Easy to Make Creamy Corn Casserole

By Mindy
Dec. 26, 2009

Description

 
Hi! I chose this because my family loves it, also me and my husband always eat it too. It has been in our family for a long time too!

Please enjoy it! Thanks for your interest in my recipe!

 

Ingredients

JIFFY CORNBREAD MIX (PLAIN WITH NO SEASONS)
BUTTER OF CHOICE
SWEET CREAM STYLE CORN
MEDIUM CHEDDAR CHEESE
LARGE EGG
SALT AND PEPPER

 

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Get a medium mixing bowl and all of your ingredients I listed.

First, pour the JIFFY MIX in the bowl. Next, mix the WET INGREDIENTS, STICK OF MELTED BUTTER, SWEET CREAM STYLE CORN, EGG. Pour your cup of cheddar cheese in the bowl with the JIFFY MIX.

Then add the WET INGREDIENTS to the bowl, add SALT AND PEPPER and mix well until all the dry JIFFY MIX is wet. Spray the bottom of an oven safe dish and pour in.

Cook for approximately 45 minutes until golden brown on top. Putting cheddar cheese on top is optional and to your own liking.
Prep Time: 15 Min
Cook Time: 1 Hr 5 Min
Total Time: 1 Hr 20 Min
Servings: 6

Source: Eversave

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to hear of your favorite recipe. dan@youngchronicle.com

Easy to Make Deviled Eggs

By Anne Coleman
Dec. 26, 2009

A mainstay at picnics or holiday get-togethers, the deviled egg can be dressed up or down and fits almost any budget.

Adjust the mustard to your own preferred spiciness level and add almost any herb or spice to the top at service time.

 

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes (including cooking time for eggs)
Yield: Serves 12

 

Ingredients
6 large eggs – hard boiled and peeled
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Salt to taste
Paprika if desired

 

Directions

1. Cut each egg in half lengthwise and remove yolks to a bowl.
2. Mash yolks well and blend with mayo, mustard and salt.
3. Fill whites with yolk mixture using a spoon, a pastry bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped off.
4. Sprinkle with Paprika, if desired and refrigerate, covered, until serving time.

 

Source: Family

 

Editor’s Note; We would like to hear from you and share your favorite recipe. dan@youngchronicle.com

A Special Christmas Gift

By Unknown
Dec. 25, 2009

Late one Christmas Eve, I sank back, tired but content, into my easy chair. The kids were in bed, the gifts were wrapped, the milk and cookies waited by the fireplace for Santa.

As I sat back admiring the tree with its decorations, I couldn’t help feeling that something important was missing. It wasn’t long before the tiny twinkling tree lights lulled me to sleep.

I don’t know how long I slept, but all of a sudden I knew that I wasn’t alone. I opened my eyes, and you can imagine my surprise when I saw Santa Claus himself standing next to my Christmas tree.

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot just as the poem described him, but he was not the “jolly old elf” of Christmas legend. The man who stood before me looked sad and disappointed, and there were tears in his eyes.

“Santa, what’s wrong?” I asked, “Why are you crying?”

“It’s the children,” Santa replied sadly.

“But Santa, the children love you,” I said.

“Oh, I know they love me, and they love the gifts I bring them,” Santa said, “but the children of today seem to have somehow missed out on the true spirit of Christmas.

It’s not their fault. It’s just that the adults, many of them not having been taught themselves, have forgotten to teach the children.”

“Teach them what?” I asked.

Santa’s kind old face became soft, more gentle. His eyes began to shine with something more than tears. He spoke softly. “Teach the children the true meaning of Christmas.

Teach them that the part of Christmas we can see, hear, and touch is much more than meets the eye.

Teach them the symbolism behind the customs and traditions of Christmas which we now observe.

Teach them what it is they truly represent.”

Santa reached into his bag and pulled out a tiny Christmas tree and set it on my mantle. “Teach them about the Christmas tree. Green is the second color of Christmas. The stately evergreen, with its unchanging color, represents the hope of eternal life in Jesus.

Its needles point heavenward as a reminder that mankind’s thoughts should turn heavenward as well.”

Santa reached into his bag again and pulled out a shiny star and placed it at the top of the small tree. “The star was the heavenly sign of promise.

