Longing

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,and in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:1-8

JW: My favorite Psalm. I have memorized nearly all of this chapter because it answers so much. Our souls long for something to complete us. We see this as we search for relationships, drink excessively, or buy things we don't need. We are constantly searching. But there is a difference between satisfying our soul with God and satisfying our soul with other things. God fills. Substitutes leave us empty.

A Good Spider

From: E.B. White (1952). Charlotte's Web Last Day- Harper Collins Publishers, NY

Reasons Not To Write...

1. I need to make a phone call.

2. A nap is safer.

3. My carpel tunnel is hurting - really.

4. Now I have "tennis elbow".

5. Have you seen my read pile?

6. I need a new computer.

7. I've never liked criticism.

8. I need to visit my blogger friends.

9. I need to decide what to be when I grow up.

10. But the biggest and bestest (hey does that word hurt you like it does me?) reason not to write is because- Who do I think I am -trying to put sentences together for a story- an Agatha Christie?

There will always be reasons why you could stop working toward your dream. There will always be people who will try to determine your worth. But, if you feel like quitting. S.T.O.P. IT.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded." Hebrews 10:35 (NIV)
Whether you are trying to write a book, paint a portrait, ride a horse, go back to school, start over or kick the habit... you must keep building on your dream.

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
And the only way to build on your dream is to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, paint to canvas, butt to saddle, or feet to flight.

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV)

Are you discouraged? Does your task seem too big? Wednesday's inspired is to encourage you to continue to build on your dream. Don't ever give up!

When you are discouraged, what do you do to get back on track?

Tuesday's Ten

I want you to know that I feel sorry for Tuesday and that is why I am encouraging her to do something good for mankind or JW-kind. Tuesday is often overlooked but quietly (or not so quietly) rebels, as you can see from her photo. She goes to extremes to be noticed. She didn't even consider that this photo could end up on a social network page- somewhere. So, I "think" I'm going to try out a new series to help her out... because (shh) Tuesday is a bit bland...a smidgen boring. I am giving Tuesday Girl a purpose and so begins my Tuesday Ten.

But first let's talk a minute about Tuesday's sisters.

We all know Monday... way too well. She has her own following - because she is pushy and self centered always forcing fun-loving people back to work. We love to hate Monday. Or is it just me?

Wednesday is a sweet girl and often loved because she is the middle of week and gently or not so gently pushes us toward Friday. It doesn't matter how she pushes, we just love that she cares enough to push. Wednesday inspires me.

Then there is Thursday who frankly is overlooked because of her well liked sisters Wednesday and Friday. Thursday flies under the radar and I don't know her very well.

But, Friday...lovely... beautiful ... my favorite child- Friday. Do I need to say more? I welcome Friday with open arms...with love in my heart. (Oh, and I may have called Friday a brother at one time- sorry. I changed my mind)

There is also Saturday and Sunday. We will talk about those girls another day.

Now it's Tuesdays turn to shine. Oh and would someone tell her to return my girdle and black hose. She can keep the veil. Poor thing.

Each week Tuesday will share with you 10 things that I've learned in life (since she has not a life of her own). That is...unless I stop learning...or stop caring about what I have learned... or find something new to distract me. My attention span is that of a two-year-old.

You need to know this about me.

So here's to you, Tuesday. I hope you will feel better soon with your new purpose.

Let's begin with this wonderful quote which hints to my first list.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving


Here are 10 things I have learned about being a mom:

1. No matter how hard you try to protect your children they will fall ...they will skin their knees.

2. You will, at some point, hear your parents' words come out of your mouth. You will stop and ask "who said that"?

3. You can spend hundreds of dollars on the latest toys, but all your child really wants is the cardboard box the toy came in...and time with you.

4. You can never say I love you too much.

5. You can't totally appreciate your own parents until you have children.

6. Your children will never be totally paid back for the transgressions of their youth... until they have their own children. Then you can grin.

7. You don't realize how much money you actually make until your children stop dollaring you to death and how much you have spent on those dollaring moments.

8. Oh and there's no way your children can ever make enough money to pay you back.

9. I have learned I don't have to be as sad as my saddest child, but I usually am.

10. I would do it all over again, being a mom with the same kids.

Do you want to hear one of my brilliant quotes said to my children as they were growing up?When they were not being nice to each other...or me I would say, "Keep your uglies in your diaper". Yes it has lost its impact as they have moved into adulthood, but I still use it from time to time.

