Well its been and interesting 6 weeks since my last surgery but today I was given permission to get out by myself and maybe go driving. How marvelous since I have been house bound other that my daughter taking me to Dr. visits.
Watch that first step!
Intellectually I knew this was short term and having gone through it before in August I knew the drill. But it is still nice to know you are healing enough to get out again and today is a pretty day. The sun is bright against a clear sky but there is still the residual snow linger from 2 weeks ago, but roads have been clear since the Monday after the 14″ Saturday.
Due some more possibly over the weekend and maybe white for Christmas.
So where to go on my first day of freedom. Hmmm. Looks like the birds are telling me I need to go back to the store, so I guess I will go to Lowes after lunch.
Yard entertainment
The kitties next door watch the birds as they feed. Mimi watches the birds, the squirrels and the cats in the window. I watch Mimi and the birds. So I guess its a community watch of sorts.
Enjoy the beauty around you. There is always something in nature and life worth watching, you may just have to look for it. And remember to show kindness in all things, whether it be a kind word, a gentle touch, or even a bright smile. That may be just the thing someone needs to lighten their day. May the end of this post make you smile and remember all of natures smiles with you.
It has been proven that a smile can turn a frown totally upside down. Smile often. To some it makes then smile back at you and to some it makes them wonder what you are smiling about, which makes them smile because then they think of thing that make them smile. It’s fully contagious.
One of the most enjoyable things about blogging is the amazing photographers, professional and non-professional that share their photographs for all to enjoy. A lot of the photographs that are shared are due to various challenges as the one I will be sharing with you today, well technically it’s night (2:30)but I couldn’t sleep so I am writing.
Irene from Heaven’s Sunshine was following the challenge for stairs from Pic And A Word by Patrick Jennings. Her picture was so inspiring to me, I told her I was going to write about it, so I did. I hope you enjoy it and do stop by Irene’s blog for some wonderful pictures.
Bailly Cemetery – Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
THE CLIMB
I see and maintain it still is not fair,
I have nothing to lay at the top of the stair.
It’s not my fault, I did nothing wrong,
Well, maybe I did, it’s just been so long.
How long has it been since I climbed to the top,
I remember it’s relief, Why did I stop?
How can a symbol of such astounding grief,
Be given to us to bring so much relief?
With love so amazing, to the cross did He die,
To flood us with gratitude that still makes us cry.
The burdens we carry don’t always seem fair,
Always we can lay them at the top of the stair.
The first step looks brittle, can it carry my weight?
This burden is heavy and may seal my dire fate.
As I touch each step and climb ever higher,
Is this what I should do, is this really my desire?
As I clear the last step, the cross is before me,
I question my worth, did He also die for me?
As my knees get bent, I am smothered by His grace,
And I lay all my burdens at the accepting cross base.
– Anita Tillman Neal –
Always remember there is a burden carrier and it isn’t you. Scripture tells us repeatedly that He is there to carry our burden for us, we just have to be willing to give them to Him.
And as always I remind everyone the much loaded value of kindness. Carry it with you where ever you go and share as much as possible.
Christmas is right around the corner. A lot of us are still zipping around and getting ready with gifts, food preparations and house readiness for family and visitors. Sometimes we forget this time of year is a time for quiet reflections on the past year, the coming year, what is happening in the world, in my country, in my town, in our individual lives. Nathanpatrickroach made a profound statement in his blog The reason for the Season and why Jesus had to come in the first place. Its worth the read if you have not seen it. Gives you a different perspective.
This morning we sang O Come, O Come Emanuel, which is one of my favorite songs this time of year. The Piano Guys version of this song will put chills down your spine, at lease it does for me. I could not figure out how to post it here.
The last verse really resonated with me this morning and I thought I would share it with you.
O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heartfelt mind.
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease,
Fill all the world with heavens peace,
Rejoice, Rejoice!
Emanuel shall come to thee O Israel. Amen
For all of mankind to come together in one heartfelt mind with heavens peace. May we all come together this season in love, peace and kindness.
GC and Sue W have created a prompt that is so up my alley. The joys and traditions surrounding Christmas are my most favorite of the year. See their prompt below to join in on the fun and share your photos.
