Their father was gone..

The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.

Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.

Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.

He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.

If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.

I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job..

The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.

Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop.

It was called the Big Wheel.

An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.

She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.

She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.

I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.

I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.

She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep

This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job.. And so I started at the Big Wheel.

When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money– fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.

The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!

There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.

Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station.

In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.

I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn’t enough.

Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids .

I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.

A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.

The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o’clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.

I quickly opened the driver’s side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat..

Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.

Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!

I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.

There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.

And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.

And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.

THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:

1. ‘Yes!’

2. ‘Not yet.’

3! have something better in mind.’

God still sits on the throne, and the devil is a liar.

You may be going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.

My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless, and I picked you.

Pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards

Let’s continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:

Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power”.

Amen.

Author UNKNOWN

PHOENIX, Ariz. (July 23, 2009) – In an effort to expand its services and better meet its customers’ needs, Desert Eagle Powerwash (www.deserteaglepowerwash.com) is now offering window cleaning as part of its comprehensive cleaning package. The service complements an already-extensive range of commercial cleaning solutions offered by the company throughout Arizona, including power washing, pressure washing and power sweeping.

“Our goal is to be at the top of the class in our industry,” said Corey Justice, founder of Desert Eagle Powerwash. “We have the latest and most innovative equipment, a well-trained and professional staff and a customer-first attitude.”

Desert Eagle’s new window cleaning service features thoroughly trained window cleaning technicians and state-of-the-art equipment capable of handling all types of window maintenance. The service can include both interior and exterior cleaning of windows.

In addition to its new window cleaning service, Deseret Eagle Powerwash offers a full range of power washing/sweeping services, including concrete foundations, sidewalks, parking lots, dumpster pads, Drive Thru’s, and pool decks along with oil/grease removal, post-construction clean-up and restroom steam cleaning. The company complies with all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and offers biodegradable detergents.

Using 225-degree heat and top-of the-line equipment, Desert Eagle Powerwash offers the best in commercial cleaning solutions, from systems set up to be able to transport dirty water to a waste management site to using a backpack blower and even hand picking hard-to-reach areas, including in and under bushes. The company services communities throughout the state of Arizona, including Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Goodyear and Scottsdale.

Founded in 2006 by Justice, a former United State Marine Sergeant and Iraq veteran, Desert Eagle has grown from just two full-time employees to 12 and boasts three power washing rigs with a fourth currently being built and two parking lot sweepers. The company aims to provide a superior customer experience and was nominated by the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce as the Best of Phoenix in 2007.

“We just noticed that in this particular industry there was lots of room for opportunity given the fact that so many individuals in this line of work were under trained and often had equipment that did not meet the requirements of the job,” said Justice. “With a lasting emphasis on quality workmanship and an incomparable commitment to customer satisfaction, we’ve become a trusted leader in the professional cleaning industry for commercial properties.”

To celebrate this new service, Desert Eagle Powerwash is currently offering a discount to new customers. Any new customer who signs a six-month contract will receive 10 percent off the total cost. Interested persons can call Desert Eagle at (623) 882-4771 and mention the code “POWERCLEAN” to take advantage of the discount and find out how Desert Eagle Powerwash can accommodate all their commercial cleaning needs.

Of course, it’s impossible to put everything about Pressure Washers into just one article. But you can’t deny that you’ve just added to your understanding about Pressure Washers, and that’s time well spent.

Annually, homeowners receive a heavy load of dirt, mud, foliage, as well as supplementary rubbish above their home’s pavements and driveways. Also, their automobiles are covered with road salt, mud, and grease. The most basic pressure washer will quickly transform an ordinary garden hose into a fiend which blasts away mud, grease, along with debris.

A simple pressure washer can put up to 20 times more force onto a plane in comparison to a garden hosepipe. While you look for a good pressure washer, you may wish to consider water pressure. A light pressure model will be more efficient than a garden hosepipe, however, you shouldn’t expect it to perform heavy jobs properly. A typical garden hosepipe will emit 40 pounds of water pressure per square inch, on the other hand, light duty pressure washers rate at approximately 1300 to 2000 pounds per square inch. To wash an automobile, an awning, and some deck furniture, you can use a light duty pressure washer. Pressure washers rated at 2000 – 2600 pounds per square inch are great for concrete cleaning, including mild spots, grease, and grime on bigger surfaces. Heavy duty pressure washers rate at 2700 – 4000 pounds per square inch and work effectively on obstinate grease or stains on concrete, or if you wish to clean flakes, dirt, and debris on top of surfaces in preparation for painting or sealing.

