Good News From Mary April 2, 2009

God Will Provide

For many people, the biggest obstacle to becoming a successful investor is the belief that investing is too difficult for them to handle. Because that misconception is so prevalent, Sound Mind Investing shows people how to bust that complexity by establishing a personal investing plan.

With all the emphasis on planning, it's easy to start thinking that investing success or failure depends solely on you. What a relief that isn't the case! Surely God expects each of us to faithfully do the best we can, but ultimately, He has promised to provide for every need, whether or not we pick all the right mutual funds along the way Matthew 6:25-33.

Becoming overly focused on questions such as “Are my investments earning enough?” and “How did the market do today?” can get our eyes off two important areas.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Eat better — for less money

It took a vicious case of Lyme disease to convince Keith Schorsch to change his diet — and his family's. The 44-year-old Seattle resident credits his recovery to nutritional improvements, and ever since then he has insisted on organic, unprocessed, and low-sugar everything. He cut back on carbs, beefed up his protein intake, and lost 50 pounds in the process. His two young sons evince a genuine fondness for yogurt and broccoli. "Eating well and exercising properly changed my life," says Schorsch. "I can now run five to seven miles, whereas before I could run only one to two miles comfortably. And now I bike for two to four hours at a high heart rate; before I was more comfortable in the one-hour range."

Click here to find out more about eating better for less.

Computer exercise helps stroke victims "see" again

Millie Sauer did not even know she had suffered a stroke until she tried to read a book as she recovered from surgery and saw only a gray blur for part of the page.

Hours or even days had passed since the stroke had damaged part of her brain responsible for vision and Sauer, 69, was far past the point for any effective treatment.

"I was told I would have to live with my situation," Sauer, who lives in Sun City West, Arizona, said in a telephone interview.

Click here to see what helped Millie.

Time to Say Bye To Washers of Old?

One of the main selling points of high-efficiency clothes washers is that they'll save you several hundred dollars in water and energy costs over the life of the appliance. We've come a long way from the washers of the 1930s, but is it worthwhile to spend $200 to $300 more than the price of a typical washer?

"These days we're loath to tell someone to spend the extra money because we don't know what kind of budget they're working with," says Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, deputy home editor for Consumer Reports, which published its latest washer ratings in February. "But if you tend to take the long view, you will make up that money in the end."

Read on for help in deciding whether a high-efficiency washer is right for you.

Click here to read more.

Do You Know What Your Doctor Is Talking About?

Lately when I see patients nodding their heads at the end of a visit, as if in agreement with the therapeutic plan, I can’t help but remember Jack.

Jack (not his real name) had barely entered middle age when I met him, a hospital patient who suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, vascular disease and kidney failure. I spent about a week caring for him, covering temporarily for a colleague who was away, and I quickly learned from the nurses that Jack was a well-known figure on the ward.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Thursday, April 2, 2009 Good News Now Stories

Making Ends Meet in the Great Depression

"AT a time when life in America is beginning to resemble a roller-coaster ride on the way down and everyone is trying to find ways to save money, it may be instructive — both in terms of offering helpful hints and putting things in perspective — to look at how people ran their households during the Great Depression.

Back then there was little money for food, let alone new curtains, but people found ways to cope. Backyard gardens were cultivated not because of a sudden itch to eat locally grown produce, but out of necessity; homeowners did their own repairs and found ingenious ways to make their homes functional and attractive."

Click here to read more.


Five Ways to Use Money

"If you think about it, there are really only five things you can do with money:"

Click here to read the five ways.


Talking in color: imaging helps social skills

"Karrie Karahalios can show a child with Asperger's Syndrome when he's lost in a conversational riff or a taciturn spouse when he doesn't speak very much.

Their voice appears on a computer terminal as vibrant colors -- red, yellow, blue, green -- the image growing in size if the voice gets louder, overlapping another color as it interrupts or abruptly narrowing with silence.

They are talking in color."

Click here to read more.

Social and economic stability linked: G20

"The G-20 Summit leaders acknowledge that the world's economy cannot recover without social stability and protection for the most poverty-vulnerable. That is women and children, many of whom wind up being trafficked. "

Click here to read more.


From the Desk of Billy Graham: 'My Heart Goes Out to You'

"Who looks forward to turning on the news these days? All we seem to hear about are problems. People are losing jobs and savings. A person can get depressed listening to it all, and many people are fearful."

Click here to read this message from Billy Graham.

