Honored Goodbye, Excited Hello

Those of us who are pet lovers, take our furry friends very seriously. They are family. My front door has a disclaimer on it for all who enter.

In January, we said an honored goodbye to Maximus, my daughter’s loyal, tried and true friend, aka a basset hound.

Yesterday, we went to look at some puppies as she was getting ready to think about moving on. The problem with that theory (like when buying a new car) you better be ready to take said puppy(or car) home with you. The puppy’s name is Teddy Bear and he took an instant liking to my daughter …therefore…

Meet Teddy Bear

Totally at home and loving his new mama.

Check out these ears. They are longer than Max’s were and he steps on them as he walks.

There will be many posts of future cuteness but I wanted to share these with you. I you have seen my book, Our Real Home, you will understand that I feel all creation is blessed by God and he gives pets to us as another way of sharing His profound love.

In closing. I remind you of the power of kindness. It creates a loving bond between you and another of God’s creations – man or animal.

WRITEPHOTO – Cemetery

Welcome to the weekly #writephoto prompt! by KL Caley

The slight chill around me begs me to pull my sweater close, but I am not wearing a sweater. Wait, I know this place. Have not been here in a long time, since that day. They said she was now at peace. Cancer had eaten her body but her mind and spirit were still strong. I am glad now she is no longer suffering. But why am I here, I wonder as I continue onward. “What are those silly people doing?” I ask myself. People are sitting on top of the gravestones. How rude. And they are laughing, having a good time. Really, in a graveyard.

“She’s here,” I heard loudly from behind me. I turn to see my mother running towards me. No, that ridiculous. Its just someone who looks like her.

“Janey! You are here with us now.”

“What?” I gasped as I look around at all the faces of loved ones I once knew, but they were different, younger.

“You have come to join us as we wait for the grand appearance.”

“Grand appearance ?”

“You know sweetheart, when Jesus returns to take our bodies home.”

I look down at myself and realize I am not the 92 year old woman any more, I too am young. I guess I have gone the way of my ancestors.

Dependent

I heard a funny story on my way to the store this morning that I wanted to share with you. It actually made me laugh out loud.

‘If you have dependent children off to college (or even high schoolers) who are refusing to stay in touch, you can remedy that situation by changing the password to their electronic devices or streams they and the family watch. That will get their attention.’

The saddest part of this is how dependent we all are on electronic devices. Ten year old kids are demanding their own cell phones. My biggest concern when I was ten was concern if rain showed up not letting me be outside. Although that could sometimes be fun as well.

Whatever we do, we must make sure our children know the value of family and how much they are loved. Yes, during their wing stretching times, they will forget it but they usually will always return to remembered hugs of family.

Remember to share kindness as a family. Its a great way to spread the healing of a nation.

***Always pass kindness down to the next generation.***

Fandango’s Story Starter #22

Fandango’s story teaser today was too delicious to not participate. It could go in so many directions. Because it is the “season” for me, I chose to go there. Hope you enjoy.

The Garden Shed

Samantha leaned against her car and stared at her Grandpa’s house. The love and life that once oozed from this building brought life to any child; especially at this time of year, Christmas. She had not been back to visit the house since he passed five years ago. What would be the point. He was gone. He had turned the house over to the city to be used as a museum and library for children. Her brother Gerald was in charge and the place looked great. The large rolling lawn was decorated for the season and a smile creased her saddened face.

“Sure do miss you, Grandpa.”

“Samantha,” called a voice from the front porch.

“Hey, Gerald. Merry Christmas.”

“Its been awhile since you came by. You ought to come see the new children’s wing. It would have made Grandpa James proud.”

“Maybe later. I just came by to walk the grounds. Is the garden shed still in the back?”

“Yes. But it’s not used. We turned the large two car garage into the new garden center. Its where we have some planting seminars and during Christmas, we have crafts. I know it was special to you but too small for what we wanted to do. But it’s still intact. We air it out each spring and place fresh cut flowers on his desk for the spring tours of the gardens. Come by inside when you are done.”

