start in the morning and that would be ready for baking when he got home in time for supper. He called it his Hannah-damma bread because of what he THOUGHT while he was kneading it.

The recipe that we had started with corn meal mush made with corn meal, water, and a little molasses left out all day- then added whole grain flour, raisins, sun flower seeds and nuts. I made it once and it was very plain and grainy- but chock full of good things. There was definitely no yeast in it.

Historical fact: Epicurious says that anadama bread started out in pre-revolutionary New England and spread throughout the colonies. There are a lot of stories like the one above but don't mention Hannah and Sam. In some the husband is a farmer and in some he is a fisherman. In Derby CT, Sam could have been either. All the recipes start with corn meal and water, then add white flour and yeast. Only ours sits out all day which would have been the norm in pre-revolutionary New England. Only ours has the extra protein. The other stories have the husband muttering under his breath- only ours says that he thought it- and in only ours is the wife named Hannah.

We actually have ancestors named Hannah and Sam- Hannah (Hannah Johnson 1745-1801) and Samuel Johnson (her father- 1719-1788). Maybe the story is off a little- maybe he invented it while his daughter was cooking for some reason. Or maybe I got the name wrong.

Does anyone else have the recipe cards? I know Grandma Elvington made a copy for Mary Lou when she got married- could they still be alive somewhere in the family? It would be fun to make for Thanksgiving if we had the original version. Rob is into heritage this year.

Update on Pushing the Gas Pedal

One of the pieces of information that I am keeping on my blog is how many hits I get each day. Adsense keep this for me- nothing else just page impressions. Hope that the little ads on the bottom don't bother anyone, but it does generate a report on hits per day. As we are nearing the 2nd birthday of this blog (first post on Nov 15 2007!), thought that I'd take a look and see what gets hit. Overall, there have been 2446 hits on my blog- or about 3 per day. If I write about Trump, I get about 12 hits that day. If I post pictures, I get about 10. The biggest single hit count was when I posted pictures of Uncle Frank after he died- 41 hits (although there were multiple posts so each may have generated the 10). If you assume that the hits are generated by the last post written, then the post with the most hits was Pushing the Gas Pedal (114 hits from that post to the next). There was a month there. But it was a post that signaled a new beginning and I did promise to post on my progress. So here goes:

Desired Image: I started a ticker near the beginning of my journey. So far, I have lost 18.6 pounds in about 2 months.

Details for those interested: The first week, I had both the B12 shots and the appetite suppressants. Found that most of the time I forgot the suppressants, that I was not hungry when I forgot them, and that when I took them that my heart raced too much. They were gone at the end of the first week and that saved me $15/week. I developed a bad rash on my arm that we initially thought was soap but we think may be partly due to the B-12 shots. I only get B-12 once a month now. What seems to be doing the trick is the diet- 900 calories based on exchanges. I get 4 protein, 3 starch, 2 fat, 2 fruit, 2 dairy and 1 vegetable exchange each day- with a lot more vegetables on the free list. I use the dairy in my coffee each morning, then pack up the rest and take it into work- eating a little whenever I am hungry. I am supposed to be exercising 3 times per week- 30 minutes at a stretch. If you calculate Weight Watchers points on this- you get about 20 points per day, which is 6 per day less than my point limit before. But it makes sense. Maintenance is 4 points per day more than your calculated points limit. I was more or less maintaining but slowly gaining on my points limit, so if I take it down 6- I should lose normally for Weight Watchers and that is what happens. It is also possible with the 900 calories diet to meet all the good health guidelines: 5 fruit or vegetables (making sure to get 2 free veggies per day), 8 glasses of liguids (this diet wants you to have a gallon of water per day- but I have a hard time getting in more than 2 quarts), whole grains (so I make the starches whole grains), healthy oils (with my fats), and 2 dairy. Helped them form a walking group and we are out at Al Lopez Park every Saturday morning at 8AM and I am walking 3 miles- but am not timing it at this point.

As far as cleaning goes, there was burst of activity at the beginning- but found it hard to keep up- so we just adjust and try again and again and again.

Following Ivanka Trump on Twitter and she posted a quote that makes me think: "You can't build a reputation based on what you are going to do"- Henry Ford.