Good News for April 2 (posted by Mary Beth)

A Manifold Resurrection: Why the risen Jesus met people in five different ways—and still does

"From January to April, we live between the times—between Christmas and Easter, Bethlehem and Golgotha, Incarnation and Resurrection. What strikes me about the Gospel accounts of Christmas and Easter are the varied ways in which God works. In the Incarnation, God masterminds the announcement of the good news of the birth of Christ. He sends prophets well in advance to foretell the coming of the Messiah. He commissions an angel to announce the birth to a virgin. He sets a new star in the heavens to summon wise men from the East. He sends a company of singing angels to pronounce Christ's birth to the shepherds in the fields. He quickens Anna the prophetess to declare the arrival of the Messiah on his day of circumcision. Though Christ was born in a lowly manger, there was nothing quiet about his birth."

For more on the celebration, click here.


Standing Up to Distractions (A Devotion)

"I have learned from hard experience how easy it is to be distracted by seemingly innocent behaviors. Suddenly time has passed; things I should have done are not done, while I’ve been doing something that bore no fruit. Have you ever had that happen to you? If so, you know what I mean."

Click here for the rest of this devotion.


Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue: Designer Babies

"Mr. and Mrs. Jones want a baby. They visit a fertility clinic and announce: 'We want a boy—blond hair and blue eyes, please. We want him to be at least six feet tall, good at sports and have great musical ability.'

'No sweat,' the doctor says. Nine months later, baby Logan is born."

The rest of Chuck Colson's commentary awaits you here.


Capone home on the market

"For sale: Six-room two-flat in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood; ornate tile work; impressive brick exterior; an underground cellar big enough to hide some cash or ditch a tommy gun.

The home at 7244 S. Prairie Ave. once owned by mobster Al Capone and his family has hit the market for $450,000. It's a hefty sum considering similar two-flats in that working-class South Side neighborhood are selling for $180,000 to $230,000. But no other home in Chicago can match the history of the modest brick house that has had just two owners since Capone's mother died in 1952."

Want more information on this famous (or would 'infamous' be more appropriate?) home? Click here.


French Ambassador to Benin Visits Mercy Ship

"This week, French Ambassador Hervé Besancenot and his contingent of 11 officials made a scheduled visit to the Africa Mercy, docked in the port of Cotonou, Benin.

The Ambassador and his team were given an informative tour of the Africa Mercy’s onboard hospital. The Ambassador was keen to interact with the patients in the wards, particularly a young boy who had recently undergone corrective surgery on his legs."

Click here to learn more of the ambassador's visit.

Shot of the Day for April 1, 2009

if i could fly away, i would fly over the sea...

By Flickr Member Anah na uwr

Good News From Mary April 1, 2009

Heaven: Home of Laughter

Who said, "If you're not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there"? (Hint: It wasn't Mark Twain.) It was Martin Luther.

In Heaven, I believe our joy will often erupt in laughter. When laughter is prompted by what's appropriate, God always takes pleasure in it. I think Christ will laugh with us, and his wit and fun-loving nature will be our greatest sources of endless laughter.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

2-nosed bunny surprises pet shop owner

It's no April Fools’ joke. The baby bunny really does have two noses.

Allison Noe, a Connecticut pet shop worker, found the nosey bunny in a delivery of 6-week-old dwarf rabbits that arrived at the Milford store last week, according to the Connecticut Post. Both noses have two nostrils.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Study Finds 6,000 Rare Dolphins off Bangladesh

Thousands of rare Irrawaddy dolphins have been found in Bangladeshi waters, a wildlife advocacy group said Wednesday, a hopeful sign for a vulnerable species found only in small numbers elsewhere.

However, the newly discovered population is already threatened by climate change and fishing nets, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Marketers find Twitter a tweet recipe for success

Cake decorator Suzi Finer fills in spare time during the workday updating her "status" on Facebook, telling about 2,000 customers about what she's working on.

It's no frivolous exercise: Finer is looking to boost business for her employer, Hansen's Cakes of Beverly Hills, and says that sales are up 15% to 20% since she embraced Facebook as a sales tool in September. "That's even in a recession," she says. "People are still having birthday parties and weddings, and seeing these little bits about cakes on updates get them excited about the possibilities."

Click here to read the rest of this story.

The Simpsons on postage stamps? D’oh!

Don’t have a cow, man! The Simpsons will appear on postage stamps.

America’s most enduring — or is that endearing? — dysfunctional family will be honored on their own stamps, the Postal Service announced.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Good News for April 1 (posted by Mary Beth)

What’s a Government to Do?: The Political Illusion

"Just this week we received the stunning news that the President of the United States for all intents and purposes fired the chairman of General Motors. He also gave Chrysler 30 days to merge with Italian automaker Fiat. This level of White House involvement in areas formerly reserved to corporate board rooms is unprecedented.