As Samantha came around the side of the house, she saw the beautiful gardens. Christmas trees had been scattered about and were fully decorated. Behind them was the small but adequate garden shed. Her memories went back to the summers of laughing and playing in the dirt with Grandpa James. Such a magical time.

The windows of the shed were dusty and hard to see through so she opened the door to see in side. The door creaked a bit and drug its bottom across the wooden planked floor. She saw no sign of life in the room except the smell of her grandfather’s tobacco filled the room. He smoked a pipe with a very distinct brand and she loved smelling it as she snuggled close when small.

“How in the world can that fragrance still be so strong,” she mumbled as she walked over to his desk. Everything was exactly as he had left it. His ratty old note pad laid open with a pencil laying across it and someone had written on it. Her initial thought was anger that someone had used it but then she read the note and recognized his hand writing.”

“I will always be close to you.”

“Hey,” said Gerald as he entered the shed realizing he startled her. “Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted you to know we have hot chocolate with peppermint sticks. I know its your favorite.”

“Oh, its okay. I was just down memory lane. When did you find his notepad?”

“His notepad? What are you talking about?”

“This. Do you not recognize it?”

“No, sorry. I don’t. As far as I know, there was nothing in here. Where was it?”

“Right here on his desk. Right where he always had it. Do you mind if I keep it?”

“No. Does it have anything in it?”

“Not really. How does his tobacco smell stay so strong when you air this out in the spring?”

“You smell his tobacco?”

“Don’t you?”

“No.”

“Interesting,” she said as she walked past him out of the shed.

“Hot Chocolate?” he asked closing the door behind him.

“Sure.”

First Line Friday: June 18

The café began to feel like her only real home. Carrie looked out at the lights as they blinked on the sign, Lou & Rachel’s Café. The pain and fear were still very real. She glanced down at the ugly scar that snaked across her left forearm and down her hand.

“Your awfully quiet tonight,” said Rachel. “You okay?” Rachel was well aware of what this day was. It had been six years to the day that her sister’s family had been in a horrific accident with Carrie being the only survivor of six in her family and two teenage boys whose car exploded upon impact.

“I am old enough now to have processed what happened and begin to heal from it. But I can still see in it my mind, hear the screaming of tires, the breaking of glass and that horrid smell of burning flesh. Will I ever be fully healed? I sometimes wish I had died as well so I don’t have these memories.”

“Emotional and psychological healing takes an infinitely longer time and in some cases you just learn to live with the memories by pushing them out of your mind. You will get better. What does your therapist say?”

“She is pleased with how well I have done so far but she knows there is still a lot more healing to do. Thank you for taking me in. I cant imagine doing this alone.”

“Have you thought any more about the community college?”

“Some. My therapist is good friends with the Dean of the College, so they understand my situation. Due to my injuries, I may never be able to play the violin again but I could teach. I just don’t know if that is enough or even a wise thing to do. Or do I really want that?”

“Well, as I am sure what others have told you is that at least you could be back in music. But I fully understand if that is not enough or if its is too hard to separate from what you wanted for your life. I will be here to support whatever you need.”

“It’s funny but the love and warmth of this little café has helped me heal better than I think anything else could have.”

“That is because of the love of this little town. They loved your family and only want the best for you. They too will support any decision you make. You have a lot of love here. Plus they are always here for my cherry pie. It is to good to be true,” she chuckled.

“You are right about that,” she chuckled herself. “I know the love of this town. I can feel it. I just got to get a direction.”

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. It will happen when its time. Just breathe.”

Carrie smiled at her aunt as he walked back into the kitchen. She knew the love here was strong and was so thankful for the café being her new home.

Thank to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie for a fun prompt for Fridays. Come play along and share your creativity with us.

And as always, I remind all to be kind. Its a amazing tool to help others heal.