God promised a Savior for the world and the star was the sign of the fulfillment of that promise on the night that Jesus Christ was born.

Teach the children that God always fulfills His promises, and that wise men still seek Him.”

“Red,” said Santa, “is the first color of Christmas.” “He pulled forth a red ornament for the tiny tree. Red is deep, intense, vivid. It is the color of the life-giving blood that flows through our veins.

It is the symbol of God’s greatest gift. Teach the children that Christ gave his life and shed his blood for them that they might have eternal life.

When they see the color red, it should remind them of that most wonderful gift.”

Santa found a silver bell in his pack and placed it on the tree. “Just as lost sheep are guided to safety by the sound of the bell, it continues to ring today for all to be guided to the fold.

Teach the children to follow the true Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep.”

Santa placed a candle on the mantle and lit it. The soft glow from its one tiny flame brightened the room. “The glow of the candle represents how people can show their thanks for the gift of God’s son that Christmas Eve long ago.

Teach the children to follow in Christ’s foot steps…to go about doing good.

Teach them to let their light so shine before people that all may see it and glorify God.

This is what is symbolized when the twinkle lights shine on the tree like hundreds of bright, shining candles, each of them representing one of God’s precious children, their light shining for all to see.”

Again Santa reached into his bag and this time he brought forth a tiny red and white striped cane. As he hung it on the tree he spoke softly. “The candy cane is a stick of hard white candy.

White to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock the foundation of the church, and the firmness of God’s promises.

The candy cane is in the form of a “J” to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth. It also represents the Good Shepherd’s crook, which He uses to reach down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

The original candy cane had three small red stripes, which are the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed, and a large red stripe that represents the shed blood of Jesus, so that we can have the promise of eternal life.

“Teach these things to the children.”

Santa brought out a beautiful wreath made of fresh, fragrant greenery tied with a bright red bow. “The bow reminds us of the bond of perfection, which is love. The wreath embodies all the good things about Christmas for those with eyes to see and hearts to understand.

It contains the colors of red and green and the heaven-turned needles of the evergreen.

The bow tells the story of good will towards all and its color reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice. Even its very shape is symbolic, representing eternity and the eternal nature of Christ’s love.

It is a circle, without beginning and without end. These are the things you must teach the children.”

I asked, “But where does that leave you, Santa?”

The tears gone now from his eyes, a smile broke over Santa’s face. “Why bless you, my dear,” he laughed, “I’m only a symbol myself. I represent the spirit of family fun and the joy of giving and receiving.

If the children are taught these other things, there is no danger that I’ll ever be forgotten.”

“I think I’m beginning to understand.”

“That’s why I came,” said Santa. “You’re an adult. If you don’t teach the children these things, then who will?”

Source: Neloo

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

For America and the World

By Jeffery S. Colter
GCC/Staff
Dec. 25, 2009

Greetings to all of you, and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  I hope in some way your lives are blessed during this festive time we all partake as Americans.

I want to first thank every one of you for your prayers and encouraging messages concerning the prayer request I sent out almost two weeks ago. 

Because of God’s mercies and faithfulness that request was answered.  The bank notified us a few days ago that they are willing to refinance our home so we can stay.  Again, on behalf of my wife and I, our many thanks.

As you know many have come upon hard financial times; unemployment, the loss of earnings and savings, perhaps even the loss of a home or the threat of losing a home.  Some have even had the recent loss of loved ones. 

After my last weekly FOOD FOR THOUGHT message I received an email from a friend telling me that because of the loss of their spouse due to cancer they did not know if they could believe in God the same way I do. 

This person said they have become more cynical, and believes God does turn a blind eye to suffering and hardship; that God does give us more than we can bear contrary to what Scripture says.

My heart sank.  I had no words.  No advice.  My mind wandered for two days seeking God’s guidance in how to answer my friend’s email.  After much thought and prayer I finally was able to sit down and write to this person. 

 

This is what I wrote back:

 

Dear (anonymous)

First of all, I want to give you my sincere, heartfelt condolences for the loss of your spouse. That is something that no one can understand unless one has gone through it themselves. You will be in my prayers.

