Travel

My husband and I will be traveling tomorrow to go to Chicago. He has training he has to be a part of and I'll be staying with my Mom and visiting with family. I hate leaving our poor Baby behind, but he'll be taken care of while we're away. Even so, we'll miss him a lot. He's such a "baby". He tries to talk to me each night. He gets in front of me and wants me to pet him and if I don't pet him immediately, he does the "woo woo" song, that's typical of Boxers. It honestly seems like he's trying to say words! We can 't help but laugh and of course then he gets what he wants, to be petted and allowed to climb half-way up into our laps.

Well, it'll be good to be able to see my family again and visit with my Baby sister and my Brother. My Brother just returned from England so I'm anxious to hear all about his trip and see his pictures! I'll be swimming with my Sister in her pool and we'll watch some favorite movies together and maybe work on making some jewelry while I'm there. We both like making custom jewelry! Of course we'll go shopping also!! :) A favorite passtime of ours!

I may not add much to my Blog until I get back home next week. I intend to try to help my Mom get a Blog started of her own. I'm trying to encourage her to start putting down some of her memories about when she was younger and when she got married and they moved to Illinois and my Dad and Grandfather built our houses there.

Somthing to think about until I return!

Life

Life is a gift to be used every day,

Not to be smothered and hidden away;

It isn't a thing to be stored in the chest

Where you gather your keepsakes and treasure your best;

It isn't a joy to be sipped now and then

And promptly put back in a dark place again.

Life is a gift that the humblest may boast of

And one that the humblest may well make the most of.

Get out and live it each hour of the day,

Wear it and use it as much as you may;