Electric Pressure Washers

Electric pressure washers are manufactured in all three levels of pounds per square inch— heavy, medium, and light duty. Ratings by one of the most well-known online vendors of pressure washer pumps, parts, and equipment do not show any preference between a gas pressure washer and an electric pressure washer. The ratings make a distinction between best, better, and good within size groups. An archetypal homemaker will get roughly all household chores done with electric pressure washers. The only problem of the electric pressure washer is that you have to find handy electrical sockets.

Gas Pressure Washers

Gas pressure washers are quite transportable, but they are also more noisy and may emit more noxious fumes whilst being used. There is also the inconvenience of storing gas while the gadget is used. These pressure washers are available in light duty, medium duty, and heavy duty models, along with a still heavier and more powerful contractors’ model. Honda pressure washers rate above average in gas pressure washers, with better and best ratings for both mid-sized and large sized capacity washers. Honda pressure washers captured all three categories in the contractor’s model. A Ryobi pressure washer is another favorite of home users. Its heavy duty range (3000 pounds per square inch) is pretty affordable plus it will do most jobs with a vengeance. A pressure washer from Ryobi is available at Home Depot shops, and this is another plus factor in its favor.

Hot Water Pressure Washer

Another great novelty in pressure washers is the new hot water pressure washer. You should utilize this tool for stubborn grime. Heated pressure washers are more difficult to find, however, Honda makes portable high capacity oil-fired hot water pressure washers. Mi-T-M makes high capacity electrically heated hot water pressure washers.

Whichever type of residential pressure system you select, you must be sure that the vendor also carries a full range of pressure washer pumps and parts. It will be really annoying to be right in the midst of fall or spring cleaning and be forced to wait stop for the replacement of a part or a pump.

Samantha Clark is the head of consumer reviews at http://www. dealsdepot. com. au. Amongst the Internet’s most popular Online Shopping sites for pressure washers.

Oddly, one of the first things that came to me was to eliminate any feeling that some of us might have to feel pressured to be “in style. ” Think about it. Most of the time, being “in style” causes people to look ridiculous.

I mean it causes older people trying to look young again to become laughingstocks. It causes younger people a lot of mental and financial pressure trying to maintain stylishness. And it causes overweight people to look even more so!

Years ago I also was caught in this same web. One year the hemlines were around the ankle, the next around mid-thigh. I was a single mother, and funds were tight, to say the least.

Thank God, one day I woke up and realized the ludicrousness of the situation. I simply got tired of jumping to the whims of the manufacturers (who could not have cared less how I looked), whose sole purpose was profit.

I had had training about ten years earlier in the skills of charm and modelling, which had included learning the styles which optimized my particular build. But, yielding to the pressures of fashion (and succumbing to my naiveté), I had abandoned those tried and true principles for what everyone else was wearing. Duh!

Finally, when I realized how expensive this habit of having to have the “latest” really was, I determined that I would no longer be a victim of someone else’s profit margin.

Ever since, I have invested only in quality clothing that is particularly suitable for my figure, frame, and lifestyle. As a result, my clothes are classics that are always in style and appropriate for me.

This is one pressure relief valve that is no longer needed!

The second valve that needs to be opened in many lives is taking back those lives. Fifty years ago life was a lot simpler (and a whole lot easier). Many of the “labor saving” devices we have today had not even been conceived then. And I’m not so sure that they do save labor . . . they may even make life a lot harder by virtue of the fact that we are required to take care of the devices we use to “save” time!

As an example, take the dishwasher. Unless you have a large family or entertain a lot, I would suggest that you wash your dishes by hand as you go along. Otherwise, most of your dishes end up in the dishwasher, either clean or dirty, when you want them. And it takes a lot of time to load and unload the thing. Plus, unless you practically wash them to begin with, they rarely all get clean. Why not just simplify this small task, not let them build up, and if you use a natural soap, your hands will benefit as well.

Next, if you have young children, don’t run yourself ragged trying to juggle impossible schedules of running from game to game to dance lessons to music lessons to karate lessons to this-that-and-the-other-thing.

I remember one mother (years ago when I was chauffeuring my own kids around) who had four children, all four of whom were on different baseball teams. She never actually had time to watch a whole game and enjoy it, because she had to keep running to and fro picking up and delivering, etc. She was always frazzled, to say the least.

And the kids themselves end up having frantic lives and never get to enjoy being kids. School is structured enough for them, without regimenting the rest of their time! Back in the “dinosaur” days, Summer days were long, lazy, and relaxed. We seemed to have all the time in the world, and Summer vacation was three whole months long. Today my grandchildren are lucky if they are out of school by the second week in June and have to go back around the second or third week in August!

Add to all of this the running to and fro among parents, step-parents, babysitters, day care centers, and it just becomes overwhelming at times.

It’s bad enough when we adults do not take time to smell the roses, but our kids don’t even seem to have enough time to learn what roses are!

I believe that Henry David Thoreau gave the best advice that anyone could hear many years ago: “Simplify, simplify. ”