5 MINUTES OF GRACE: “NO MORE PITY PARTIES”

BY: EDNA JANE LOREY

EDNA JANE LOREY

In 2010 my number one resolution is to not attend any more PITY PARTIES. I will surround myself with people who are grateful, gracious and thankful for the many gifts in their lives. My special circle will be filled with people who appreciate and celebrate God, nature and all the good life has to offer. Joy, laughter, great friends, family, nature and simply waking up each morning to a world rich with endless possibilities for fulfillment.

If you’re like me, many of you have friends who have “everything” you think you’ve ever wanted. Great looks, beautiful homes, wonderful relationships, lots of money, success, admiration, confidence, clothes, health, wealth and a closet full of expensive designer shoes; the perfect car, perfect children – the perfect life. Or so we think.

But many of these friends with this so called “perfect life” have a habit of sharing what they have by inviting you to their PITY PARTIES. “Woe is me. My mate doesn’t understand me. My In laws don’t like me. I always have to fight for respect”. And the list of “complaints” go on and on with each joyous meeting. One long, continuous sentence of a life full of regrets, missed opportunities, loss and blame.

Many of these Pity Party Hosts are stuck in a rut obsessing over the need to prove something to other people. And every time we accept an invitation to their Pity Parties, we add “fuel to the fire” by giving up a little bit of ourselves; allowing ourselves to be flushed down drains of despair with the rest of the party garbage.

Many times we find ourselves caught up in the excitement of the moment and try to out complain the complainer. Do we walk away refreshed, refueled; ready to meet the day with exciting new expectations? Not me. I’m usually tired, worn out, depressed and hopeless. Ready to run home, jump in bed and “sleep it off”. Wake up just in time for another Pity Party and the endless cycle of drama.

But the choice was mine. I choose to dine on negativity. I chose the champagne of despair. But the good news is: The choice is still mine. And I choose to change my mind. I choose to change my friends. I choose to decide who to invite into my life; into my home, into my heart. That’s why I choose not to attend any more Pity Parties.

Please, don’t get me wrong. It’s not just the rich and wealthy who hold Pity Parties. People from all walks of life; strangers, acquaintances, co-workers, potential partners – so many people in the world are quick to forget their blessings and dwell on the negative, the bad news, horrific events and hold you captive in their worlds of negativity. But thankfully, you have a choice. You can choose to give.

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5 MINUTES OF GRACE: “Punctuation Marks”

By EDNA JANE LOREY

Inspired by a sermon from Pastor Thaddeus Eastland, Hope Church Pearland, Texas (HarvestofPraiseExhaulted.org)

EDNA JANE LOREY

Without punctuation marks, life runs together; the past with the present; the present with the future. Because the present is the future. What you do today will determine what your life will look like tomorrow.

How will you label your life this New year? What will be your central theme? These are questions I asked myself thanks to a recent sermon by Pastor Thaddeus Eastland of Hope Church.

Through his message I made an agreement with myself. I share this with you in hopes that it will uplift your life as it has mine.

Using my full name I proclaim:
“____________2010 is a “year of Grace and Celebration”. Thanks, thanksgiving, and blessings overflowing. Grace for all the things that went right in 2009. Grace for being here another year. Grace for having the freedom to choose what my life will look like today, tomorrow and the years to come.

I, _______________ Put a period at the end of 2009. I make a decision now to start new for 2010: A new paragraph, a new chapter, a new book and leave the past behind, I claim my good now. With perfect faith, I claim my right to joy, health, love, happiness and abundant wealth.

I give myself permission to move forward; free of past actions, old baggage, open wounds, unhealed hurts. I end my past baggage train caboose now. I close the door to my past and open new doors to my success and praise: triumphant, peaceful and protected.

I, ____________ exercise my freedom to choose a rich life , to re-order my steps, to breathe refocused, to take a break, to start a new heading, to end a chapter, to end a book, to start a new story, or to change my course altogether. I choose freedom; Freedom to be the best person I can be. I choose joy, love, happiness, grace, faith and blessings overflowing.
I Choose Grace. I Choose Faith. I Choose Thanksgiving.

My old long sentences melt away as I give thanks for the good that exists in my life now and the increased success yet to come. I expect and receive my unexpected Good as I choose Success. I choose growth. I choose deliverance and faith.