Wow I just realized that my quote could come back to bite me. I'm just saying. What if there are diapers in my future?

What do you think is Tuesday's problem? Is it me? Is it her birth order?

On Monday...

I will ramble again. It will equip me for my rocking chair days. I need the practice. No? You don't think so? You think I am all practiced up?

On Awards
I am honored once again to receive a nice award You Are My Sunshine Supportive Comment Award from Lee at Tossing it out. Go visit his blog for a wonderful treat of good writing on various subjects. The YAMSSCA award is for those bloggers "who lovingly follow and comment upon other blogs to give relevant feedback and encouragement". What a great thing! Again I will award my awards to others on one wild Bloggywood Night of Awards (that may last into the next day) coming up. However, I hear my grass growing and should do this before spring hits me in the face. Because frankly once I get rid of this weather here in MO, I will probably forget about my computer and hit the outdoors. Thank you so much, Lee, for this award.

On the Doctor
Remember the doctor who looks like my brother and is 12 and this bothers me? It's not because I dislike my brother - no quite the opposite- he's my favorite brother (ok my only brother). And I am not putting down Dr. people who look like they are twelve (sorry Dr. Daughter, I know you face this bias regularly). It's just the combo -well- leaves me wanting to find another doctor.

But, I paid him another visit.

The reason I went to the doctor is because my right arm hurts. I was told, I have tennis elbow a.k.a. golfer's elbow. There is also a medical term for it, but why use it when you can say to me it's golfer's or tennis elbow. It has hurt for weeks. So painful. I am suppose to wear a brace thingy and take lots of Ibuprofen and ice it. Oh and not use my arm if it hurts. You know if it hurts, don't do that. Except, I am right handed and I do repetitive work all day. I can just hear the conversation as I remote into a machine, "Let me show you what you need to do, Joe, I'm taking the cursor." I say to my user, "Oh wait, that hurts -can't do it." Well that will never work.

The next step, if it doesn't heal, is a shot in the old elbow.

On Tenure
I am sure you have heard about the professor who shot her colleagues after learning she would not make tenure. I am pretty sure it was less about tenure and more about her unstable mental history.

I will keep my opinion on tenure to myself, but I will tell you about a professor in grad school who worried me. I liked her very much, but knew there were webs in her attic. She found out that she and a few others would not return to teaching after that semester right before our class that evening. I could tell something was wrong. She was more out of sorts than usual. That evening she began her lecturing and then one gal commented on something and the professor totally lost it accusing the class of trying to confuse her, of not being serious about the class and so on. We sat very quiet as she broke down and then called a break and left for awhile. We found out later she would be repositioned within the university and not teaching. After that, she got angry one other time out of the blue and started on a rant. I emailed the office about her actions. I mean I'm old enough to know people shoot for all kinds of reasons. I want to say that as a person, I really liked her. One thing I am certain of about her, when her mind was clear she was one of the best teacher/professors I have ever had for knowledge on a subject. She just kept losing her thoughts - not in little ways either. At some point during that semester she accepted her new position with grace and some positive anticipation.

On Writing

Writings in Progress:

• An essay - article. I am nearly finished and will query a MO magazine soon.
• Short Story - working title -The Desert- no plans for it.
• Outline finished for novel: When the Keepers of the House Tremble - I am having a brain block. I have the first chapter and a part of a second chapter, and I think I could write the last chapter, but the rest is not coming easily. I am more of a SS writer and this may be my problem. So, I'm going to try and think of each chapter as a short story. Plus, I like to do things in order and writing the chapters out of order is killing me. But I need to get it flowing.

Stay tuned for tomorrow - there's a new girl in town...and Tuesday is her name.

That's all folks. I am like the weather here in MO land, same-o same-o and boring. But, I have to blog no matter how boring I am.

So...what do you want to talk about? Talk to me.

Who of You by Worrying can ....

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)


JW thoughts: The scriptures above are not an excuse to be a deadbeat, but instead provides empowerment for the worrying soul. If you know the truth about your worry, you can set it free. Use logic. Be a detective and find out where that nagging feeling originated. What is the worry? Was it a story you identified with? Was it another person's insecurity? Worry comes to the mind in a very natural way -through emotional response (my opinion). But as the scripture above reads, if we worry are we adding hours to our day or solutions to our problems (my paraphrase)? Absolutely not. I can testify that my worrying has never ever benefited me or changed my circumstances for the better- not once. Worries are often unrealistic thoughts (which appear to be sound) that enter your mind then intrude upon your emotions and break down your security. The only way to push aside worry is to do just that, think of something else. Have you ever noticed how a nagging thought can turn into a full blown worry? Instead of listening to doubt and worry, listen to your common sense. You have it. Use it.