Don't keep it in niches and corners and grooves,

You'll find that in service its beauty improves.

~~~Edgar A. Guest

God bless you and enjoy the week!

Sunday Mornings and You, Lord

Sunday Mornings! Don't you just love them? A time to refresh ourselves and a time to charge our spiritual batteries by spending some special time with the Lord.

Revelation 22:16 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."

I have two little books by Ruth Harms Calkin that I purchased many years ago while living in Indiana. I'm not sure if they're still available or not but I just love her simple and pure way of speaking to God as you would a friend, face to face over coffee. No pretenses, just purely open and honest conversation. The way it should be between God and us. Here's one I particularly like because it should be our daily desire as we go about our business either at home, the workplace or out in the world as we run errands.

May this be the prayer of each of us:

You who are

The Bright and Morning Star

Come in radiant splendor

And flood each shadowed crevice

Of my sullen heart

Until the world know

I've touched a Star.

Spending Time with the Grandchildren

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward." Ps. 127:3

The Summer Children by Edgar A. Guest

I like 'em in the winter when their cheeks are slightly pale,

I like 'em in the spring time when the March winds blow a gale;

But when summer suns have tanned 'em and they're racing to and fro,

I somehow think the children make the finest sort of show.

How many people think of children in this way? With child-abuse and neglect at epic proportions today, my guess would be not enough.

Every time I'm with my grandchildren they are such a delight! I love listening to the funny things they say at times and watching them express their feelings and thoughts. They're so emotional and dramatic in how they communicate things! And the energy they have! How many of us adults wouldn't give just about anything to have that kind of stamina, strength and tireless determination to learn to do something new again? Just watching them can make you tired!

My grandchildren are growing up so fast now that it's amazing to watch and kind of scary too! My 10 year old grandson is offering to "teach me" to make backgrounds and add things to a MySpace page! They have iTouch iPods and they're so technologically savvy it's frightening and yet thrilling! I know if I need help with anything I can just ask the grandkids because they are learning to do it all! :)

The other day I spent the afternoon at the pool with my granddaughter Aimee and she was trying to learn to dive. She practiced over and over again until she was finally getting it down. She was literally water-logged before we had to leave! I love listening to her laugh when she gets tickled about something! She's going through those crazy pre-teen periods where "the crazies" just grab hold of her and won't let go at times! She can either make you laugh until you almost cry or make you want to go and lock yourself in a closet until it passes. She's discovered the joy of reading now too and she's going through books like my middle daughter used to do and still does. We made a trip to the book store the other day and she found a few books by her favorite authors (Lauren Myracle and Nancy Krulik: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Lauren+Myracle and http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Nancy+Krulik) and she read them all in 2 days! Now she's without books again! So we made a trip yesterday to the downtown library and she found a few more that she wanted to read. It's a joy seeing my grandchildren learn to love reading! Reading is one of my passions also! I still love the children's books most! Sometimes I take more delight in reading them than the adult books. Children's Books are so delightful! The best part about being a Grandparent is that you get to read the "good" childhood books all over again!

Aimee has to start back to school now on August 4th! I couldn't believe they were going back so soon! That reminds me that these lazy, hazy days of summer are about to come to an end and I hate to see that more than anything! That also means that I'll have less time to spend with the grandchildren now as they'll have to be in bed earlier and they'll have homework that needs to be completed. It'll just be weekends now and not much more swimming left. That saddens me.

Yesterday, we got to spend some time with our grandson Daegan and his Cousin Collin and Grandpa asked them if they wanted to watch a movie he picked up at the library just to watch with them. (Grandpa really wanted to just sit in his easy chair and chill-out!) Of course, the boys being "BOYS" through and through, didn't much like the thought of sitting in a chair on a summer evening and watching a movie! ha ha! So Grandma, much to the delight of the boys and despair of Grandpa (because it meant he couldn't sit and relax all evening), asked the boys if they'd like to go find a parking lot or go downtown by the bridge and take their skateboards. Grandpa groaned at this thought. :) Of course this brought cheers and "I love you Grandma" from the boys. As Daegan says "Skateboarding is my life!!" So into the car we went with our travel mugs of coffee and Grandma's cameras and off to the parking lots we went to watch the boys do their fantastic tricks on the skateboards that made Grandma almost afraid to watch at times and made Grandpa ask the boys to "Please don't make me have to go to the Emergency Room tonight!"
We had a great time and Grandma got some terrific videos of which I've promised the boys I'd put on DVD for them so they can watch themselves and see what mistakes they made so they can improve their maneuvers.

After being downtown until the boys were both ready to drop over from exertion, we came home to make some sandwiches and have something to drink and get showers and wait for Mom to come and pick them up after she got back from her dinner date.

All in all, Grandma and Grandpa had a wonderful time watching our Grandkids and marveling at how fast they're growing and how much they're learning! The time goes by so fast and soon they'll be grown and have families of their own and very busy lives and these times of just being "kids" and having fun will be long gone and just a memory. But thank God for memories and time with our Grandkids that we'll be able to sit back and look back on for many years to come.

And God help the Mister.....

Sisters!!

There's an old song that goes: God help the Mister that comes between me and my Sister!