And whether you applaud or bemoan the President’s actions, we have to ask the question: What is the proper role of government? It’s a good time to ask it now, especially when people seem to be succumbing yet again to what I call the 'political illusion.'”

Click here for the rest of Chuck Colson's commentary.


Year of the Study Bible: Christian publishers struck the right chord in 2008

"In some ways, 2008 was a year of the Same Old Thing in Bible publishing. Marketing teams somehow thought up more niches to target, including the comic-book junkie (with the Manga Bible graphic novels), the avant-garde photographer (with Bible Illuminated), the eco-enthusiast (with HarperOne's Green Bible), and the tween wanting personalized charm pendants (with the Expressions of Me NIV Bible for Girls).

In another way, though, it was a year when Christian publishers remembered their first love and provided a new set of study tools for serious miners of God's Word."

To read more on Bible publishing, click here.


Peeps on Parade: Which will be the winner?

"Ah, the rites of spring -- that first crocus poking through the dirt, people in Uncle Sam suits in front of tax preparation offices, a Cub with a tender shoulder."

And Peeps making their ap-peep-rance in the Chicago Tribune Peeps competition!

Click here for a little soft, colorful and fluffy fun!


Strengthening the safety net for autism in adulthood

"It is a lament that would ring familiar to many a parent: I don't want my child to leave home.

But this parent, Marie Duggan, was not talking about a child trundling away to college or shipping off to war. Her autistic son, Michael, had scarcely crested adolescence when his Roslindale family confronted the prospect of him moving to a house, miles away, with other teens.

Duggan's cry found a receptive audience in Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino."

For more on what is being done to fill gaps in programs for autistic adults in the Boston area, click here.


A Diplomat’s Unlikely Rise to ‘Slumdog’ Acclaim

"It’s an impossible story, really, how a modest fellow from a family of lawyers becomes a back-office diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service, writes his first novel in a feverish two months, finds a clientless agent over the Internet and has a British director turn his mid-list book into a movie that wins the best-picture Academy award and seven other Oscars."

Click here to learn more about this unlikely author.


The Next Best Step

"I'm standing at a crossroad in my life. Whenever I encounter times like this I try to remember to stop and breathe deeply, noticing where my attention is focused. Occasionally I am surprised, and receive immediate guidance to move forward. At other times, I discover that I really am stuck by not-knowing, fear, uncertainty, or the knowledge the best next step isn't clear--or it isn't time to be made, just yet."

For more on her story, click here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Good News Now Stories

Night Prayer

"We’ve looked at three components of a daily spiritual plan for peace: a morning offering, time for spiritual reading and meditation and an intentional plan for the day. These were three of the strategies I put into play to bring peace to my home following the traumatic birth of our ninth baby.

I was overwhelmed by all the details of daily life and I didn’t want to lose the peace and clarity that prayer had brought to my time of bedrest before the birth of our baby girl. Now, let’s look at the fourth key. Moms with newborns are notorious for being sleep-deprived and I’m no exception. To the typical newborn waking, I’ve added the nighttime parenting that comes with having teenagers in the house. We truly burn the candle at both ends here."

Click here to continue reading.


Pope urges world leaders to stabilize markets without excluding poor

"In a letter to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Pope Benedict XVI urged leaders from the world's wealthiest nations to stabilize financial markets without excluding families and the poor.

In the March 30 letter, Pope Benedict emphasized that participants in the Group of 20 leaders' summit in London April 2-3 must find a way out of the global economic crisis but must avoid selfish or protectionist solutions."

Click here to read more.


Regional Gardening Guide for April

If April means spring to you, get out your garden tools and get moving. As always, we’re slaves to the whims of nature. It always seems spring drags its heels and then runs full force into summer. Be prepared with an organized ‘To Do’ list and take advantage of whatever nice days we are afforded. Our plants will still need pruning, feeding and weeding even if the sun doesn’t always shine."

Click here to read more of this article.


EBay to test eBay Bucks shopping rewards program

"Shopping on eBay just got a bit more rewarding, at least for some users of the online auctioneer's site.

On Wednesday, eBay Inc. launched a 'beta' test version of eBay Bucks, a program that lets participants earn a 2 percent reward on certain items they buy through the site and pay for using eBay's online payment service, PayPal. Rewards come quarterly as gift certificates, which can be used to buy other items through eBay within 30 days."

Click here to read more about this program.


The Power of Saying Yes to God

"Those who give their lives over to Jesus often speak of the transformative power that follows. Ann Rocha-Pierce wants readers to know how this devotion impacted her family through a matriarchal role model with a pure servant heart. Her new book, My Mother, the Wife, the Grandmother, the Mystic (published by AuthorHouse), follows her mother's life work and invites readers to live by her example."

Click here to read more about this book.