 

Fallen

In a crumpled pile they lay together- on the pavement- in the parking lot. The door of the grocery store was less than 50 feet away. First he'd tripped. Then she had fallen over him. She tried to stand to help her 86-year-old husband to his feet, but he was too tall. She was too small. And his legs were twisted from arthritis. He couldn't stand up on his own- not from the ground.

They hadn't always been this old.

When they met he had been 17 and she -16 - at a pie supper. She had made an apple pie and had taken it to the schoolhouse where the young men of the community would bid on pies. It was a cultural thing, a country expectation. She didn't want to go, but her mother had insisted. She was 16 after all and time was running out for marriage proposals. She could find suitors there. Young girls did. Young men would pay for the pies from the anonymous bakers all the while hoping the one they bought would be the girl they liked. The highest bidder would win the pie. The girl would be revealed and the two would eat the pie together. It was a ritual of meeting; a dance of the young in a different time.

He fell in love on that very night.

She fell in love two years later after they had married.

They fell for the house they bought.

Their four children fell regularly and often needed their help... to get back on their feet.

He had fallen from grace when he left her for another.

She had fallen again for his brown eyes and took him back.

After a year...or two...they fell even deeper in love- all over again.

She fell into a new job.

He fell out of a job he’d had for 25 years.

She fell into sickness- with cancer.

He had taken care of her and had fallen to his knees in prayer. Many times.

Now they had fallen to the ground together.

Then a woman and her adult daughter appeared out of nowhere to help them.

"My man fell and I tripped over him," the older woman said, "I can't get him up. I don't have the strength."

The other woman knelt with her daughter and they tried to lift him. But, it was too difficult. He was too heavy for the two of them.

They needed to call 911.

Then, another woman with blond curly hair appeared. She was smaller than the first two women, but...she was younger- not by much, but enough. "Let me help you." She knelt to the ground and scooped her arm through one of his. The other two women did the same with his other arm. Gently, they pulled him to his twisted feet. "Are you ok?" The blond woman said first to the man and then to the wife.

"Yes, I think so. I was helping him into the store and then he tripped and down he went and- he took me down too," she laughed gently, "I shouldn't have brought him out without help. I don't know what I was thinking."

The man said nothing. He didn't seem to be able to. He just grinned.

"Do you need a chair for him?"

"No, I'm taking him home," the woman said, "I shouldn't have brought him here, he's too weak. I thought it would be good for him, for me, to get out of the house. I shouldn't have. I'm taking him back home."

"Why don't you go get your car," the blond lady said, "We'll help you get him in.”

The older woman walked to a car only 10 feet away and- fell in. The others could see her resting her head on the steering wheel. Then she started the car, backed it out and pulled in next to her husband.

A fourth woman, who had joined the group, opened the car door and held it while the others helped the elderly man in the car. He never spoke. Not one word. He just smiled.

"Thank you - all of you for your help. I couldn't have gotten him back on his feet by myself," she said, "We weren't always this old." Again she laughed - a nervous laugh.

The fourth woman closed the door. Take care and good luck was said. They all waved and watched the car disappear into traffic.


(True event, but back story imagined with a few details.)

Frogs and Worry

I loved biology in high school. Loved it. I loved the information. I read all the chapters. I got it...biology. Oh and I had a crush on the teacher who was also a coach. I was 15 or 16 and that would have made him um...25 or 26. (Why do you need to know this?)

That biology room was filled with lots of testosterone - male basketball players. I sat in the front row on the far end next to my buddy -one of the basketball players. It was a large class...a great class - except for the dread in my heart, the nightmare in my mind- the pending disaster in my soul.

We.would. have. to. dissect. a. frog- fourth quarter.

I had heard that the frogs for biology would be alive and we would have to kill them and then dissect them.

This hurt me on so many levels:

1. It made me absolutely sick at my stomach thinking about it. (You see, my friends, if I see a bug in the floor upon arising, I am in a spew mode the rest of the morning. Truth.)