So I, ____________ choose Grace. I ___________Choose Thanksgiving and I_________ enjoy the blessed life I was meant to live. For this and all my blessings, Oh Lord, I do give Thee thanks.

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Genetic Study Clarifies African and African-American Ancestry

Collaboration by University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University

PHILADELPHIA –- People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent, just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of African and African-American ancestry released today.

An international research team led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University has collected and analyzed genotype data from 365 African-Americans, 203 people from 12 West African populations and 400 Europeans from 42 countries to provide a genome-wide perspective of African and African-American ancestry.

The data reveal genomic diversity among African and African-American populations far more complex than originally thought and reflect deep historical, cultural and linguistic impacts on gene flow among populations. The data also point to the ability of geneticists to reliably discern ancestry using such data. Scientists found, for example, that they could distinguish African and European ancestry at each region of the genome of self-identified-African Americans.

Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at Penn, and Carlos Bustamante, a computational biologist at Cornell, led the study to analyze 300,000 genetic markers from across the genome from West African, African-American and European-American populations to see whether they could reliably distinguish ancestry.

The team found that, while some West African populations are nearly indistinguishable, there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some groups, divided along linguistic and geographic lines.

This newly acquired genetic data revealed a number of important advances, including:

* The rich mosaic of African-American ancestry. Among the 365 African-Americans in the study, individuals had as little as 1 percent West African ancestry and as much as 99 percent. There are significant implications for pharmacogenomic studies and assessment of disease risk. It appears that the range of genetic ancestry captured under the term African-American is extremely diverse, suggesting that caution should be used in prescribing treatment based on differential guidelines for African-Americans.
* A median proportion of European ancestry in African-Americans of 18.5 percent, with large variation among individuals.
* The predominately African origin of X chromosomes of African-Americans. This is consistent with the pattern of gene flow where mothers were mostly of African ancestry while fathers were either of African or European ancestry.
* A technique which can reliably distinguish African and European ancestry for any particular region of the genome in African-Americans. This could have implications for personalized ancestry reconstructions, personalized medicine and more effective drug treatments and could aid in developing more effective methods for mapping genetic risk factors for diseases common in African-Americans, such as hypertension, diabetes and prostate cancer.
* The similarity of the West African component of African-American ancestry to the profile from non-Bantu Niger-Kordofanian speaking populations, which include the Igbo and Yoruba from Nigeria and the Brong from Ghana
* A comparison of the West African segments of African-American genomes. This is wholly in line with historical documents showing that the Igbo and Yoruba are two of the 10 most frequent ethnicities in slave trade records; however, most African-Americans also have ancestry from Bantu-speaking populations in western Africa.
* Population structure within the West African samples reflecting primarily language and secondarily geographical distance, echoing the Bantu expansion from a homeland in West Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa around 4,000 years ago.

“Africa, which is the homeland of all modern humans, contains more than 2,000 ethnolinguistic groups and harbors great genetic and phenotypic diversity; however, little is known about fine-scale population structure at a genome-wide level,” said Tishkoff, professor in the departments of genetics and biology at Penn. “We were able to distinguish among closely related West African populations and showed that genetically inferred ancestry correlates strongly with geography and language, reflecting historic migration events in Africa.

“We were also able to show that there is little genetic differentiation among African-Americans in the African portion of their ancestry, reflecting the fact that most African-Americans have ancestry from several regions of western Africa. The greatest variation among African-Americans is in their proportion of European ancestry, which has important implications for the design of personalized medical treatments.”

The study focused primarily on the genetic structure of West African populations, as previous genetic and historical studies suggested that the region was the source for most of the ancestry of present-day African-Americans. The results suggest that there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some of the West African populations, whereas others appear to be nearly indistinguishable, even when comparing more than 300,000 genetic markers. The researchers note that a larger sample size would likely reveal further substructure and diversity between these populations.

Analyzing patterns of population structure and individual ancestry in Africans and African-Americans illuminates the history of human populations and is critical for undertaking medical genomic studies on a global scale. Understanding ancestry not only provides insight into historical migration patterns, human origins and greater understanding of evolutionary forces, but also allows researchers to examine disease susceptibility and pharmacogenic response, and to develop personalized drugs and treatments, a frontier in public health.

