Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Oh…the joy of being alive to see how my definition of happiness has altered throughout all the stages of my life. At the present moment…my happiness is being surrounded with close friends and family. I finally have it…it is not what we have in our lives that make us happy but who!

These days I see a metaphor between clouds and happiness. They are both best enjoyed with sight and emotion …but don’t ever try to dissect or over-analyze them ….If one does… the disappointing reality of the parts  never add back up to give us that original first impression of sheer beauty mixed with undefinable happiness.

Overthinking any situation or circumstance brings immediate disillusionment…God wants us to lose ourselves in His spectacular, undefinable beauty and love so happiness fills us to the point of overflowing onto others. Sharing unspeakable happiness is the apex of cementing relationships far beyond the mundane.

Growing up in the fifties (with only one parent who was physically challenged) made me feel left out when I became old enough to start spending the night with friends and realizing that my family situation was quite different than most of my peers’ lives.

I am ashamed to admit that I went through a stage (I was about twelve or thirteen) when I didn’t want my peers to know that I came from a different type of family household. So I never invited any friends home with me…just my cousins who knew and grew up with me not thinking much about it at all.

Yet today I realize just how close my family really was because of the differing circumstances beyond anyone’s control…and how supportive my extended family, on both sides, were throughout my childhood and youth.

We always think happiness (like the grass is greener metaphor)…happens to others, not us.  Yet now as adults my cousins have admitted to Ben and myself just how envious they were of the closeness in our family …including our wonderful housemaid/best friend/ Dora, my second mother and no doubt a divine messenger.

I was so fortunate, later, to have mother in her retirement years live with me because I was finally able to see her free from all the earlier stresses of raising three children and making daily decisions alone.

Now I understand the happiness she so deservedly received…living with me, home security, watching her children mature in adulthood while simultaneously delighting in her grandchildren.

I am there now and my friends with similar situations all agree that the best kept secret in life is this wonderful period after the children leave to follow their lives, discover the loves of their lives, and return with another generation of family so we can watch the future genealogy unfold before us. It is a wonderful time-period.

(*Being able to leave the parent-child relationship behind to become close friends with your adult children is the goal I think we all hope and pray transpires at some point in our lives.)

So until tomorrow….May we immerse ourselves in each day with all the happiness we can give and receive. There will never be another day again, in our lives, just like it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

After my oncology appointment yesterday I drove over to Walsh’s to stay with Eloise while she took her late morning/early afternoon nap… while Walsh got some chores done around the house. Then we went and grabbed some late lunch before I headed back.

*Mollie and Rutledge flew out last Friday to surprise Bruce (Mollie’s dad) for a special retirement retreat…with all the family and close friends arriving to surprise him.

Another surprise for Marcia and Bruce…two close couple friends of theirs dressed up like hillbilly fishermen and proceeded to sit in the dining area while other diners (including Marcia) stared at this strange group with their, loud, boisterous behavior…only for Marcia and Bruce to discover they were all in on the surprise for Bruce’s retirement. 🙂 So creative! Happiness is family and close friends!

Dear Reader:

As we move into July….a predicted hot, hot, hot July with little relief from rain or other outdoor cooling opportunities…we forget that just a little over  two hundred years ago….parts of North America, Asia, and Europe were buried under ice and snow during the infamous summer of 1816.

Initially (especially right now) this might sound good….a great break in the summer for a real snowball fight, right?…But the implications were dire…leading to the question…could it happen again? And the answer is “Yes.”

There was no way that the people in the northern hemisphere had any way of knowing what was about to befall them….because the catalyst that turned summer into winter that year had started a year earlier with a volcano a world away.

A year prior, after months of rumbling, a colossal eruption occurred at Mount Tambora, on a small island in Indonesia. Millions of tons of ash and sulfurous gas went dozens of miles up into the stratosphere, creating a kind of dusty veil around the planet and plunging part of Asia in darkness.

It was nicknamed the “Year Without a Summer” and “Eighteen Hundred Froze to Death.”

Two hundred years ago, the U.S. Eastern Seaboard registered record-low temperatures. On June 6, 1816, six inches of snow fell across wide regions of New England. “The heads of all the mountains on every side were crowned with snow- the White Mountains were just that….white!” one area farmer wrote. “The most gloomy and extraordinary weather ever seen.”