For me and my daughter, we start preparing the week before Thanksgiving but this year we started the 1st week on November as I was due for surgery the second week and I was not going to miss out on my decorating. We are also major college football fans, so every year there is an off weekend where our team does not play. That is the designated day for Christmas decoration shopping day. Sometimes we find something and sometime we don’t but it has become a yearly tradition we look forward to with love and fond memories.
When I decided to move from the deep south to the midwest for a new job, my daughter wanted to come. He job was going nowhere and her last relationship had crashed and burned. So we moved together. We were fortunate to find the perfect house with a walk out basement and a kitchen on both floors. So she is downstairs where it stays cooler to her liking and I am upstairs. Close to each other but separated as well.
My daughter and I are both suffers of the same…”illness?!?” – YCHTMC – An acronym for “You Can’t Have Too Much Christmas”.
Upstairs I have are 3 full size trees and 3 table trees. Down stairs my daughter has 3 smaller full size trees and 1 table tree.
Dining Room Tree / VillageLiving Room TreeBedroom Tree with Santa and Chris Moose
Below are the downstairs trees in her large living area.
I have 6 multiple pieced nativity sets in various styles, colors and sizes with many single unit nativity scenes.
My biggest set has individual lights for each house and my smallest is actually a fountain.
My daughter has 2 multiple pieced nativity sets and several single unit scenes.The reason I have more is I have been doing it longer. It is a sickness I inherited from my mother and I have several ornaments that were hers. It is a family affair. With my sons, their wives keep them in check.
I am also an angel collector and most of those stay out year round; they just get located in a different location allowing other and numerous table decorations. Plus there is the village that grew this year and now has a section located in a different spots which houses the country scenes and the Christmas tree village.
There are traditional decorations, whimsical decorations and some just silly decorations but laughter and the love of Christ is what Christmas is to me. Through November I have displayed some of my pictures so I will repost a few but you are interested you can review my other post from November.
I sincerely hope you all have a marvelous Christmas regardless of your religious affiliation. It is a season of love hope and caring and we must always be considerate and kind to each other, especially at this season. There are many hurting during this time of year and will need and extra hand of kindness shared with them so please share kindness when you can.
For those of us who love football are generally either lovers college teams or Pro teams. While we may watch both, there is usually a stronger pull towards one or the other. For me it is college and the playoffs are just around the corner. I enjoy all the bowl games and then there is the fight for No.1 team of the nation.
Only a few of the many mascots
When Linda G Hill posted her prompt for this weeks fun she chose a difficult word for some but for us from the SEC, it was a no brainier to find a use for “hairy”. For the University of Georgia it is the name of the cheerleader mascot – Hairy Dawg. The actual bulldog’s name is Uga. Kind of fitting, don’t ‘cha think.
Uga and Hairy, Hairy is the taller one.
The college season ends with the championship in January giving one school bragging rights for the year. Although for the past few years its been an handful of teams with 2 prominent choices, Ala and Clemson. They again are the top 2 so we will see who actually ends on top when it is all said and done. For me I am pulling for Ala. but only because they are from the SEC. For the SEC conference, teams pull for themselves first but then they pull for the conference and since we lost to Ala, we will be pulling for them in the playoff.
As these game bring pout the fighting spirit in all of us, we must make an extra effort to be kind. Win or lose, its a game. There will be next year. Take a clue from the players on the field after the game, they shake hands and encourage each other.
Life itself can be played like on a ball field with respect and encouragement for each other. Even though you may be fighting for the golden ball, remember to fight with kindness. You can fight together and share the final victory.
I have Christmas all over my house, even in the bathroom. No room left undecorated.
The woodland forest in the bathroom with it’s pine cone hedgehogs cuties.
While Christmas giving has gone way overboard in some cases and in my belief the true meaning for Christmas revolves around Christ’s love for us, there is the fun side and history surrounding the fat guy in the red suit. So today’s fun story is about good ole Santa.
According to history, in 280 AD they was a young man born to a well off family. They lived in Patara, Asia Minor now known as Turkey. His name was Nicholas. While he was still a young man, his parents died and left him quite rich. But Nicholas was a gentle soul and was aware of those less fortunate than he. So he would secretly give gifts to those in need. Now in research I was uncertain if he was a monk or later became a monk but regardless he was christened as St. Nicholas and was favored by children and sailors. Not sure how all that happened but he was prayed to for safe journeys on the seas with many legends and stories of his help and appearances.
