WHAT A JOURNEY

Our Lord has blessed us with a miracle, named Katie...

she's my nephew's baby, and she holds a special place in my heart

Be careful, she will capture your heart, too

She'll be the Heart Association's poster child next February

Yes, she is our crying, walking, talking, singing, teasing, laughing miracle.

If you've not heard her story, watch the below...

WE LOVE YOU, KATIE!

Jer. 33:3

"Call to me and I will answer you

and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Blessings,

UNCLE RC TRIBUTE

With sadness but lots of love

A tribute/remembrance of Uncle RC...

died December 13, 2009...

“A smile is worth a million intentions”.

I pondered the above quote...deeply it sank into my head while driving home from my aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary last March...

Previously that afternoon probably 20 or more strangers were greeting the family...several people I had known as a child but didn’t recognize their faces due to time and gravity. The one thing remaining...their smiles….I recognized their smiles in their eyes.

Now 80-something...His eyes were bright yet vacant…his eyes were not the same. What remained from my childhood years, though, was his smile. God gave him the strength that day to be with their visitors while concentrating on their faces, trying to pull up any recognition.

He......loved children

...would take us outside to ride motorcycles

...played with the dogs while teaching us to skip rocks over the lake.

...built a get-away cabin in the woods for hunting, fishing and cooking outdoors

... loved his dogs, Yssup (a larger boxer who could eat you--but he was very gentle

...enjoyed his hand-cleared property--pasture, lake...he loved to walk the perimeter.

...refurbished musical instruments--I still play the flute he refinished for me.

...played bluegrass on his guitar, banjo and mandolin in his basement.

...loved going to Waffle House, having coffee with his old “Southern Bell” buddies.

My uncle and my daddy had the same smile…I could see my Daddy each time my uncle smiled...I could hear his laugh, too, and I would get to enjoy a little of Daddy through my uncle. I believe...he is gone from us, but is present with the Lord, and my Daddy.

I pray he is enjoying 'catching up' with my Daddy...and with RC's son, Charlie, who died in 1990...maybe they both were waiting for Uncle RC to join them in the place Christ has been preparing for us!

"I love you and will miss you, R.C. Hug my Daddy for me! It gives me peace knowing you are already together. Save me a seat at the Lord's banquet table.

"So please let your heart be joyful

and let your spirit sing

for I'm spending Christmas in heaven

and I'm walking with the king."

Blessings,

TIP-TOE'ING THROUGH THE SESAME SEEDS...

*please bear with me...this is a little long, but has a good lesson at the end :)...

DD had come home from school today and was in the process of dressing for her "end-of-semester, in-front-of-the-multi-school professors' internship presentation" where she will verbalize her semester accomplishments/activities.

While DD was ready'ing herself, 'Derbs' came over with, of all things...thank you, Jesus,... BUCKEYES...as part of her spreading Christmas cheer!

(The above picture is from a musical they were in last year)

Her buckeyes were wonderfully peanutty goodness surrounded in milk chocolate...(Lids, I feel your pain...I want MORE!)

Having nibbled on my ONE buckeye wanting to say "give me that entire bag did I mention I NEEDED more? But obediently I turned away from the plastic bag Derbs was holding, sweetly tempting me with the richly, calorie-blessed balls of pleasure. Yes, I forced myself to turn away and return to my dryer of warm clothes calling to be put into each closet.

This one chore sits now among others on my very-full Christmas list:

• dish putting-away & dirty dishes going in dishwasher
• changing bed sheets
• finalizing photo picture-card order
• tree decorating
• gift wrapping
• Disciple3 lesson class-plan tweaking
• gift shopping (before 12/18 parties)

After completing one chore, the others were like little sugar plums dancing across my mind...and while reaching into the pantry to throw together a quick-salad lunch...IT HAPPENED...

A BRAIN OVER-RUN ... one over-run with holiday plans

My little synapses were working too hard, I guess...SOMETHING occurring in the depths of my cerebellum unable to endure overload...My hormone-replacement deprived body DEVOURed normal motor skills...they became lackluster.

Rather than placing the handful of small sesame seeds in my lettuce bowl, I DROPPED THE ENTIRE fist full on my kitchen floor.