Have you ever thought how blessed we are to have Sisters (and Brothers)? I have many times. Coming from a large family (there were 6 of us altogether: 5 sisters and 1 brother). My Dad worked in a steel mill all his life to support us, and my Mom stayed home to take care of all of us, but back in the 50's things were a lot different (and harder) than they are today and wages weren't as high for sure. Having 6 children in the family and 6 mouths to feed, meant that we didn't have a lot of extra "things", but we sure had a lot of "FUN"! We slept together in one bed for a long time (3 or 4 of us) and we learned to make our own "fun" when we played outside. I can remember lying in bed at night when we were "supposed to be" going to sleep and whispering and telling stories and giggling until Mom finally had to threaten us with bodily injury if we didn't go to sleep! :) Of course there were the usual "spiffs" and arguments too. I remember one time in particular that one of my younger sisters came running home and told my mom breathlessly "I'm sorry to tell you this Mom, but Ellen is dead!!" Scared my Mom half to death until she found out they were having a fight and one was just telling what she thought would get the other into trouble I guess!! :) I'm sure my Mom could tell a lot of other stories too and I wish she'd write a blog with her memories! When we'd play outside, we could never say we didn't have anyone to play with! We used our imaginations and played outside all day long in the summertime. Our parents never had to worry about us either because we always used the "buddy system"! We were never alone! What a blessing!

I've often wondered why it is that I really can't stand to be alone now that I'm an adult and after thinking about it a lot, I realized that's because I never learned "how" to be alone when I was growing up. We had so much fun and shared so many good times together and now we all share wonderful memories and love for each other. I am so blessed to have such a close and loving family. It's amazing when I think about it in comparison to so many other families that you hear about that can't stand each other or are feuding or haven't talked in years. To this day we all remain a very strong and close-knit family. We share in each other's joys and hurts and sorrows. I think that is due to the fact that we had wonderful and strong parents and grandparents that taught us the value of caring for each other and loyalty. My Dad is gone now as are my grandparents but maybe one day soon I'll do a tribute entry to him and my grandparents: they're the foundations to our lives and who we really are.

My Mom is still living and is such a strong woman. In her 70's and she can still run circles around most of us!!

One thing is sure: God help the Mister that would try to come between me and my Sisters! I love them all!

Random Thoughts on Being a City Girl - Country Girl

I grew up in a rural area in an unincorporated part of northern Illinois. I loved running and playing outside all the time as a kid! We were outside from morning until night, literally! My Mom had to call us in because it was getting dark out. We'd lie in the grass during the day and watch the clouds go by and see how many different shapes we could imagine in them! When we had to come inside, at night, we'd lay out on the front porch and look up at the stars! We'd ride our bicycles all over the neighborhood and climb trees. Sometimes we'd walk down to the "creek" and dig for clams and pick huge bouquets of violets. Collecting butterflies was another fun thing we did, chasing them through the fields with a stocking net.

We loved looking for bird nests in the fields also and I can remember a type of grass that grew there that looked like it had sections to it. When you pulled on the sections, it would pop apart like the old-time "pop beads". Does anyone remember those? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In the summertime also, we'd have big family get-togethers and barbecues. My Grandmother would start preparing the food and everyone would help and we had a big barbecue pit that my dad built. There were picnic tables and we'd all sit in the shade and talk. Sometimes my Dad and some of his friends would get together and play music and sing. My Dad was great on the harmonica! I can still see them sitting on a picnic table and him playing the harmonica while someone else played a guitar. One of my other favorite memories were times in the summer when we'd open the house windows at night (we didn't have air conditioning!) and the soft summer breeze would blow in through a window and you could hear the sounds of the night. I especially loved listening to the crickets. I can remember another time when it had rained really hard and the ground was so muddy! My Mom made us wear our boots and we were walking over to my friend's house, and we got our feet stuck in the mud!! I mean really STUCK!! Trying to pull our feet out left our boots behind in that mud!! I can still remember my socks and feet being full of wet mud!

During the winter time, the wind would blow the snow across the yards and it would swirl and drift into huge mounds of snow and at night the moon would come out and it would sparkle like diamonds in the moonlight! It would get so cold that you could hear it crunch under your feet each step you took. My Mom had irises and daffodils growing all along the side of the house and they were so beautiful! I can remember running and do handstands up against the side of the house amidst the irises and looking down at them and smelling their beautiful fragrance. When it rained in the summertime, we didn't have any sidewalks and I can remember wishing we lived in a place that had sidewalks and vowing "someday" I'd live where there were sidewalks. I can still remember my Grandma walking across from her house to ours and it was so muddy that she put down boards and walked across the boards to get there without getting into the mud. Memories ..... and there are so many others.

Now we live in the city and although I love our house and sometimes the convenience of being so close to all the stores and shopping, etc., I dearly miss those summer nights and the winter snow sparkling in the moonlight. I miss the sounds of the crickets at night and the smell of freshly-cut grass. Now we hear the sounds of sirens and semi-trucks passing in front of our house every few minutes throughout the day and night. It's not unusual to be downtown and see a homeless person sitting on the side of the street or asking for some change. We have to have fences and locked gates now to keep things from being stolen from our yard and porch. We have a very small yard now and the houses are all sitting on top of each other it seems, and yet no one is ever at home, unlike when we were kids in the neighborhood and everyone's mom was at home during the day and everyone looked out for each other. Now it seems people have bigger houses but they're never in them to enjoy them. Progress. How much have we given up to have progress and bigger paychecks and more possessions? The really important things? Just my opinion but sometimes it seems so.

Learning From the Past

I Walked a Mile With Pleasure

by Robert Browning Hamilton

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;

But left me none the wiser,

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;

But, oh, the things I learned from her

When Sorrow walked with me!