From what you say I sense a great deal of hurt and perhaps anger towards God which is legitimate and proper.

I will not offer any platitudes, clichés, or try to preach to you, I promise. But I do want you to consider just a couple points which I want to say as words of encouragement and “food for thought”.

It is easy and natural to be cynical about God and not understand the relationship God has with us when something of this magnitude happens in our lives.

So I hope I am able to explain myself in such a way that will not be offensive or preachy.

There is a difference between God allowing things to happen and causing things to happen. This dichotomy is confusing because if God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, why would He not stop tragedies from happening?

Why would He not intervene when asked to do so? If He knows something is going to happen before it happens why does He stand back and allow it? These questions, my friend, have been asked through the ages by great theological scholars and people like you and I.

The answer simply is, I don’t know. And if anyone does claim to know the answers they are fooling themselves. To know the mind of God is impossible.

We can catch glimpses of it and understand His relationship to man by reading Scripture, but there are always going to be more questions than answers.

Even as a Christian, which I am, I ask these questions often. I ask the questions you ask, “What possible good can come from this?”; “Plan?

What the hell kind of plan is this you promised me, God?”; “Why would You hurt me like this?” Often times there is simply no answer. But this doesn’t mean God doesn’t hear us.

It doesn’t mean God turns a blind eye to man’s suffering. What it means is we live in a fallen world as a fallen race. Because of man’s fall there will always be sorrow, suffering, hardship, pain, and yes, even disease and death.

Life simply sucks at times with no explanation why.

I want you to know this, my friend. It is okay to be angry towards God. He can take it, and He won’t love you any less. I don’t know your religious background, but if you have a Bible read the book of Job.

This is a man who was wealthy and blessed with a family. Yet, God allowed it all to be taken away and Job was not only angry towards God but he cursed God for his loss.

At the end Job was blessed more than he had before. Job asked the same questions I mentioned. The same questions you may be asking now.

It is okay to be a cynic. You can even give up on believing in God. But God will never give up on you. God has never given up on any of us.

That is why we celebrate Christmas. Next to Easter it is the greatest example of God’s love for us and how He wants us to come to Him just as we are, cynic or not.

God bless you, and I hope somehow these were words of encouragement and I hope we can continue to correspond. 

May God give you peace and strength during these difficult times.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

What is amazing about Christmas to me is that God Himself actually came to us.  God in the flesh as the Son of Man, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Great I Am. 

We all search and desire peace, especially in hard times such as these we face in our nation.  I am here to tell you that there will never be true peace until we understand our relationship with the Almighty and His divine plan for each of our lives.

You see, peace is really an abstract and subjective term.  True peace comes from the Prince of Peace, the baby born in a manger, and that is how God desires us to come to Him, just as He came to us, as a baby. 

When we are open and humble, realizing the magnificent gifts He has given us at birth as described in Scripture and the Declaration of Independence then we can begin the journey to know and understand Him who created us.

First, life; formed in our mother’s womb by God’s very hand, He laid out the days of our lives even before our birth. We are made in God’s image and are His most precious and awesome creation. 

Second, liberty; the gift God has given us as free agents with free will to decide our own destinies. 

As we do not want man or government to force their will upon us, we can choose to live our lives as God intended or go our own way. God does not force His will upon us. 

Third and last, pursuit of happiness; the fact that each of us is unique and have been blessed by God with certain gifts, talents and abilities to be productive and creative for the good of our communities, nation, and most of all, for His Kingdom.

My friends, do not ever think that God does not hear your cry or think you do not matter to Him. 

He hears the cries of all.  That is why on this day that we call Christmas we can celebrate the answer to all of mankind’s cries.

Thank you.  God bless you all this Christmas. 

May God give you and your families that special peace that is eternal and life changing.

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

America’s Hope: Valrico’s Zach Bonner, 12, Chosen Most Inspiring

By Chandra Broadwater
Times Staff Writer
Dec. 25, 2009 

 

VALRICO — Sully didn’t have a thing on this 12-year-old.

And those post-election protesters in Iran? Forget it.

Zach Bonner, a Valrico boy known for his money-raising treks for homeless kids, is the most inspiring person of 2009, according to Belief net.