Not as Hard as You Think

Good evening friends. Hope you are all well. I read several devotions each day and scriptures to glean encouragement to share with my church and occasionally with you. I don’t know if many of you read “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers but he is well worth taking the time to read. My oldest son, got me hooked on him by giving me his devotional book many years ago. Now I read him online. Today, Oswald reminds us that God uses the tiny things of our life to move us in the right direction for His purpose.

I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. Oswald Chambers

I think there are times we feel defeated because of our thinking “how in the world can I rise myself up to this level of perfect holiness in the fear of God?

Tonight I want to explain that concept but from a different angle. If we look at the benefits we receive when we transform our worldly thoughts, making our motives more pure, it changes our perspective and our desire with us wanting to be more holy as He is holy. And while we know this is what we should do … it can seem really hard. So, I want to show you that it is not as hard as it seems. The world and the negative forces around us just want us to stay broken like they are broken. But 2 Corinthians 5:15, reminds us that in Christ we are a new creation. New…the old is gone..so see we can do this.

And in reality, we need to remember who really should be driving the life train…because when we drive it, we have a tendency to crash it. Not what we want and especially not what God wants. He has a purpose for us.

And since God did the choosing, that means we are part of His team. And I think we can all agree that this is a pretty awesome team to be a member of.

And we all know that we love hanging around with our friends. And if that concept is too casual for you, you can look at it like this – He is the King and we are all princes and princesses, for we are His children, working together to help purify His kingdom to come.

May you all have a safe and restful evening. Always remember how very much you are loved and always remember to be kind.

Friends on the Couch

How many of you love to sit around and enjoy each other’s company? Envision a group of family or friends sitting around and laughing as they tell stories of old. Sometimes they are scary, sometimes they make us laugh and sometimes they make us cry. But being together with friends and loved ones is what makes the stories worthwhile.

friends

This morning as I read through the Jesus Calling devotional, I remembered many times of the full pleasure this brings us. I recently wrote a book showing how much fun this could be with wonderful groups of friends or family just sitting around telling stories from the past. But we need to remember, there is a very important friend we need to invite that desperately wants to be a part of our group, he wants to join in with our fun, laughter and tears and that would be Jesus. He wants to be a part of every moment of your life.

Jesus laughing

He can enrich our fun and turn our dull grayness to wonderful brightness. When we get stuck in the dullness of everyday tasks, we have a tendency to to forget life’s joy and we descend into the unfocused grayness of discouragement. But if we realize this is happening and refocus our minds and hearts back on Him, He will lift us back where we need to be, guiding us back to Him on a wonderful bright path of joy.

Psalm 16 11

Yes, this sounds a little far fetched and an unreal way of thinking, but I promise it is very real and well worth the try. We were each created for a purpose that only He knows and guides and we are never meant to do it without Him.

Acts 17 28

His presence goes with us, wherever we may go. You may not feel His presence, you may even deny He is there, but I promise you He is always there. There is a saying that zips through facebook and other social mediums stating that while we prove to Him many times that we am not worthy of His love, He ignores it and loves us anyway. How can you not want that sitting with you on the sofa.

Hebrews 13 5

So my theory is this, if He is going to be there anyway, then offer Him a seat on the sofa and watch the room begin to glow with His love and presence. And when he reaches over to take your hand, grab it firmly in yours and hold on tightly, it will be a fantastic ride.

Psalm 63 8

I leave you with this prayer of encouragement. Ask Him to remain close to you and guide your way…He has already said yes.

Thank-God-for-Endless-Love-Lamentations-3-22

And as always remember to be kind. It is the most under rated quality of mankind.

Elephant kindness

World Communion Sunday

World Communion Sunday is a celebration observed by several Christian denominations, taking place on the first Sunday of every October, that promotes Christian unity and ecumenical cooperation. It focuses on an observance of the Eucharist – the sharing of the bread and wine as taught by Jesus, that we also call communion.

It was started in the 30’s by a Presbyterian minister and within 10 years was spread to many other Christian denominations and now is across the world giving us the opportunity to pray for all of our Christian brother and sisters across the world.