2. I love dogs, cats, mice, birds, snakes, and frogs.

3. Pain literally shoots through my arms when I see someone's paper cut. How would I ever be able to cut on a frog?

4. I would probably burst out crying if I thought the frogs were suffering. How would that look to the macho coach like- hunk of a teacher?

So I worried.

Then the day arrive, the end of third quarter, when we would be assigned a lab partner. Coach leaned on the edge of his desk and slowly said, "This class will not be dissecting frogs this semester. Your class is too big."

Some clapped.

Some groaned.

I was singing happily inside my head. But on the outside, I kept it cool (it was the 70's after all) -except for the smirky grin on my face.

"What are you grinning at, Teresa?" Coach also grinned as he picked me out of the crowd.

"I'm just happy, Coach," I said, "Happy our class is so big."

Isn't it funny how what you dread or even fret about will 9 times out of 10 -never come true?

Worrying is a waste of our time. And I have never had one thing change for the better or worse because I worried about it.

Did you know that worry- anxiety burdens the soul and harms our health?

An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up (Proverbs 12:25, NIV)

Did you know that you gain nothing from worrying?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27, NIV)

Oh and by the way- much much later after that class -I dated the coach (a very good man) for a short time. But, I just couldn't get past our history you know- the authority figure. Yes, I need therapy.

Will you join me to be Wednesday inspired by worrying less and by being faithful more? Let's leave the worrying to the...frogs.


 

Monday of Ramblings

If you like Monday morning rambling...then I am the girl for you today.

Snow anyone? Free. I will ship it to you in plastic bags. Postage paid. Is that legal? The episode in the picture thankfully has ended. But just about every day this past week we had flurries. Last night I heard on the news that the flurries had turned to blizzard like conditions and there were slip offs -the road.

"Spring, can you hear me? Please call if you hear me. ok?"

Love

Love- is a deep subject, don't you agree? Millions of dollars are spent every year capitalizing on love. You don't have to be a Romeo or a Juliet to appreciate love. So here are my thoughts on love that won't cost you a thing:

1. Love the one you are with. That greener grass will also fade and die.
2. Respect the ones you love. The people you love need respect. That means you don't ridicule them, their job, their hobbies, or their looks. And -speak to those loved ones with kindness.
3. Remember YOUR happiness should not be attached to loving someone. Not a child. Not a friend. Not a spouse. Do you see where I am going with this? Happiness is inside you - not attached to someone!
4. If you compliment your coworkers, compliment your family. You love them don't you? Johnny, what a good job you did taking out the trash for mom. Honey, you look good in that blouse. See how easy that is? Criticism can kill love.
5. Laugh with (not at) your loved ones. We laugh so much in my family. In fact, sometimes we laugh so much it makes our stomachs hurt (my sister says). Of course, we all think we are comedians and are planning to go on the road with our act...soon.


On Writing

I get so much good advice and direction from the writers I know in Blogland. This week, I realized that I overuse some words. I get in a habit.

Words that I probably used way too much last week:

1. Wigging or Wigged: Are you wigging out on me? She wigged about it. (Not suppose to use it that way? huh)
2. No, Nope, No way: Will you do xyz like yesterday? Me- No way, Will you do it today? Me-Nope, Can you do xyz next week? Me- No. I used "no" too much last week at work. Maybe they won't fire me if I promise not to say no this week.

Just like we may overuse words or phrases in conversation, we can also do that in our writing. And we may not realize it while we are writing. That's why putting aside your writing for a period of time will be helpful. Devon at Ink in my coffee told me that she rarely edits her writing until the first draft is done. It would be a distraction for her (my words). She puts it "away for 2 weeks to 2 months". When writing, I don't see the repeated words or phrases until I step away for a while. Good advice.


In My DVD Player

I am not a good review writer. So, I will leave that to the bloggers that have a talent for this, but I will tell you what I watched this weekend, The Secret Lives of Bees. It was based on a best selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd- same name. I haven't read the book.

The movie is set in the south in the 1960's. There is tension, of course, between white people and the African American people. The tension was not as harsh as I have seen in other movies, though. A white teenage girl gets tired of her abusive father and takes their cook (Jennifer Hudson) on a journey to find herself and to learn about her dead mom (of whom she killed when she was four) in the midst of a family of African American sisters...oh who are beekeepers.

