Thanksgivings were always held at my grandma's house, which was kind of funny because Nannie, as we called her, couldn't cook. She didn't know that, with the exception of her desserts, everyone avoided her cooking. Lucky for us, she had somehow managed to inherit the baking gene from her own mother, but the bus stopped at cooking any kind of real food. Every year that she insisted we all have Thanksgiving at her house, Mom desperately tried to convince her otherwise. But when Nannie was adamant, she was adamant. So Mom got the idea to have a potluck Thanksgiving. She phoned all th...

Panama stands proudly between the two worlds of North and South America, enjoying the culture and history of both. For Panamanian girls living in their country or here in the United States, the Quince anos celebration can combine the best of the modern and the traditional. If you're planning your Panamanian Quinceanera, your first decisions will probably concern exactly how you'll celebrate your coming of age. Thanksgiving MassIf you and your family are Catholic, you'll probably want to attend a Thanksgiving Mass. The Mass may be held especially in your honor, or you might attend a...

The missing link in prayer There is no real formula for prayer and it is done in the context of an overall relationship with the Lord. But within prayer there is a call to understanding and contemplation of what the Lord is about and what meaning is brought forth in the prayer relationship. What could be a missing link in the prayer relationship and what might be brushed over as understood yet not really contemplated in the meaning of prayer? One missing link is acknowledgement of God as the creator in the here and now for you and me. For example if you want healing...

God, this is my prayer to you that I make because you command me. Many of us have the ego that we are something. Some of us deny existence of God. But they do not know how they were born. Many of us say that Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest gave birth to all of us. Right now I am writing this as if I am very knowledgeable. That is also my ego. For what do I know? Do I know more than others? Or am I more intelligent? Then if somebody were to ask me, when would I die, I have no answer. I do not know what will happen to me tomorrow or today in the next minute. But I think that I know a ...

Thanksgiving is not far away. Before you know it, Thanksgiving 2010 will be upon us. Families gather together to reunite with loved ones and to give thanks for the blessings they have received. Make this Thanksgiving more enjoyable and less stressful for everyone by using these helpful suggestions and tips. Together, families gather on Thanksgiving to give thanks and to catch up with loved ones they normally do not get to see very often. Many will need to travel great distances for the holiday. Driving during the holidays can be very stressful, even for the kids. Make the trip less borin...

Of the world's religions, many use prayer beads for prayer and/or meditation. Muslim prayer beads have 99 beads to correspond to the 99 days of Allah. Catholicism uses the rosary in order to keep track of in which order the prayers are said. Hinduism and Buddhism use the Japa Mala, aka the mala to keep track of the repetitions in meditation. There are also nondenominational prayer beads. Although many religions use prayer beads during prayer, this tradition is very strong in Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism, the mala is used with a particular mantra that is repeated during meditatio...

Consider next signer John Hancock. After serving as a President of Congress in the Revolution, he got voted in Governor of Massachusetts, where he issued several proclamations calling the citizens to prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving. Hancock's proclamation from October 15, 1791, is characteristic of his others : it contains strongly evangelical language. For instance, notice the request with which he closes that proclamation : And pray particularly'that universal contentment could be established in the world ; [and] that all may bow to the scepter of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the entire e...

Sometime about 1607/8, a group of villagers in Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire in the English Midlands, were unhappy with the ways of the Church of England. They decided that the only way to practice their religion was to separate themselves from the Church of England.  These people left England and moved to Amsterdam and from there they moved on to Leiden. They stayed in Leiden for some t...

Boating season! Those are beautiful words around Lake Norman, NC where hundreds and thousands of families take to the water for a very broad variety of fun things to do. This mammoth man-made lake covers 38,000 acres and streatches from Huntersville to Catawba, which covers 33 miles. There are so many different areas of the lake that it would be impossible to cover even a small percentage in one article. So, for brevity's sake, this article will focus on our favorite places to hang out on Lake Norman. - Family Island - This small island just south of Governor's Island is a fam...

There is a lost secret to prayer, that isn’t really highlighted and has been to a degree missed in developing and understanding about how to pray especially in relation to pressing difficulties. From 2 Corinthians Chapter 12 in the NIV version of the Bible it states: Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,...