There is also strong reason to believe that high-density genotype data from African and African-American populations may pinpoint more precisely the geographic origin of African ancestry in African-Americans, the researchers said. The study appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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5 MINUTES OF GRACE 2010

BY: EDNA JANE LOREY

EDNA JANE LOREY

Grace : Blessing (N), Prayer, Thanks, Thanksgiving . Adorn (V) Embellish, Enhance, Beautify, Decorate

This 2009 Holiday Season, spent with family, was very special for me; embraced by love and acceptance. One very special person in my family continuously celebrates the Holidays with her husband, children brothers, sisters, relatives and extended family of all kind. I nickname her “Joy” because of her wonderful, generous spirit. Joy has a special gift for making everyone who enters her home feel welcome; greeted with delicious smells from cookies, candies and cakes baking, meats smoking, music playing, children singing, friends laughing and every sound one can think of that represents “family” holidays. It was in this loving, caring center of comfort that I learned a great lesson. This is a lesson I share with you and ask that you pass on. A lesson of “Grace”. Gratitude is the highest form of Grace. Being thankful and appreciative of what you have, now, in the present and expressing that appreciation to everyone you meet, and especially to the ones you love. I watched Joy search patiently for the perfect Christmas gifts to fill her family’s long list of wants and must haves. She raced from store to store, waited for mail orders to arrive, labored over wrapping gifts, filled Christmas stockings with special treats and at the same time juggled household chores: laundry, cooking, cleaning, coordinating, chauffeuring and running all over everywhere; doing everything she possibly could to please her family and her guest – me. When Christmas Day arrived, we donned Santa hats Joy had carefully selected, opened our gifts, thanked and feigned surprise at receiving exactly what we had asked for: thanks to Joy. Somewhere in the midst of opening one of numerous elaborate, specially chosen presents, one teenager asked, “Where is the x I asked for?” Joy gracefully replied. “I’m sorry. I forgot to get that”. Surrounded by a mountain of beautiful gifts, the teenager said, “Well, let’s go to the store and get it”. “It’s Christmas Day. The stores are closed.” The teenager hopped up, “Something has to be open”. For this teen – Of all the things in the pile of beautiful presents, this one small missing item made her gift list complete. She had unfortunately forgotten to find the most important gift of all – one that did not come with pretty wrappings: The Gift of Grace. Grace is the gift of appreciation that keeps on giving and it is the one Gift I pray you will be blessed with this year and for years to come. Beautify, embellish and adorn your life with thanks, thanksgiving, blessings and prayers.

With Sincere Blessings
Edna Jane Lorey

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Tampa Bay Bucs Hands Saints Second Consecutive Loss Winning 20-17 in Overtime

Tampa Bay Defeats New Orleans 20-17 Overtime

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers has given new meaning to the Big Easy as they came back from a 17 point deficit to defeat the New Orleans Saints in overtime.

Rookie quarterback Josh Freeman who completed 21-of-31 passes for 271 yards for no touchdowns and two interceptions lead the team on the back of Cadillac Williams to its second consecutive win. Williams had 24 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown. Bucs return specialist Michael Spurlock helped to tie the game at 17 in the fourth quarter when he ripped off a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The win headed Raheem Morris the youngest head coah in the NFL his third win. The team overall record is now 3-12.

The Saints who had a 17 point lead all the way into the fourth quarter, had an opportunity to win in the final 9 seconds of regulation play, but missed the field goal.

Saints Quarterback Drew Brees completed 32-of-37 passes for 258 yards with one touchdown. However, Tampa linebacker Geno Hayes forced a critical fumble on the Saints WR Marques Colston in the fourth quarter. Tampa cornerback Ronde Barber recovered that fumble in Tampa Bay territory setting the tone for Tampa’s come from behind win.

The 2-12 Bucs did the unthinkable today scoring 20 unanswered points, including kicker Connor Barth’s 47-yard field goal to win the game 20-17 in overtime.

The defeat is the Saints’ second consecutive loss. Last week the Saints strolled into their Superdome undefeated and stumbled out with their first lost. With today’s stunning upset, the Saints are now 13-2.

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