I liked the movie. I think it is worth watching, but I didn't come away saying -Wow. But, I thought it was a good story. Here's what I didn't like. I thought they could have left out the little girl's story and concentrated more on the sisters. They were more interesting. Second, I think Alecia Keys needs to stick to singing. I didn't like her acting. I love her singing. Another problem I had was how the town let the sister family do their own thing without - you know much tension. Would that have been true to life then? So...

I liked the movie- ok. I bet the book was better.


Noteworthy quote for the week: "Who, being loved, is poor?" ~Oscar Wilde

Noteworthy scripture for the week: "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." Philippians 1:9 (NIV)



Your question for today: Do you have a phrase or a word that you overuse? Or...or one that is used by someone else that drives you bonkers? AND no fair using me as example...or I will wig out.


Source of quote: Quote Garden

Perfect Love

Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

JW says: Now that is perfect love. And with love like that - for God and for each other- how can we ever go wrong?

Love Day- Weekend

Love and Friendship by Emily Bronte

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.

At Seventeen...

At seventeen I was beginning the end of my high school years. I was thinking and dreaming and hoping. I was experiencing... seventeen.

At seventeen:

I was making most of my own clothes.

I was wearing a size 7 1/2 shoe.

I was thinking I wanted to be prettier.

I was weighing in at barely 110 pounds.

I was learning darkroom photography.

I was taking Algebra and Bookkeeping (What was I thinking?).

I was strumming my guitar.

I was playing in a band.

I was taming my frizzy hair.

I was sleeping on humongous hair rollers.

I was dreaming of lasting love.

I was spending all my time with friends.

I was collecting signatures.

I was being nice to my brother and sister.

I was looking intently at my parents' faces.

I was longing to go to college.

I was driving my Mustang.

I was enjoying my life.

I was going to church, then...

I was drinking too much, then... I stopped cold turkey...just stopped.

I knew I was in trouble.

I was trying figure out who I was and who I would become.

I was trying to find out where I should go...what I should do.

Seventeen is a wonderful age.

Seventeen is a vulnerable age.

What were you doing at seventeen?

Change

We had a good time that evening my two grandsons, granddaughter and me. We had pigged out on pizza and hot dogs (yes I can) and we painted by numbers. We talked, made pipe cleaner animals, watched Scooby Doo and then I took them home.

On the journey home, the middle child who was seven at the time said, "I don't like change. I don't want anything to change."

We all got very quiet at the sound of his mournful voice. "What do you mean?" I looked at him in the rear view mirror.

"Why do things have to change? I want everything to stay the same." My little man was sad.

"Everything has to change. It can't stay the same. That's the way it is," his older brother wise for his 9-year-old brain said.

There was a bit of soul searching silence again as we all processed the information.

"I don't want to grow up, I want to stay little."

"That would be silly if you never grew up. You don't want to stay little forever," oldest brother said.

"Yes, I do." His troubled little voice echoed in the darkness of the car.

My D-I-L and I thought this distressed outburst might have come from middle child's grandfather (her stepdad) being very ill and in the hospital. The two are very close.

Do you like change? Do you wish things would stay the same?

Last Sunday I heard this statement: "If we don't change, we don't grow."

That's interesting to me...two choices. I can embrace change or at least accept it and grow or remain in the safety of a non-changing world (if even that were possible and it's not) and perhaps become stagnant.

I always say there is one thing you can count on and that is change.

I also say no matter what year, what generation or what trials and troubles slap you in the face- God never changes. He just doesn't. Why would he? He is God.

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Psalm 90:2 (NIV)

When everything is changing around me and to me, I find comfort in knowing that God is established...you know solid. We, however, should grow with the changes since we have much to learn.

Change and Grow? Remain become stagnant? What do you think?

Mundane Day a.k.a Monday

Mason Canyon from Thoughts in Progress has given me an award. Thank you so much. If you like books, if you like reading, if you like writing, if you like pretty then you must visit her blog. Her blog is VERY pretty. I am to mention her and then answer the following questions. I will pass on the award at a later date. Remember- my awards night...gown and black tie?

Questions:
Your Hair? - Curly
Your Favorite Food? - Chocolate
Your Hobby? - Many
Your Fear? - Spiders
Something You Aren't? -Successful
Where Did You Grow Up? - Missouri/Illinois
Your Life? - Good
Your Mood? - Monday
Your Favorite Color? - All


Why would anyone think killing parts of his or her family would be ok?

We have recently seen tragedy in Southern MO. Sometimes it is difficult to wrap your brain around such things.