During the 16th century in Northern Europe the stories, legends and traditions became unpopular but they still wanted a deliverer by which presents came at Christmas. So the UK came up with Father Christmas or Old man Christmas and France had Pere Noel. Other countries like Austria and Germany had Christkind which was a baby with golden hair and wings that represented the baby Jesus. Early settlers in the US used the Christkind idea but revised the name to Kris Kringle. Later Dutch settlers in the US combined the old stories of St. Nick with Kris Kringle and he became Sinter Klaas which later became what we now use as Santa Claus.
In the 19th century the poem The Night Before Christmas was written making him an elf with 8 tiny reindeer. Coca Cola has always had wonderful pictures of full size Santa on their cans.
This is a very special time of year where good laughter, great love and cheer is spread to all. So in the Ho Ho Ho laughter of Santa I wish you the very happiest Christmas. And in the love of Christ of this wondrous season I wish you peace and good will. I have an ornament on my tree that shows even Santa shows a love and gentleness to baby Jesus.
Gentleness of Santa, Love of Christ
May you share the gentleness and love of both of these Christmas joys and share them with others through the gift of kindness, the best gift of all.
My mother’s mother was a real southern jewel. She was a beloved 2nd grade school teacher and even on her meager salary she would find a way to help buy one of her students a pair of shoe or winter coat if needed. As pitiful as we pay our teacher today, back in the 40’s I can only imagine. She retired when I was in early high school when she said she turned 65 but we all knew she was probably older but refused to admit it. The courthouse that had all the birth records of her home town had burned down along with many records of the area. But her retirement was a big shindig where all the school attended along with former students, the local paper and of course family.
Her name was Charlotte but everyone called her Lottie or Miss Lottie, even her grand children. But she was NOT a grandmother. Don’t get me wrong, she loved her grandchildren and called us her grandchildren but she was not a grandmother. “The very idea!” I think that was her favorite saying. She had lots of great sayings but coming from the south, we do come up with some interesting ways of putting things. Sometimes words didn’t even need to be said, you just got “the look”. How many of us remember “the look”. I don’t think I ever mastered it, my kids could see right through me. But Miss Lottie’s was so strong you could feel it from the back, your hackles would rise. You didn’t even have to see it, you just knew you were getting it. Such fond memories.
Well, I am here to tell you that you don’t discount those memories you had with you grandparents as you never know when you may need one of those memories. One that tickled me the most were her clothing sizes. When she was young and thin I am sure she wore a size 12 but not in her grandmotherly state. So when we bought her clothes, we cut the tags out and told her they were size 12. And as we get older our feet spread and we gain a little weight, our shoe size changes. It’s part of aging I guess, at least that is what I have noticed, but I spent 40 years on a concrete manufacturing floor which probably didn’t help.
My grandmother loved this type of house slipper that looked very similar to a Japanese style slipper. I remember they were dark blue in color with darker swirls in the fabric and it was the only kind I saw her were. But she insisted she wore a size 7, yea, no. She was easily in an 8. But she would buy the 7, they would be too tight and bind her feet. So she would take her brand new slippers and cut them to allow room for her foot. I remember asking her one time(and only one time) why she did that. Her answer was that her feet swelled at night and she needed the extra room for the swelling. I returned with the question of why not buy the next larger size. Well, not only did I get “the look” I got “The very idea! Then how are they going to fit when my feet are not swollen?” Indeed, I thought quietly to myself as I nodded approvingly to her statement.
I laugh at myself now as I remember this story because I am using her “technique” until the swelling goes down in my right foot. After my first surgery, I was fitted with orthopedic inserts for my shoes to start using once I started walking to add the extra support I would need for my feet. The inserts do take up room and it is no issue with my left foot as it has minimal swelling left. But the right one is still pretty swollen and my foot would not fit in the shoe. So, Miss Lottie, I am using your method and it seems to be working fine. I removed the laces and the tongue and then slit the top just like she use to.
Need new shoes anyway
So the moral of the story is don’t fully discount the stories of your grandparents as they may be beneficial to you one day. Life is always a journey and memories sometimes are the things that help us make it through.
And in closing I remind you of the joys of laughter in helping you heal. Share your joy, laughter, kindness with others this holiday season. This can be a difficult season for some so always be kind. Reach out with a gentle touch to show others you care. It may be the only kind thing that person gets that day.
