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Show 1 "Page Four, Section Two - The Springville Herald - December 25, 2003 fe mud M mm Phyllis wasn't an easy :hild to love. I wanted the best for her and I prayed for God to bless her, but sometimes some-times I did wish she wasn't in the particular Sunday School :lass I taught. Phyllis had stringy hair, dirty fingernails and a runny nose. She kept apart from the rest of the children and she walked with a sort of stomp. Besides that, she never sat ;till, she hated to be touched and she always had to have the last word. I was 20 years old and that year I supervised my first Christmas program at the big old stone church, on Chicago's West Side. Early in Advent, I held the typed pages of the Nativity script in my hand as I stood before the assembled children. . "If you'd like a speaking part in the program, raise your hand," said, and almost ;very hand shot up. Not Phyllis' Phyl-lis' of course. "Phyllis," I said, "wouldn't you like to be in the program.'' "Who said I was coming to your program?" she asked, arms folded across her chest and chair tipped precariously an its back legs. "I'm probably prob-ably going to a party that night," she said grandly. Lord, I prayed silently, please help me to love Phyl-lis. Phyl-lis. ' "Well, I do have a few more parts if you change your mind." "I won't," said Phyllis, and she didn't. On dress rehearsal afternoon after-noon the children sat in the front pews whispering as the adults put the final touches on the bath-towel headdresses of the shepherds and the tinsel tialos of the angels. " Okay , take your places , " called from the back of the sanctuary. The reader began "In those days a decree went aut..." "Mary doesn't act like she gonna have a baby," muttered a husky little voice behind me. "Phyllis might not have any desire to be in the program, but she wouldn't miss the rehearsal! "Shhhhh!" I whispered, reaching to pay Phyllis' hand. She jerked it away, saying, "Okay! Okay!" cy If J Deck The Halb! We're truly grateful for your loyal support and wish you all the trimmings of a joyous and memorable holiday season. fi. HERBSMP n '11 Springville Have a In the last scene, only a spotlight shone on the Holy family, and the children hummed "Silent Night." It was beautiful-but who was that moving in front of the manager? "Phyllis," I called, "what are you doing up there?" "I'm just looking," she said. "Besides, its not a baby. It's just a doll. I felt Lord, please help me love Phyllis. "All right," I said to the cast. "Everyone be here at six-thirty tonight so that you'll be ready to start promptly at seven." By 6:45 the air was bristling with excitement backstage. Just a minute before be-fore seven, Mrs. Wright entered. en-tered. She held her tiny new baby. He would replace the doll we'd used in the rehearsals. rehears-als. "He's just been fed," she said, "so he should sleep during dur-ing the program." As the organ chimed, I took my prompter's seat in the front pew. With the opening open-ing strains of "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night," the lights came up and the narrator narra-tor began. But instead of the familiar shiver as I heard the beginning of the Christmas Scripture, I felt something bump my knee and give a little shove. "Move over," muttered an all-too-familiar voice. "I decided not to go to the party." Not taking my eyes from the drama unfolding up front, I moved over and reached out to pat Phyllis' knee. She flung my hand back into my lap. I'm trying, Lord, I thought. The angels sang. The 4V - 4UU a . - o & Holiday Mountain Hospital MOUNTAINSTAR HEALTHCARE 1000 East 100 North Payson, UT 465-7000 www.mvhpayson.com shepherds went to Bethlehem. The wisemen went to see Herod and then to the stable. And Mary sat there "pondering "ponder-ing these things in her heart." Phyllis sat beside me so quietly qui-etly that I forgot all about her, and when I realized she was gone it was too late. She stomped her way right up to the manager, just as she had done during the rehearsal. But this time she stiffened, awestruck, then turned, and came hurrying back to me. "He's alive!" she said to me in a penetrating whisper. Across the aisle, someone asked, "What did she say?" "She said, 'He's alive!'" Like ripples in a pond, the word passed from pew to pew, all the way to the back of the sanctuary. "He's Holiday crunch time Even though the hysteria of the after Thanksgiving sales has long been forgotten and the dread of last minute purchases for Christmas is past, those who do all their holiday shopping at the last minute often end up spending spend-ing more than they orginally planned. "The holidays come around at the same time every year and somehow people still get surprised and wait until me last minute to do all of their holiday shopping," said Steve Rhode, president and co-founder of Myvesta.org, a nonprofit consumer education organization. "When people rush around at the last minute tyring to pick up gifts for everyone on their list, they don't have time to shop around to check out different dif-ferent stores. They run into the mall, pick the first thing they find and move on to the next person. That's a recipe for holiday debt," he said. If you need to pick up last minute gifts for your loved ones this year, these tips could