Through Dec. 31, Mercy Health System’s Rogers Medical Center is offering a discounted package of four laser treatments for only $200. Priced individually, these services would total up to $500. The visits take about 40 minutes with no down time afterward.

Here are the four treatments:

• Visia camera — a picture with this camera will show the condition of your skin below the surface, identifying sun damag, future age spots, broken blood vessels and pore size. We wrote about it last week HERE.
• Microdermabrasion — sloughs off dead skin and cleans out blackheads and pores.
• Aura Laser — shrinks pores, lessens rosacea and evens out skin tone.
• Bonus Treatment — eliminates broken blood vessels on your face.

To schedule your appointment, call 479-338-5555 or stop by Rogers Medical Center and ask for the Holiday Laser Special. Face the New Year with a smile!

It just doesn’t feel like Christmas until you’re able to sit down with a big bowl of popcorn and watch A Christmas Carol on television. Well, this year, how about seeing Scrooge and Tiny Tim live and in person? The University Theatre and Walton Arts Center are bringing this Christmas classic to the stage! We’ve got four tickets (plus concessions coupons!) to give away to one lucky NWA family, so say “Pick me!” instead of “Bah Humbug!”

This one-of-a-kind University Theatre production, best for ages 6 and up, features UA actors and local children and is filled with dancing and an original score.

A Christmas Carol tells the story of a miserly old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who believes that Christmas is just an excuse for people to miss work. The performance includes seven major characters including the three ghosts who visit Scrooge at night before Christmas. The three ghosts show Scrooge the error of his “money-over-people” attitude, just in time for Scrooge to realize his faults and promise to change his ways. The ghosts will be portrayed by life-size puppets designed by Patricia J. Martin, University of Arkansas Professor. Each ghost is operated by one or two actors.

The cast members consist of 30 individuals, including 11 children ranging in ages 8-12. Director Michael Landman says, “This is a tale of communing with others, finding the joy of sharing, and the deep importance of family and friends. The kids are essential to telling that story. And, of course, they’re adorable.” In fact, several local children and adults were are in the play.

How to enter: You’ve only got until Tuesday night to win this one! Just comment on this post or send us an -email (mamas@nwaMotherlode.com) and we’ll choose a winner at random Tuesday evening. We’ve got to move fast since the show is over the coming weekend.

Co-produced by the Walton Arts Center, the show will feature four public performances (you get to pick the date and time your family would like to go): Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $14-$22 and are available by calling the Walton Arts Center at 479-443-5600 or online at waltonartscenter.org.

By Jackie Helton, the Music Mama

Can you believe we saw a little snow around here yesterday? It’s definitely “beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” So, in honor of the season, here’s a great new playlist of fun Christmas tunes to load on your iPod and enjoy through the holidays. If we missed your favorite Christmas song, let us know by clicking the comment button (lower right) and posting your suggestion. Happy listening!

Holly, Jolly Christmas, by Burl Ives

Linus and Lucy, by Vince Guaraldi Trio (from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”)

Christmas Time is Here, by Vince Guaraldi Trio (from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”)

Little Saint Nick, by The Beach Boys

All I Want For Christmas is You, by Vince Vance and the Valiants (great song, but not the one you think it is)

Carol of the Bells, by Mannheim Steamroller

Santa Baby, by Eartha Kitt

White Christmas, by Bing Crosby

Winter Wonderland, by Tony Bennett

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, by Dean Martin

Santa Claus is Coming to Town, by Bruce Springstreen

This Christmas, by Christina Aguilera

Feliz Navidad, by Jose Feliciana

Mary, Did You Know, by Clay Aiken

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, by Michael Buble’

Blue Christmas, by Chris Isaak

Mele Kalikimaka, by Chris Isaak

Same Old Lang Syne, by Dan Fogelberg

Wonderful Christmas, by Paul McCartney

Happy Xmas, by John Lennon

Little Drummer Boy, by Faith Hill

All I Want for Christmas is You, by Mariah Carey (this is the one you think it is)

Believe, by Josh Groban (from “The Polar Express”)

Silent Night, by Sarah McLachlan

Oh, Holy Night, by John Berry

Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)

I’m writing this devotion on Tuesday, and I feel one thousand times better than I did yesterday. That’s because most preachers feel terrible on Monday. On Mondays I typically find myself fighting fatigue and a dark mood. Yesterday I told people the same thing that I always say on Monday: “I’ll feel better tomorrow, when Tuesday gets here, just by virtue of the fact that it won’t be Monday.”

I’ve asked a lot of pastors for their opinions, and the consensus is pretty much unanimous. Monday is a hard day for preachers. My brother-in-law, Dr. Ron M. Buck, told me when I entered the ministry that he thought a minister should take a different day besides Monday for his day off, because Monday is pretty much shot anyway. I asked Bro. C. E. Wall, one of my mentors who’s nearing the age of 80, what he thought of the situation. He told me that for many years he preached twice each Sunday and then went to work at the Highway Department bright and early Monday morning. He summed it up simply: “Oh, John, Mondays were rough. Tuesdays were always better, but Mondays were rough.”

I’m not sure why Mondays are so hard for preachers, but I have some theories. Most preachers work really hard on Sundays and are really happy on the Lord’s Day. As so often is the case, an emotional high is followed by an emotional low. Sometimes we get so wound up that it’s hard to get to sleep Sunday night. I like my friend Bro. Archie Taflinger’s idea the best. He believes that sometimes we probably don’t take care of ourselves the way we should on the other six days of the week. He says that when we preach on Sundays, the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. God is so much stronger than we are that our frail bodies are overworked by His presence! I think there’s more than a grain of truth in his explanation.

Everybody has a hard day now and again, and I think that’s especially true for mothers. God has placed mothers in a ministry that never ends and that never has a day off. Yet, one thing I have learned is absolutely true. When you’re tired and blue, it’s important not to focus on the way that you FEEL but on what you KNOW to be true. We walk by faith and not by sight. We are saved by our faith, not by our feelings. The promises that God told us in the light are still true in our darkness. And Jesus’ last promise to His children before He ascended into Heaven is this: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So, dear mother, take heart. The light of Jesus is always with you, even on the cloudiest Monday. And Tuesday always comes again, right in God’s perfect timing.

Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad” * (Sing that to the tune of “Secret Agent Man.” ) He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and is beginning his third decade of being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He and his lovely wife, Susan, and his sons, Spencer (age 17) and Seth (age 14) live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where Tuesday is always a better day.) You should drop him a line at extramailbox@juno.com.