Our church chose 6 random countries from the list of International Missions and prayed for those countries and some of their Global Servants who work in those countries with love, education, rebuilding, medical needs or anything else that may be needed. We will be praying for them for the month of October with an emphasis on Water as many countries do not have clean or sufficient water supplies but to also pray that the Living Water be spread through out the world. Below are the 6 countries we are focusing on as we pray also for Living Water to flood the earth. But remember this is only 6 out the 195 countries in the world today. Even in our own countries, prayer is needed to spread the Living Waters of Christ.

I have a challenge for anyone who would like to jump in. I have about 300 people who read my blog. If each person would take one country of your choice, even it’s your own, and say a quick prayer for that country, then throughout the month think of other countries and say a quick prayer. They will not know you are praying for them but I promise those prayer will not be wasted. No prayer is ever wasted.

Another thing that is never wasted….kindness. Share kindness where ever you go and watch the ripple effect of it spread out from you.

kind ripples

Our Amazing Mind, #SoCS-Blue

Our minds are an amazing gift from God that in some instances is phenomenal and in others its…Whaat??!?? I have heard it said that as long as you have the first and last letters correct and a general understanding of what is being said, your brain will make it right. On one hand that is great but on the other hand, its why writers had editors. It struck close to home when we purchased T-shirts for an community outreach program at church. We ordered shirts to let anyone know that we would pray for them right then, whatever was on their heart. What a great concept. The shirts came in, we loved them, several of us took one. I even posted one to show how excited we were about this. The next day we excitedly showed the pastor and he said “What? Did anyone proof read that before ordering?” “Well yea, we said…whats the problem…oh crap.” Three of us missed it.

IMG_20190821_170428

Okay I said. I can fix this so we can at least wear them, plus it will be another conversation starter. “Whatever” he said …”order new ones.”

IMG_20190913_190537

It just shows how our brains work for us when we don’t seem to be able to do it correctly ourselves. But it emphasizes how we all really need to care for each other and find unique ways to show we care…as in praying for each other. Those of us in the Christian religion like to say we are all brothers and sisters in Christ but it really goes deeper than that. We are all brothers and sisters period. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve…if you believe the bible is true.

I know for me, the idea of me coming from a one cell organism and developing into an ape and then into a human….yea, no. If that were true we would still be seeing that today. Now I will clarify that as there are some people who periodically act like apes and would probably get smack around by an ape if the ape saw that behavior. They don’t tolerate nonsense either.

The new shirts came in today so now we won’t embarrass the church. Funny how many people took one of those shirts with a “4” painted on it…hmmm.

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That being said, if ever I can pray for you about a specific situation or just an unspoken request just reply on any given post P4me and I will do just that.

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday by Linda Hill is blue and these shirts are blue although the coloring from house lights really change the color. Come join in and have fun and remember to always be kind. Let the ripples of kindness flow from you to the world.

kind ripples

A Special Day Remembered

Today is July 5. The day after the celebration of Independence for the US, but for me it is a fun remembered day as it was my dad’s birthday.

IMG_20190616_150149 — My dad, a well known lawyer of our town

I remembered his favorite cake was a caramel cake – I think it was a white cake with a caramel type icing. And we also had a few left over fireworks along with the long standing hamburgers on the grill. He had this neat contraption that held all burgers in a wire grid and a handle and you could flip them all at the same time. I thought it was fabulous but have never seen another one.

The many fun trips we made on the rivers of Florida in our boat have wonderful memories as well. Was he perfect? No, far from it but at some time you just have to let the negative crap go and focus on the great memories. And although each child has a different remembrance of their time with their parents, you can generally hang on to a few of the great fun times and let that be the memory to hold fast to. For me there were a lot. I was the youngest so I actually got to spend more fun time with my dad that my siblings. So this day, his birthday, I honor him even though cancer took him from us over 20 years ago.

This is the smile I remember in a place he loved the best, our house in Florida. Happy Birthday Daddy. You are still greatly loved.

Remember how much a smile can make you smile and smile often. It is contagious, so smile and be kind.

kind smile