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WITandWISDOM(tm) – November 28, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: When I wake up in the morning I want to know that my family, friends and fans know what I believe in and what I’m all about. that’s what should be important. - Robert Randolph Submitted by Joe Kinnane ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: "Are you going grocery shopping today?" my husband, Roy, asked when I picked up the telephone. "I plan to," I answered. Thanksgiving was only a couple days away. Everyone in our family would be coming to our house. My funds were limited, therefore, my box of coupons awaited me in the car. I knew I had to be creative in my shopping that day. I had to stretch every dollar. For a few seconds, Roy sat silently on the other end of the line. "Why do you ask?" I uttered, fearing what he might say. "Nancy, there's a family with a half dozen kids that will not have anything to eat for Thanksgiving. The little one is only five-years-old." "So, what are you saying?" I whispered. "While you're at the store, could you possibly buy something for them?" Roy's words echoed in my heart. Groceries, a five-year-old, eight in the family. My head began to spin thinking about the fifty dollars I had reserved for our family's Thanksgiving dinner. In the back of my mind, I counted the hungry guests who would be coming to our house for dinner. I put my head down on my desk, already feeling defeated. There's no way possible, I thought. But the compassion I heard in my husband's voice struck a nerve inside me. "Sure," I replied. "But only if God helps." "Thanks, sweetheart," Roy whispered. "Just do what you can." He then hung up the telephone. I finished my work and prayed all the way to the nearest grocery store. I entered the parking lot and I noticed a big sign in the grocery store window: "Turkeys - 29 cents a pound." "This is the place, Lord," I whispered. I grabbed my box of coupons, went inside, secured two buggies, and headed to the frozen foods. The turkeys were indeed on sale, but I discovered one big problem. When I read the sign posted on the freezer door, my heart sank. "Limit one." "But I need two," I uttered to myself. I decided to find the manager. I explained the problem. He made an exception. After tossing a turkey in each buggy, I began my shopping fury. It was amazing how many buy-one, get-one free items were being featured that day. The first item went into one buggy. The free item went in the other. In addition, I had all the right coupons to get exactly what both families needed for a hearty Thanksgiving dinner. I proceeded to the register and held my breath while the cashier rang up my groceries. To my surprise, I had enough money. I was even able to purchase a package of cookies for the five-year-old who had stolen my heart, even though I had never met her. Later that afternoon, Roy and I made a special delivery to a home filled with children of all ages. I will never forget the smiles on the six kids' faces, as they made several trips from my car, carrying numerous bags of groceries inside. This event reminded me of a story. Even though He only had a few loaves and fishes, Jesus multiplied them and fed five thousand people. And to top it off, there was food left over. I wondered if God was doing the same thing that day. By far, that was the greatest Thanksgiving Day of my life. My entire family shared a hearty meal with us. We had plenty to eat. We even had enough food left over for the evening meal. That afternoon, when I had time to think about what had happened, I imagined a home, not far from where I lived. There was a mother and a father and six children sitting around the kitchen table, laughing and rejoicing. They enjoyed the same meal that our family had shared together that day. Then I realized that miracles happen when we step out in faith and in steps God. For with us, some things are impossible. But with God, all things are possible. By Nancy B. Gibbs, Christian Writer, Motivational Speaker, http://www.nancybgibbs.com/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: One man says he had a great speech for parents. It was called, "How to Raise Your Children". He traveled on speaking tours in the Midwestern United States and was paid a high honorarium for the talk. "This guy will wow you," people said. Then this famous speaker had his first child. His majestic speech lost its punch at 2:00 AM with the baby in full cry. But he kept trying. He renamed his new, modified speech "Some Suggestions for Parents" and charged bravely on. They had two more children. The speech changed again. And again. Now it's called, "Feeble Hints for Fellow Strugglers" and he begins with the question: "Does anyone here have a few words of wisdom?" Source: Chapnotes, mailto:xanmansa@chapnotes.org?Subject=Subscribe ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A woman, her husband and their three rambunctious young sons were in their car waiting at a traffic light. The woman glanced over at the car next to them and noticed a blissfully happy mother with her baby daughter. Looking at her husband, she said, "As soon as I lose my weight from the last baby, I want to try for a daughter." The husband reached up to the dash, grabbed an open box of snacks and said, "Here. Have a cookie." ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: World's fastest supercomputer: IBM BlueGene/L (BGL) Powered by: 65,536 dual-processor computer nodes. The BlueGene/L supercomputer at home at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Home base: This 2,500-square-foot marvel lives at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. Claim to fame: Helps researchers answer physics questions about stockpiled nuclear weapons and materials like Plutonium. Power requirements: 1.5 megawatts (equivalent to a 2,000-horsepower diesel engine). Clocked speed: Rated fastest in the world after clocking sustained performance of 280.6 trillion operations per second, or teraflops. Approximate cost: As part of a larger contract including other supercomputers, just under $100 million. Measure of compute capability: To match the power of this behemoth, every man, woman and child on Earth would need to perform 60,000 calculations per second (without transposing digits or forgetting to "carry the one"). Brawny bandwidth: Its internal communication network would support 150 simultaneous phone conversations for every person in the United States. Waiting in the wings: IBM has announced a successor, Blue Gene/P, designed to deliver three times the processing power of the Blue Gene/L. Source: Nybble Bi-Weekly Newsletter, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nybble