The inspirational Web site announced Bonner as the 10th annual award winner Wednesday.

The blue-eyed red-head got more votes than protesters against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and even Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger — the pilot who safely landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson River.

“We were real excited to find out we were the recipients of the award,” Bonner said, his hands folded on a conference table in front of him. His day was packed with interviews.

And he had already been featured in USA Today.

“It’s an honor,” he said. “But all of the nominees were impressive and they all deserved it.”

It’s the dedication to his nonprofit group, the Little Red Wagon Foundation that got the editors at the site. Not to mention his age, said Laurie Sue Brockway, Belief net’s Family and Inspiration editor.

Other nominees included actor Michael J. Fox, and the couple who danced down the aisle at their wedding to Chris Brown’s Forever.

Last year’s winner was Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University known for The Last Lecture.

“What he does is very impressive, and it would be impressive if he won it as an adult,” Brockway said. “But he’s done it at 12, and what he’s done has touched our hearts in a very profound way.”

It all started when he was 6, Zach explained.

That’s when Hurricane Charley tore through Florida. He went up and down the streets of his neighborhood hauling his red Radio Flyer wagon to collect food and water.

That day would be the first of many days of service. Not long after, he began his foundation and his fight for homeless children.

Since then, he’s won several awards and walked thousands of miles to raise money for his cause. Last year, he walked about 1,200 miles to Washington, D.C.

In April, he will head to Los Angeles for a 2,300-mile trek.

Yes, all those miles make his feet sore. But usually after a few days, Zach said his body gets used to the “misery.”

“It’s not exactly misery, but you know what I mean,” he said. “It’s hard. But it’s worth it.”

Between cramped schedules — in January he will have only one day off — he attends classes online through the Hillsborough Virtual School.

Like many other 12-year-olds, he also likes to spend as much time in the pool as possible.

Zach lives with his mother, Laurie Bonner, who works in real estate from home. His father “is not in the picture,” she said.

Zach doesn’t think much of what he’s accomplished in his short life. Shrugging his shoulders, he guesses that he simply likes helping people.

His mother thinks her son just found something he enjoyed.

“Or maybe,” she said, “he was just supposed to do this.”

 

Source: Tampa Bay  Little Red Wagon Foundation

Editor’s Note: Zach Bonner, center, says he was excited to win, “but all of the nominees were impressive and they all deserved it.”

He’s shown during a planning meeting for an event where kids will simulate being homeless to raise funds and awareness.

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2454.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

True Meaning of Christmas

By Scott Williamson
Dec. 25, 2009

I have been blessed to have some great people in my life, but the one who made the most significant impact was my dad. This will be the 8th Christmas without Dad; he passed away Nov. 9, 2002.

I would like to say it gets easier each year but that’s simply not true. If anything, it gets harder. As I grow older, the more I realize the significance of the values my dad taught me, and the more I wish he was here to see me instilling the same values in my children.

Growing up, I guess you could say my family was on the more than fortunate side. We always had a nice warm home, we never went to bed hungry, we knew we were loved and come Christmas time the base of tree was always stacked high with presents.

My memories of childhood Christmases are not filled with gifts. The memories I truly cherish involve getting the family together to laugh, play and most importantly celebrate the birth of our savior.

My dad’s most joyful time at Christmas wasn’t watching us opening gifts. Nor was it the gifts he received. His joy came when all of us gathered around while he read Luke 2:1-21, “The Christmas Story.”

This Christmas Karen, the kids and I will be heading to her parents’ house. I’m looking forward to all of us being together to laugh, play and watch the kids’ faces as they rip through wrapping paper to see their gifts.

But, what I am looking forward to the most is Karen’s dad (Papa as he’s affectionately known) gathering all of us around his recliner and opening his Bible to Luke chapter 2 and reading us “The Christmas Story”.

As Papa retells that amazing scripture, I can close my eyes and hear my dad reading the same holy words. I can again feel the joy it brought him to read the miraculous story of the birth of our savior to us kids.

This past year has brought tough economic times and the stockings may not be as full, but do not let the worldly view of Christmas take away your joy or your happiness.

Instead, take the time to gather around with your family and friends and rediscover what Christmas is truly all about. Take a few minutes and read Luke’s Christmas Story to your loved ones.