In the meantime, having a great time organizing the Christmas pageant- making me think about getting that certificate on event organizing- there are courses on Nov 21 and Dec 5.

When Helping Is Hurting

My poem, The Discipline of Self-Esteem is about addiction and recovery. Here is an explanation verse by verse.

The soul is a wonder child.
It needs to be able to carry prayers to and from God.
It needs to be able to sense and feel and wonder and discover,
To release the wonder of it's potential on Earth.

Ever see a two-year old child? They are full of wonder and everything is new. I believe with all my heart that we are all meant to feel like that- with every fiber of our being. The world is a place full of wonder and mystery and only the pure of heart can see that in all of it's glory. Great saints, the obedient angels, and two year old children, very old senile persons who have lived good lives are all like that. The rest of us have problems and distance from God- and those problems combined with that distance keep us from the wonder.

We live in a world full of animals.
Full of greed and lust and self-satisfaction.
Full of taking and leaving and disappointing.
Devoid of responsibilities on Earth.

Criminals are like that. A lot of wealthy people who pursue wealth at the expense of others are like that. Addicts are like that- because all that matters is their addiction. Users and abusers are like that. Anyone who is obsessed with self and who ignores the pain of others is like that. We all have some of this in ourselves- and one of our goals in life is to eliminate all elements of this cancer from our being. This is the thoughtless sinner.

Society is a great policeman.
Full of laws, and rules, and internal regulations.
Full of put downs, push downs, and pull downs.
Devoid of the wonder of the Earth.

Society tries to control and help these problems. Help is not help when it takes away our freedom. Help is not help when it is over-responsible- when it takes away decisions from people that belong to them alone. And one of the real problems with helping is that often when we help- we put ourselves above another person- we think that we are better than them- and that puts them down, pushes them down- and sometimes even pulls them down. We feel that we are doing what we need to do- and it hurts both the helper (who feels that the helpee needs to be grateful, who feels put upon, who feels that others should be the ones who helps, and who may even enjoy the sense of power that they have over the unfortunate helpee.) and the helped (who feels like they are being treated like a child, who loses a sense of being able to help themselves, who may even surrender some of their sense of self and will to the helper). Both the helper and the helped are caught in a relationship that hurts both of them. It keeps them from seeing the wonder in the world because they are caught in the pain.

How do we chain the animal and not the soul?
How do we allow the wonder to be released without the anger?

So how do we deal with this conundrum? How do we help? We can't allow all the destructive behavior to run rampant in the world- we need control! We need to get rid of the pain!

We must learn the discipline of Self-Esteem.

Self-esteem is understanding who we are in relation to God and the universe. It is knowing the gifts that we bring to the world and it is giving those gifts freely and with complete joy in our heart. It is being open and faithful to our truest selves and doing nothing that will interfere with the expression of our inner being. It is fighting for the right to express ourselves- to be ourselves. It is struggling against any obstacles in our way and never, never, ever giving up. It is not listening to those who want to "help". It is taking care of ourselves- to always and everywhere do what we need to keep our bodies whole and healthy- no drinking to excess (more than one glass of wine or beer in a day), no smoking ever, avoiding sugar and non-nutritional fats, getting to bed at a decent hour, drinking lots of water, getting thirty minutes of exercise every day, learning something new every day, finding something of wonder every day, knowing our boundaries and making sure that others respect them, finding someone who loves us for who were are and who we can love with our whole body and soul- who would not do anything to us that they would not do to themselves- and giving ourselves only to that one person. It is being the person that God created us to be- no matter what the price- even death- because that is the only way to find life.

Releasing the Power of God on the Earth.

The Bible says that God gives us everything that we need. He has also given us every person that we need. No one is throw-away. No one is expendable. When hope for a person is over, they die and a new person is born to take their place. When people acting in free will creates a problem, a new person is born on the earth to fix it. When that child is aborted, another is conceived. And when each and every one of us on earth lives the Discipline of Self-Esteem completely- then God's Will will be done on earth as it is in heaven- and all the problems of the earth will be solved. We will all be wonder children.