Thinking back over my life and all the many things that have happened and that I've experienced, I truly have to say that I've grown more and learned more through the trying and hard times than I have in all the really fun and exciting times in my life. It's during the hard and sad times that I have had to draw closer to the Lord and to go inward more and really examine myself and my motives. These times are never "fun" by no means. In fact, if we were asked, I'm sure there isn't a person alive if given the choice, would choose sad or hard times for their lives. We avoid them like the plague! Who wouldn't choose fun and happy experiences over sad and hard ones? Yet why is it that we grow to be better persons and learn so much more through those hard times? On the other hand, we all treasure and hold onto the happy and fun things that we've experienced and treasure them as good memories, to revisit over and over again throughout our lives. Like a hidden treasure or precious gem, we cradle them and protect them and unwrap them whenever we want to or need to. But if we're really honest with ourselves, it's those really bad times that we look back on as learning experiences and times of real personal growth. Someone once said that it's the really bad storms that make a tree put down it's deepest roots that give it strength to withstand future storms. It's also been said that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". All wise words and very true.

Lord, help me to learn from the sad and hard times so that I'll grow to be a stronger person.

Memories

My granddaughter took this picture and I liked it so much because it makes me think of slow, lazy, relaxed summer days; sitting in a chair on the porch and reading a good book while watching the clouds go by overhead and listening to the birds singing. There are just some things that really get down deep inside of you and cause you to reflect on things. I love thinking back on old memories: memories of childhood fun and friends; those sweet moments when our family was young and all the children still living at home; holding babies and rocking them to sleep; camping trips with our girls when they were young; walking through the woods on a quiet afternoon and listening to the sounds of nature; time growing up when my Grandmother lived next door to us and we were always over there and she would be making her homemade noodles and beef and homemade apple pies; the smell of bread baking in the oven; my Mom dancing with a kitchen towel in her hands to music playing on an old phonograph on the kitchen counter; quiet and reflective times in a cabin in the woods looking out to see the sun streaming down to the forest floor through the branches of the trees. These and so many other memories that I have treasured up in my mind to take them out one by one just when I need them. God is so good to allow us to have these treasured memories! Of course along with the good comes to sad also, which most of the time we don't like to bring these up again and think on them; although at times they just seem to surface unexpectedly and catch us off-guard, don't they? It's times like this that a favorite poem comes to mind; it's called The Beautiful Lady of Tears by Ella Wheeler Wilcox from her book Poems of Pleasure.

The Lady of Tears

Through valley and hamlet and city,

Wherever humanity dwells,

With a heart full of infinite pity,

A breast that with sympathy swells,

She walks in her beauty immortal.

Each household grows sad as she nears,

But she crosses at length every portal,

The mystical Lady of Tears.

If never this vision of sorrow

Has shadowed your life in the past,

You will meet her, I know, some to-morrow--

She visits all hearthstones at last.

To hovel, and cottage, and palace,

To servant and kind she appears,

And offers the gall of her chalice--

The unwelcome Lady of Tears.

To the eyes that have smiled but in gladness,

To the souls that have basked in the sun,

She seems in her garments of sadness,

A creature to dread and to shun.

And lips that have drank but of pleasure

Grow pallid and tremble with fears,

As she portions the gall from her measure,

The merciless Lady of Tears.

But in midnight, lone hearts that are quaking,

With the agonized numbness of grief,

Are saved from the torture of breaking,

By her bitter-sweet draught of relief.

Oh, then do all graces enfold her;

Like a goddess she looks and appears,

And the eyes overflow that behold her--

The beautiful Lady of Tears.

Though she turns to lamenting, all laughter,

Though she gives us despair for delight,

Life holds a new meaning thereafter,

For those who will greet her aright.

They stretch out their hands to each other,

For Sorrow unites and endears,

The children of one tender mother

The sweet, blessed Lady of Tears.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Having Eyes to See

This is my first attempt at "blogging".
I've often thought I'd like to start a blog but never attempted to do one. A good friend of mine sent me a link to her blog spot though and that inspired me to try one for myself.

This picture was taken by me one evening in Destin, FL. Destin is one of my favorite vacation spots! Since it was such a beautiful sunset, I thought I'd use it for this post.

I was chatting with my youngest sister this morning and we were talking about the many ways that God blesses our lives and some of the "little things" He does just for us, especially in times when we might need a little "something" special from Him. We talked about how these things can be all around us every day but you have to be "aware" of them to see them or be blessed by them. Sometimes I think that people just go through this world with their eyes closed or focused on things that don't really matter all that much and they miss the really important "little things" when they're right in front of their eyes!! This thought was driven home to me tonight as I was driving back home after visiting with my daughter and her family. I went there this afternoon to lay out by the pool and enjoy the sun (as my daughter once said "I think I was a gecko in a previous life!") and enjoy her pool. I was down by the pool for only about 30 minutes when the clouds began to cover the sky and then thunder started booming overhead. I gathered my things and went inside and we had pizza and watched a movie. It was raining pretty good by now so I stayed until the movie was over. On my way home, it was just barely sprinkling and as I drove home, I couldn't help but notice the most spectacular sunset I've seen in a long time! It was a sunset only a Master Painter like our Creator could have etched across the sky. I marvelled at it as I drove, being careful of course not to go off the road! As I watched it slowly fading, I wondered how many other drivers just hurried to wherever they were going and hadn't even noticed this spectacular display of color and shading and clouds. Those that didn't stop to take in the beauty but just hurried on their way to Wal-mart or some other place, don't even know what they missed out on! I believe that taking these little "breaks" to "notice" the evidence of God's presence and handiwork all around us is what is most important in our day to day lives. Someone once said that "God gives us memories so that we can have roses in winter." and that is so true. I have stored up many of these little "interventions by God" in my life that I can look back on from time to time and wrap them around me like a warm blanket, giving me pleasure anew.

I hope you'll always "look for" these little "gifts" from God to you in your day to day walk through this life.