A couple of weeks ago in a city to the east of me, a man allegedly tried to set up an employee to look like he had killed the man's wife. Don't know what went wrong with plan- if there was one. But the wife was brutally murdered and their 10-year-old son (I think that's his age) too by the husband and father. Only a younger son (still asleep) survived, if indeed you would want to call finding your mother murdered...surviving. The man was found in a nearby quarry. Apparently, he somehow shot himself while driving over the edge and into the water. Wow!

A couple of days ago - south, a man called the police and said two men with ski masks had broken into his home beat him up and then kidnapped their 8 month old baby boy. He had been unconscious then woke and called the police. Is anyone else ever suspicious of the ski mask thing? Why do people use this in their fake attacks. If they do, I get suspicious. Law enforcement searched everywhere for the little baby. Finally, the man told the police where the baby was located...and he was dead.

I don't understand.



My Mom
I had the best one hour phone call with my mom last week. You all know how I feel about her. If I have been a good mom, she is my source of inspiration. We don't live too far from each other and see each regularly, so I don't know why I talk so fast and hard when we talk on the phone.

During the conversation, she told me two things about my grandparents that I didn't know, that made me cry after we hung up ...not a delicate little cry but a blubbering- oh so ugly- cry.

First of all, I knew that my grandparents were way over the top in love with me when we lived with them for my first six months. This is not new information. What is new is that after we moved to Joliet, my grandparents grieved over me. One day, after returning to the house from milking, my grandpa said, "Sadie, we've lost our baby." They cried. They cried with broken hearts. (sigh) Also, I didn't know that my grandfather died two weeks after we moved. My grandma told me one time that grandpa died of a broken heart. I am pretty sure his heart disease was a huge factor, too.

Quote of the Week: "Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." Author Unknown

Scripture of the Week: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)


Do you have a favorite quote or scripture?

For This Reason...

...since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)

Life is...

Seasons.

Born.
Live.
Love.
Hope.


Push.

Grow.
Leave.
Fly.

Give.
Take.
Dream.
Build.





Weep.
Sad.
Laugh.
Glad.

Stay.
Leave.
Return.
Cleave.

Pain.
Heal.
Scarred.
Feel.

Begin.
Encouraged.
Conclude.
Discouraged.


The End or Evermore.

******

They Still Love Me...

...or so they say, those children of mine.

I visit so many great blogs with different and wonderful purposes. One such blog is Cop Mama. I believe CM's blog has a great purpose... a ministry if you will...where moms get together and talk. Today, instead of my Monday Ramblings I am linking to her Monday post called Mama Guilt Mondays. If you are a mom and you've ever felt guilty over motherhood, check her out.

Although, my children are grown and I don't have much advice to offer mothers with young children, I will confess two terribly stupid mom moments of mine when my children were little. I still beat myself up for saying them.

Here goes:

My son is the oldest of my two children. Being the oldest child well...you are the experimental child. Parents try every parenting method on you. It is a well known fact. He was energetic, as he should have been. One day when he was about three years old, he had been misbehaving -extra and on my last nerve. Frankly, I was at my wits end. I finally grabbed him, pulled him close to my face and said "If you don't stop acting badly, I am going to take you to (insert grocery store name) and leave you." He cried. Not a little cry. He cried a big crushing cry with huge crocodile tears. I'm sorry!

I laugh about it now, but the memory can still bring tears to my eyes and daggers to my heart. I said for years he should have been removed from our home for that one.

My daughter is the baby of the family. She really never got in trouble. But, I still worried about a couple of behaviors. For one as a small child, she acted as if she and I were joined at the hip and would tell me every little move she was going to make before she made it. I was very glad that both of my kids read much of the time. My daughter, though, read (it seemed like 24/7) and instead of going out to play many times she would read. I had a hard time keeping her in books, let me say. So one day, my idiot mouth guided by a clearly malfunctioning brain said, "Would you stop reading so much and go watch TV?" I'm sorry!

Huh? The minute I heard those words come from my mouth, I realized what a stupid request I had just made. I remember after I said it, I just kept on walking hoping the entire episode would never be mentioned again. She returned to her reading.

Did you know that all parents are imperfect? No matter how much we try we will probably feel guilty about something we did or did not do regarding our children. It's good to confess it to another. Why? Because...we are all in the same boat and we don't always know it.

Years later.

Kids grown.

They survived.

They still love me.

Monday Ramblings will return next week.