Enabling is when we help another person continue to live in sickness. We worry that someone will be going to jail, becoming homeless, getting beat up- and we decide that we need to help to help them avoid these negative consequences of their behavior. When we do that, we allow them to continue to hurt themselves.

Here are some links on how to help alcoholics and to avoid becoming an enabler. We don't realize that when we enable we are really putting down, pushing down, or pulling down the person we are trying to help. We need to show them the way and just let go. It is hard but it is the right way.

How to Help an Alcoholic
When Helping Doesn't Help
Types of Things that Indicates Your are Enabling

Hope this helps someone out there today. God Bless! And May We All Everywhere and Every Time Learn to Live the Discipline of Self-Esteem!

Stamping Out Stinkin' Thinkin'

Whenever I am faced with a situation beyond my control, I take out a set of rosary beads and spend 20 minutes in concentrated prayer. For me the rosary works- and when that is hard- I do the mercy chaplet which is easier. Both sets of prayers focus you on God's mercy and help. For people who can't do that, I'm sure that 20 minutes of the Lord's Prayer or Psalm 23 is just as good. Psalm 23 is one of those universal psalms- it is compatible with all religions.

There was a time when I was suffering from a pain too profound to pray. If you look at me today, you would never know that there were times in my life when I did not have a place to live. There were also days when Rob was 2 when I took him to day care but did not know where we would spend the night- and where I had to spend the whole day figuring it out. Thank God that was only for 4 or 5 days. We ended up without electricity for a week and without a phone for a month- but we got through that. We had to do that because we had to be safe. There was also a month or two in my life when I did not have a job and had nothing to live on but the $10-$20 a week that I made tutoring. I was a grad student, so there was no unemployment and I never had any real savings. There were days even weeks when I wanted to die. It was only the grace of God that got me through. For some reason, God has always provided miracles to keep me alive- even when I was 5 or 6. I don't know why- but that simple fact helps to realize that I have a purpose in life.

One of those times when my life was falling apart, I got the advice to go to 90 12-step groups in 90 days. If you're an alcoholic, it's easy- there are few places in any populated area where there are not AA programs- but when you are not- then you need to get a little creative. But I WAS able to find Al-Anon, CoDependents Anonymous, Adult Children of Alcoholics, Weight Watchers, Over-eaters Anonymous, Messies Anonymous, and even a meeting for Social Anorexics- and a lot of those met more than once a week. It was the best experience of my life and helped me to get my priorities in line.

When I discovered Trump Univeristy, I got away from the 12 Steps- and maybe that was not a good thing- but I think that once you have your feet on solid ground, you need to learn the skills to thrive not just to survive healthy. First you need to get healthy- then you need to fly.

One of the best things I learned in my 12-steps years was the concept of Stinkin' Thinkin'. Some of those thoughts are: "I'm no good', "Why Doesn't Anyone Ever Help Me", "My problem is ---- (another person's name)","Every thing would be alright is only --- (anything can fit here)". You learn to realize that you can't make anyone else be something that they are not. You can show them the way out- but you can't make them walk. All you can do is fix yourself- and that is a major task all in itself. And no matter who you are- Donald Trump or Mother Teresa- there always and everywhere will be something that needs to be fixed. No one is no good- but almost everyone has behaviors that need to be fixed.

This morning I woke up with the phrase, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in my brain, so I googled it and got this article. Think this is a good place to start. I am going to try to live my life so that 6 days a week at least 15 hours per day, I am doing something constructive. On the 7th, I'll do something with my family. The Addition Principle taught me to add behaviors- not take things away- so maybe here are some habits to add.

Let's all try to stamp out some stinkin' thinkin' in OURSELVES today.

Prayer for Susan

Dear Lord. Please look after Susan. Give her all that she needs. Open her eyes and let her see what needs to be done. Open the doors to the places that she needs to go. Do not let her heart despair. Send your angels to guard her and guide her. Let her get all that she needs- whether she wants it or not. Do not let things be given to her unless it will lead to her healing and her wholeness. Do not allow her to go further away from your love and protection.

Lord help all women struggling with abuse and alcohol. Do not let them be homeless and alone. Let them find what needs to change- and give them the resources to do it.

We ask this is Jesus' name. Amen.