In case your Bible isn’t handy (and in honor of my Dad), here it is:

Luke 2:1-21 NKJV

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,

5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Merry Christmas

 

Source: Fayette Daily News

Editor’s Note: We would like to hear what your think Christmas means to you and your family. dan@youngchronicle.com

God’s Gift of Time

By Beverly Beckham
and Grandparents.com
Dec. 25, 2009

The letter arrived a few weeks before Christmas, when my children were young. “Give Time to family and friends,” it said. “Time is the ideal gift.”

The letter was referring to Time the magazine, of course, not the real thing.

But what if you could give time, I wondered. What if you could wrap it in silver and tie it with a red satin bow and present it to the people you love?

Fantasy. Pure conjecture. Yet wonderful to consider.

I imagined collecting time, packing years in a box for a daughter then 14, who, when she looked in a mirror, saw all that she thought was wrong with her. Time would give her a peek into the future, of the woman she would become — bright and witty and beautiful.

I fantasized about saving time for my son, collecting his boyhood and packing it away so that when he was a man and encumbered by a man’s responsibilities, he would be able to live again those days when life’s biggest problem was where to play baseball.

I dreamed of freezing time for my youngest child, stopping the days from marching past, not for her sake but for mine. I didn’t want her to ever outgrow my lap.

To give time for Christmas. Would that we could. I’d relive this time:

“Want to skip school today? Go to the beach?”

My older kids say, “No! Are you crazy? It’s December. It’s too cold for the beach.”

But the youngest runs upstairs to get her shovel and mittens. We search for sea glass and chase seagulls. “I wish I could fly,” she whispers dreamily.

“But you might fly away and not come back,” I say, hugging her.

“No, Mommy,” she says, hugging back. “I would never leave you.”

She did leave me, of course. That’s what children do.

This child who climbed on my lap has two children now. My son is a 40-year-old man with two children of his own. The then 14-year-old is a beautiful woman with a daughter of her own.

And my husband and I are now doting, over-the-moon, let-me-tell-you-about-my-grandchildren grandparents.

Give Time, the letter said.

My grandchildren are 6 and 5 and 2 and nine months and I think that now, this time, is so perfect that there’s no wishing it backward or forward.

I’d wrap it in silver and tie it with a red satin bow if I could. To enjoy it now but save it for another Christmas, too.

For this is the real gift of time — that it passes but it also stays. That we can go back. That we never really lose what is gone.

Source: Grand Parents

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

US Army Hero’s Spread Christmas Cheer in Bagram Iraq

By Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod
Special to American Forces Press Service
Dec. 25, 2009

In the dew-laden predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, Everton Bushnell jumped into Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, with the two-year-old 82nd Airborne Division.

Twenty-five years later, his son, Ellsworth Bushnell, fought with the “All Americans” in Vietnam and spent six months as a prisoner of war.

And in September of this year, Army Sgt. 1st Class John Bushnell became the third generation of Bushnell’s to wear the All American patch to a war zone when he deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade.

For the military intelligence electronic repair specialist, it has been the golden chalice of his 13-year Army career.

Its attainment marked the fulfillment of a family tradition that at times seemed like the prize of an Indiana Jones saga.

Bushnell knows what it’s like to part of a small unit, cut off from the main body.

“It’s called recruiting,” he joked.

“Where I spent the last 45 months on recruiting duty, most people had never seen an active-duty soldier in their lives.

In the Army, they teach you how to work with people during seven weeks of recruiting training, but when you get out there on your own and are no longer surrounded by other soldiers, it’s completely different,” he said.

Bushnell proved to be an exceptional recruiter, earning his gold badge and recruiting ring while bringing an average of 5.6 new soldiers into the Army every month, nearly three times the standard of two.

Yet, having deployed as a paratrooper with the 1st Corps Support Command to Iraq in 2003-04, the four hours of daily “cold calling” from a recruiting office left him unfulfilled.

Most of Bushnell’s complaining about wanting to deploy again fell on the kindred ears of other recruiters. But one day, a man standing in a Canton, Ohio, unemployment office overheard his bellyaching to be deployed again. The man turned out to be then-U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.