help your dollars go further. Use the Internet for research. re-search. Even though' the shipping ship-ping deadlines for many online retailers might have passes, you can still use the Internet to do research and compare prices. Some online stores that also have physical locations will allow you to browse and buy online then pick up the item at the store. Put some creativity into your gifts. Making large batches of cookies, soup mix or other homemade goodies can take care of a large number num-ber of gifts and save you big bucks. Give gift certificates. When giving a gift certificate you get to pick the exact amount you spend and you Season View V alive... alive... alive. " The air grew electric as one by one the people in the congregation felt the living presence of the Baby in Bethlehem. Here was the real reason we all were celebrating. He's alive! Emmanuel-God with us, God incarnate. A tough, unruly little girl had brought the Christmas message home. God is alive! The lights came up and when we stood to sing "Joy to the World! The Lord Is Come," the sound rocked our big old church as never before. I put my arm around Phyllis' tight little shoulders. "You were the best part of the program," I said into her ear, drawing her close to my side. "I wasn't in your program" pro-gram" she . said. But she didn't push me away. never have to worry if the recipient re-cipient will like she gift of if it will fit. You'll also save time by not wandering through the mall looking for that perfect gift. "As you're finalizing all of your hoiliday purchases each year, take some notes about what you are buying and how much you're spending," Rhode said. "That information is great for planning and the next holiday season is only a year away." We'd like to chime in with a round of thanks for all of those who've helped make our year a resounding success. Have a great holiday! According to analysts at Utah Issues, the Center for Poverty Research and Action, Governor Olene Walker's budget recommendations for fiscal year 2005 contain mostly good news for Utah's low-income families. "In her proposed budget, Gov. Walker exemplifies the principles and solid commitments com-mitments that are needed to help low-income families participate in Utah's economic recovery," said Bill Crim, executive ex-ecutive director. "The governor . must be commended for addressing many low-income priority areas like housing, general assistance, as-sistance, child care, Medicaid caseload growth and the HIP pool for uninsurable uninsur-able Utahns, while showing admirable fiscal restraint and ingenuity on revenue sources," sourc-es," Low-income advocates also appreciate Walker's frankness about the hot spots she desperately wanted to restore but could not, namely adult dental and vision services ser-vices and the FACT program. "In owning these gaps up front, Walker presents a challenge chal-lenge to our legislature who understand the importance of these programs both to hardworking hard-working low-income families and to Utah's long-term economic eco-nomic recovery," said Judi Hilman, research director. "We are excited to see Walker's $10 million allocation alloca-tion for preserving project-based project-based section 8 housing assistance," assis-tance," said Sarah Wilhelm, housing and fiscal analyst. "This will go a long way to sustaining affordable housing options for low-income families." fami-lies." The new budget does not restore cuts made to the Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund during the last legislative session. ses-sion. In 2004 Funding for the trust fund was cut by $342,000 to $1,761,400. funding for the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund was maintained at current levels. Walker's budget makes a promising start for Medicaid and other critical health programs pro-grams by fully funding caseload case-load growth and increasing funding by $10 million for the HIP or high-risk pool for uninsurable un-insurable Utahns. Her health budget is sensible for asking to continue the development of the preferred drug list, the best tool for limiting Medicaid costs over the long term. The question is asked if most private insurance companies compa-nies have preferred drug lists or formularies, why shouldn't Medicaid? "We are quite pleased that Walker could keep the General Assistance program afloat for another year. She proposes to allocate $2.4 million in onetime one-time funding to the programm most of which would temporarily tempo-rarily fill the hole created by a cut to the program last year," said Tim Shultz, Welfare and Work Supports analyst. This funding will keep about 450 peole from becoming becom-ing homeless or having to forego critical medications, and create a small buffer to keep up with caseload growth. However, in order to keep the program viable in the long-term, long-term, the base budget should be restored by making the onetime one-time funding permanent. Walker also would make an important investmant in child care, restoring $1 million mil-lion of permanent funding out of about $3.5 million that was cut in 2002. "This is a critical step towards fixing some structural problems within the assisted child care program and in preparing for a likely increase in costs assiciated with welfare wel-fare reauthorization," adds Shultz. i |