Can you picture it? Their clicking and bouncing like caffeine-high mexican jumping bean...up and down...sounding like a small waterfall spraying around, across, under, and in every corner of my previously-swept kitchen floor.

Just as they finally settled from their 'happy dance' across my floor, "Derbs" came around the corner (with plastic bag of buckeyes in hand) on her way to her next destination.

{Now, prior to her going upstairs to see DD I had decided I was GOING to tackle her as she was heading out the backdoor and send her on her way without that entire bag ask for another buckeye...} Two wouldn't have been too bad, would it??

"Stop ya'll...just tiptoe around the seeds so they don't get in your car and smushed on my floor!"...no, really so she wouldn't go flying across my floor unexpectedly...then she was out the door and gone...

before I REMEMBERED my wanting ANOTHER buckeye! aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh! (a quick pirate-moment ensued) :\ sorry....

Oh, well, sometimes I'm protected from myself...even when I don't want to be protected.

When in the midst of getting many things done, what kind of messes have you made...or when did you realize protection even when you caused a mess?

1 Thess. 1:6

"...you welcomed the message with joy given by the Holy Spirit."

SWEET CIRCLE SHARED...

(well)

DID THE TIDE ROLL, OR WHAT!!!!

now,

Having recently been given a SWEET CIRCLE OF FRIENDS button...

A. Name 5 things I love:

1. Singing praise songs with my hands...AmericanSignLanguage
2. Sipping hot coffee while in my flannel housecoat while reading your posts
3. Seeing the scales go DOWN anytime
4. Hearing his moans & watching hubby's face in delight while I'm scratching his back
5. Hearing teenagers talk about...their inner-most feelings & their love of Jesus

B. Give 5 bloggy friends the button...

(If you got my message, you've been 'buttoned'!)

SHOW & TELL FRIDAY..."LESS FRU FRU"

JOINING CINDY @ MY ROMANTIC HOME ...

Thankfully...we're having a 'Charlie Brown' Christmas at our house this year...

One with much less 'fru fru' ...much less out on the tables, counter tops and walls.

Usually I decorate top to bottom...

but this year, I'm participating in a 'pittance' sort of way.

My foyer...usually hosts our hand-painted nativity scene, which is surrounded completely...Completely by:

angel pictures on the wall,

angel peel-and-stick murals on the windows,

angel votives on the staircase,

and even angel stakes in the plants ...

you know, those little metal or plastic decorations you stick in your potted plants.

This year's foyer, however, will be somewhat lonely...

with ONLY an 18" Charlie Brown Christmas tree on the curio cabinet...

the cartoon stick-on Charlie Brown nativity on the front-door sidelite windows...

and a full-sized, decorated Christmas tree in the living room

(couldn't get be without one...it is DD's senior year and all...)

CLICK THE PIC...for a LARGER view...

ALL THE MYRIAD of angels will remain wrapped and tucked away until next year's Holy Season. Their singing will be muffled by all the tissue paper and bubble wrap surrounding them.

The candles will last another year without having to be lit during the celebration and the green, potted plants will let out an 'ignored sigh' as they realize the angels won't be hovering around them for the next three weeks.

Now don't think I'm all depressed and stuff...I'm not.

We'll still be celebrating the Season while eating, singing, wrapping, unwrapping and going to worship.

There's something very FREEING about taking an abbreviated approach this year...

My feet will certainly appreciate not having to traipse up and down both sets of steps while pulling everything from the basement.

And, I could almost hear my 'knees' preparing a serenade... singing their joys of not getting 'pounded' each time I reached the basement concrete floor.

Even my arms and neck are readying to sing in harmony knowing the 'unusual overexertion' won't be happening in 2009.

All this 'true-to-life' relief will be opening my calendar (for those several hours worth of time that would have been decorating)...

... shopping and cooking without feeling it flying by too quickly.

...planning a new 'knitting project' for the shawl ministry.

Yes, Charlie Brown's simplicity ... seeking to be 'less complicated'

Yes, the child-like simplicity...

Yuletide's best decorations: wreaths of smiles, and being wrapped in hugs.

Blessings,

Jer. 33:3

"Call to me and I will answer you

and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Blessings,