Three months later, Bushnell received a flag that had been flown over the Capitol and a letter from DeWine thanking him for his service. But no orders off the recruiting outpost.

What he did enjoy as a recruiter was the visits by local veterans. One day, he recalled, an older man came into his office asking for a couple of key chains.

The Army-branded merchandise was supposed to be given to high school students, but Bushnell saved much of it for the vets.

“Are you a veteran, sir?” Bushnell asked.

“Yeah, I was in Vietnam. I was infantry,” said the man, a Mr. Luco. He was also part of the veteran biker group, Rolling Thunder.

 Bushnell gave him the key chains and thanked him for his service.

“No, thank you for what you all are doing,” Luco replied. “It’s much harder than what we did.”

“No sir, I wouldn’t be in this uniform if it weren’t for what your generation did,” Bushnell told the man. “We’ve just picked up where you guys left off.”

Then the vet told Bushnell a story. His grandfather had given his father a silver dollar to carry for luck in the Korean War. His father passed that same coin to him before he shipped to Vietnam.

One night, Luco said, the Viet Cong encamped around his unit, pinning the soldiers in a swamp for two and a half weeks. He rubbed that coin the entire time, he said.

Bushnell loaded Loco down with T-shirts, coffee mugs and other promotional items, nearly bringing the man to tears.

“This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” the man swore.

Two hours later, Loco reappeared, this time dressed in his biker’s garb. “I just wanted you to see how we dressed, and to thank you again,” he said, but when he shook Bushnell’s hand, he passed off that silver-dollar coin.

“It took every bit of discipline that I had not to break down in that office,” Bushnell said.

The first time he was “coined,” Bushnell was a young specialist. His children were conducting airborne operations from the back of the family van in the Post Exchange parking lot on Fort Bragg, N.C.

“Airborne!” Jump.

“Airborne!” Jump.

Army Lt. Gen. Dan McNeil, commander of 18th Airborne Corps, suddenly appeared. “Tell me, specialist,” he asked Bushnell, “do these young paratroopers plan to join the Army?”

Bushnell hadn’t joined the army himself until the age of 27. Raised on a 300-acre farm, he followed the rodeo circuit for a while after high school. Eventually, he married his high school sweetheart, Jenni, and took up trucking. In 1993, he heard the call to serve.

After basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., he served in South Korea, Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort Bragg, though with the 20th Engineering Brigade and 1st Corps Support Command – never with the 82nd.

In spite of his constant pleading, the family tradition seemed to elude him.

For his indefinite re-enlistment – the one obligating his service to retirement – Bushnell traveled to his hometown of Tallmadge, Ohio, named for Revolutionary War Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge.

While on recruiting duty, Bushnell was asked to present a new memorial in his hometown square to those who had fallen in combat since the Revolutionary War. It was a pivotal moment.

“I told them, I don’t want a bonus. Just get me to [the 82nd],” he said.

In August 2009, Bushnell pinned on the rank of sergeant first class as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.

“It was a proud moment,” he said, “but what I remember most was putting the AA patch on my shoulder in 82nd Replacement in the Hall of Heroes. Holy cow,” I remember thinking, “I am finally here.”

Don’t unpack, they told him. In his career specialty of repairing anything that receives, transmits or stores top-secret information, there were only two open slots in the entire Army for his new pay grade.

More than likely, before the current deployment is over, Bushnell will receive orders to Fort Huachuca, Ariz. In the meantime, he will serve here as a platoon sergeant with Company B, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion.

“I always wanted [a specialty] with top-secret clearance that would give me a bigger picture of the Army,” Bushnell said. The downside is that his rank and job restrict where he is useful to the Army.

 Most of the Army’s intelligence equipment is covered under warranty should it break down, he said.

Bushnell’s time with the 82nd will be but a brief intersection. His time in service is greater than his grandfather’s and father’s combined; neither spent more than a few years with the division or the Army.

To wear the patch and to serve, and to be a part of the All American heritage, always was his goal.

“Was coming to the 82nd a good move career-wise?” he asked. “I don’t know. But yes, it’s been worth the fight to get here.

For the family tradition, for my personal motivation, to just be a part of the greatest Army division in the world – it fulfills a longstanding dream.”