We have always heard that the measure of beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Nature has a beauty all its own
There are many forms of beauty from nature, or art, or music, or people, or animals…even in life itself.
Take for example any living thing and the ability of today’s technology to break down anything to a single cell…and the parts of that cell, the amazing beauty of creation. I have had conversations with people who don’t see this or who don’t see the reality of creation as I do. I even had one gentleman tell me he didn’t do the “G” word. I had to bite my tongue to keep my composure with someone who gets offended in saying “God”, really. How very sad. It is my opinion that God is very real and the creator of all things. It is also my opinion that He created all humans in His likeness to also be creators in the many forms we love to express and show the beauty of all creation. And I believe all of this to be a profound truth.
There is great beauty in truth. While this may be dipping into the philosophy realm a bit, truth like beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder as well because the world has muddied the waters of truth so to speak. For me, truth is perceived by each individual’s perception of what truth is to them and that is the basis on how they run their life. For me, I base all truth on God’s word. In the bible, John 37:37, Jesus said “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And Pilate asked Him “What is truth?” Clearly not on the same page as Jesus but on the side of the muddy waters.
I am not eloquent with words or a great biblical teacher but I do study the word of God and believe it to be the truth. We are now in the Christmas season, whether you believe it or not the season’s purpose is to celebrate Jesus’s birth…and our salvation from death. Because without Him we are forever doomed. He was born for a purpose – us – and he died for a purpose – us. It has always been about us, the people, the believers in God. We are God’s beautiful creation but we are not allowed to see God so he can’t come help us. So God sent us His son who can help us. He stands between us and God as a buffer. I ran across a picture of beautiful piece of art that explains the relationship between man and God so well that I felt lead to share with you here.
Jesus is kneeling in the arms of the cross while hanging onto God’s hand as He reaches down to us who are drowning. That is a truth we all can live by. We can’t get to the father without the son. And they both want us to succeed in reaching for the hand of salvation. I encourage you to celebrate the season of His love as God sent this gift to us and for us.
Us and HIM
As you enjoy the love of the season, remember to be kind. Being kind to someone who is also being kind is easy. We need to remember to be kind to those who may not be showing kindness at that moment probably because this is also a season of deep sorrow. Reach out with a word of kindness, a hand of kindness, or maybe a gentle smile. You just may brighten someone world. I enclose my favorite smile. It makes me smile every time.
Those of you who have been following me know that since August I have been having correct bone alignment in my feet. We corrected the left foot first. It is about 85% healed. So it took about 6 weeks before I could put pressure down on the foot and learn to walk again with the new alignment. It gives you a new appreciation for babies learning to walk.
I still get the sharp healing pains as the nerves are knitting back together as they say it will take about 1 year. Not a fun experience but part of the healing experience. In November we corrected the right foot and I have been going from bed to sofa with the help of a knee cart. Its nice to be able to get around without crutches but when you already have knee issues from challenges of youth, it can be painful.
The challenges of youth should be correctly called the stupidity of youth because as an adult you would never do these things. And with me being a tomboy, I was not about to be shown up by any boy. And since I was into horses, well now you have added in another factor of – “You did what?” For example – diving from the top of the hay loft into the pile of hay below. Was it thick enough to cushion our fall? Were snakes hiding in the hay as they often were? How about standing on top of your horse as he walked around the pasture with no bridle or saddle? And of course there were the neighborhood ball games with all the guys? And the list goes on. I am sure others have similar lists.
Yes so now in my mid 60s I am paying for those challenges. But doing OK. As I have stated before I have earned every gray hair, every wrinkle…and every pain. But I would not have changed a thing, well maybe one thing that still scares me to think about it to this day involving a train.
So this week’s challenge is to start walking without the boot. Its twice as difficult as the left foot has not fully healed so I am having balance/confidence issues. My goal is to be back in church before Christmas. I go back to Dr on Thursday so we will see. But regardless, progress for this challenge is being made.
Slow progress is still progress
So in this season of thankfulness I am ever grateful that I can walk at all and that I have been blessed with another day of life. So tagging in with jansenphoto TPC weekly challenge word of Challenge, I submit my challenge of walking and ask you to play along for the fun.
And as I always say, remember to be kind. Even though someone may not look like they are hurting, a kind word will ease those silent hurts that are deep within.