Stay tuned for more Bushnell paratroopers. The kids are approaching recruitment age.

 

Source: Jackson NJ

 

Editor’s Note: Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod serves in the Multinational Force West with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade public affairs office.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Fighting Cancer- T-Shirts and Laughter

by Howard Berkes
Dec. 25, 2009

Twenty-nine years ago, Linda Hill sat in a cancer center in California waiting for her first round of chemotherapy.

She was 19 and had a softball-sized tumor in her chest and a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Hill’s parents were told it was time to have their daughter do things she’d always wanted to do because she seemed to have little time left.

“I had it everywhere,” recalls Hill, now 48. “I had it in all my lymph glands — head to toe — and so it was quite serious.”

Hill noticed something about the other cancer patients in the waiting room, most of whom were quite a bit older:

“They were all just angry and bitter and sad,” she says. “And I thought, ‘I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want my kids to remember me that way.’ ”

 

Laughing At Cancer With Zingers

Three decades, seven kids and three more devastating cancers later, Hill has found a way to keep anger, bitterness and sadness at bay.

She laughs at cancer and all it has taken from her, including her thyroid, spleen, colon and breasts.

In fact, when we met in the ornate wood-lined lobby of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Hill wore a faded green long-sleeve T-shirt with these embroidered words: “I lost my colon … but I’m still full of crap!”

The aphorism is just one of many cancer zingers that Hill has created for a T-shirt business that focuses on helping cancer patients cope.

She chuckles as she browses her T-shirt display just outside the institute’s gift shop.

“This is our No. 1 seller,” she laughs, as she pulls a mustard-colored shirt from the rack that features this message: “Of course they’re fake, the real ones tried to kill me!”

 

More Of Linda Hill’s Cancer-Fighting T-Shirt Humor

— Does this shirt make my boobs look small?

— I gave them my breasts and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

— Mastectomy — a surgical procedure to help a woman find a real man.

—    I hope my kids inherit their mother’s prostate.

Linda Hill’s T-shirts are sold at cancer centers across the country and through her Web site.

 

The one-liners flow from the single mom, her five daughters and two sons. This is a family of practical jokers looking for laughs in the oddest places. Hill once put bouillon cubes in a shower head so the kids were sprayed with chicken broth.

And when the family chooses sides for games, there’s always one child protesting: “I don’t want Mom. She doesn’t have a colon!”

 

Battling Thyroid, Breast And Colon Cancer

So the Hills couldn’t help themselves when mom faced thyroid, breast and colon cancer — all in the past six years. As Linda was wheeled into surgery for a double mastectomy, a petite daughter tenderly whispered to her mom: “Thanks so much for making me NOT the smallest-breasted person” in the family.

With five girls, the breast lines snowballed. “You’re going to have to date guys who like butts and thighs,” the daughters joked. Two daughters, described by Hill as “rather well-endowed,” told her, “Guys are going to look you in the eye now, Mom.”

Hill remembers thinking, “We ought to put these things on shirts, because this is just so funny.”

Now, 800 T-shirts later, Hill has developed a fledgling market that helps patients laugh through chemo.

The shirts are sold for about $25 on Hill’s Web site, and at cancer centers across the country.

“Everybody has their own way of getting through things,” explains Hill. “This just must be my way of doing it.”

 

Ongoing Treatment

Hill is still being treated for breast cancer. So the jokes just keep on coming.

“They took a lump from my breast, so why not my thigh?” another favorite shirt says, prompting another laugh from Hill. “There’s not a woman on the planet that doesn’t relate to that one,” she says.

She pulls others from the rack outside the gift shop. “This is a great one,” Hill chuckles, reading the line a daughter wrote: “Mastectomy: $12,000. Radiation: $30,000. Chemotherapy: $11,000. Never wearing a bra again: Priceless.”

Gift shop manager Dianne Rydman watches the reactions of patients.

“We have a lot of people in here who don’t laugh about a lot,” says Rydman. “And they can sit out there and chuckle over that basket of shirts.”

Some of the shirts have serious themes, including: “Blue eyes run in your family. Cancer runs in mine,” or “Cancer took her life. It never touched her spirit.”

Hill’s smile fades as she pauses to consider those words.

“Cancer does not define us,” Hill asserts. “It’s not my colon that makes me love to bake. It’s not my breasts that make me crazy and outgoing.

And it wasn’t my thyroid that gave me my faith in God.”

But the smile returns as she reminds herself of all those body parts lost to cancer.

“At least I’ve had cancer on parts you can remove,” she jokes. “It’s a brutal weight loss program.”

 

Despite Losses, A Cancer Celebrity

Hill’s brand of chemo comedy isn’t making money. She says she’s $7,000 in debt, but still donates $2 from every sale to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She’s not quitting her day job as a fresh produce manager for a food distributor.

She’s also become a bit of a cancer celebrity at the institute. Multiple primary cancers occur in only about 8 percent of cancer survivors, according to the American Cancer Society.

And Hill’s pattern of cancers illustrates a phenomenon researchers have documented.

At Huntsman, she says, she’s so prolific, researchers line up for blood and tissue samples after her procedures and surgeries.

“I can make a cancer cell, and I can make it fast!” Hill boasts.

And she’s survived longer than expected. Hill’s voice breaks again and tears flow as she describes the milestones she has managed to reach, despite all those cancers.

“I’m going to be a grandma,” she says, gulping for breath. “I saw another daughter get married. And I saw another football season of my son. I’ve got another graduating and going to college.

” Hill is almost whispering when she says: “And I’d rather they remember me having fun.”

She adds, “I can have a normal life and just joke about everything. Maybe it’s my way of dodging death.”

Hill quickly composes herself and gets back to the jokes, revealing the zingers to come.

“We’ve got one,” she says, chuckling again, “that’s going to look like a rearview mirror of a car that says, ‘Objects in shirt are smaller than they appear.’ ”

Hill is also hearing from people with cancers yet to make it on her shirts. Ovarian and pancreatic jokes are on the way.

But Hill’s best line isn’t on any shirt. She uses it to describe herself.

“I’m so much more than a boob,” she says, laughing. “I’m so much more than cancer.”

 

Source: NPR 

 

Editor’s Note: According to Howard Berkes Hodgkin’s Lymphoma And Multiple Cancers

About 8 percent of cancer survivors experience multiple primary cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

And women like Linda Hill, who are first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, especially at younger ages, have dramatically increased risks for additional cancer diagnoses.

A 2007 paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology estimates the increased risk for Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors for specific cancers. Compared with the risk in the general population.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors overall have six times the risk of female breast cancer, four times the risk of colon cancer, and three times the risk of thyroid cancer.

Radiation exposure related to medical treatment is an established risk factor for both breast and thyroid cancers.

The paper’s lead author, Dr. David Hodgson, points out that the risks of multiple cancers are largely associated with treatments that are now outdated.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Won’t Cost You Thing

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Dec. 25, 2009

Do you know what “Joy logy” means? It is the study of caring, sharing, and listening and Sacrifice.

This was written by Mr. Jeineke in 1975

We would like to know what you think: dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

What is a Joyologist? A joyologist then would be one who studies joy logy. Frankly our world could use a great many joyologists whose mission in life is to actively research the effects of discussing and sharing joy.

The research could branch out into how joy affects our careers, family lives, and friendships. The very act of doing the active research should spread jubilation throughout the world and bring about positive results. What a fun job!

All one needs to start with is to share the words joyism, joy logy, and joyologis with others. Use the words daily and make them a part of the world’s vocabulary.

The upcoming year is going to challenge us all. Here is something we need to think, this is from an unknown reader. It is called: Gifts That Won’t Cost You Thing

 

By Unknown

THE GIFT OF LISTENING…

But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

 

THE GIFT OF AFFECTION…

Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds.
Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

 

THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER…

Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories.
Your gift will say, “I love to laugh with you.”

 

THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE…

It can be a simple “Thanks for the help” note or a full sonnet.
A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

 

THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT…

A simple and sincere,
“You look great in red,” “You did a super job” or “That was a wonderful meal” can make someone’s day.

 

THE GIFT OF A FAVOR…

Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

 

THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE…

There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone.
Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

 

THE GIFT OF A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION…

The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, really it’s not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You.

 

 

Source: Joyology

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