A Connecticut clock maker remembered at the time having to wear an overcoat and mittens for much of the summer; another bookkeeper noted in his diary that “the vegetation does not seem to advance at all.” Frosts set in and crops failed. In Montreal, there were reports of frozen birds dropping dead on the city streets. Citizens of Vermont were forced to subsist on “nettles, wild turnips and hedgehogs.”

In the spring and summer of 1816, a persistent “dry fog” was observed in parts of the eastern United States. The fog reddened and dimmed the sunlight, such that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Neither wind nor rainfall dispersed the “fog”. It has been characterized as a “stratospheric sulfate aerosol veil”. (* See title painting…done a couple years after the ‘summer-less” year so people would always remember the strange colors of the sky day and night.)

A Massachusetts historian summed up the disaster:

Severe frosts occurred every month; June 7th and 8th snow fell, and it was so cold that crops were cut down, even freezing the roots … In the early Autumn when corn was in the milk it was so thoroughly frozen that it never ripened and was scarcely worth harvesting. Breadstuffs were scarce and prices high and the poorer class of people were often in straits for want of food. It must be remembered that the granaries of the great west had not then been opened to us by railroad communication, and people were obliged to rely upon their own resources or upon others in their immediate locality.

In July and August, lake and river ice was observed as far south as northwestern Pennsylvania. Frost was reported as far south as Virginia on August 20 and 21.Rapid, dramatic temperature swings were common, with temperatures sometimes reverting from normal or above-normal summer temperatures as high as 95 °F (35 °C) to near-freezing within hours.

Thomas Jefferson,  retired from the presidency and farming at Monticello, sustained crop failures that sent him further into debt. On September 13, a Virginia newspaper reported that corn crops would be one half to two-thirds short and lamented that “the cold as well as the drought has nipped the buds of hope”.

It is now the middle of July, and we have not yet had what could properly be called summer. Easterly winds have prevailed for nearly three months past … the sun during that time has generally been obscured and the sky overcast with clouds; the air has been damp and uncomfortable, and frequently so chilling as to render the fireside a desirable retreat.

But for all you Gothic horror story fans…the cold, foggy weather that historical summer forced a group of creative writers and poets inside a famous home where, out of boredom, they challenged each other to write something scary. Any guesses what two famous monsters were created during this time? How about Dracula and Frankenstein?

In June 1816, “incessant rainfall” during that “dark, dismal, ungenial summer” forced famous writers… Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lord Byron, John Polidori (and friends)  indoors at the famous Villa Diodati overlooking Lake Geneva for much of their Swiss holiday.

During a three-day period the group decided to have a contest to see who could write the scariest story… leading Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein and Lord Byron to write “ A Fragment” which Polidori later used as inspiration for “The Vampure”  – a precursor to Dracula.

In addition, Lord Byron was inspired to write the poem “Darkness” in a single day. One line reads:  “When the fowls all went to roost at noon and candles had to be lit as at midnight.”

Today climatologists and meteorologists (who study weather trends over long periods of time)….say that the only breaks in the continuous warming trends affecting our planet presently come from unexpected volcanic eruptions that bring temporary cooling effects. (like what happened in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia in 1816.) However, as soon as the the ashed veil lifts…unfortunately the recent warming trends continue on tract.

So until tomorrow…the next time we complain about the heat…maybe it will help to remember the summer of 1816 or at least make us go grab a book…perhaps Frankenstein or Dracula? 🙂

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*And it IS the first day of July…the first day of the month….get ready…and say it!  RABBIT! Now I hope everyone has a wonderful month in spite of the heat…after all..it is summer…and July 4 was the best birthday present for all of us….Happy Birthday America! July always reminds us of freedom and sacrifice!

*Sammy the Cardinal decided to help me welcome in July with a stop-over and a wink when he came to the suet cage ….Thanks Sammy!

Dear Reader:

To “oversummer” means to survive summer. Since May was the hottest “spring” month we ever had on record…it feels like summer has been here forever!

Our new “old” summer wardrobe looks as wilted as we feel…since most low country residents are trying to live in t-shirts, cut-offs, and light weight skirts…bought  new at Easter…looking worn and torn already with the Fourth of July approaching.

Even the birds seem to have lost their appetite since I bought my bench to look at them….suddenly they have disappeared. (Maybe they don’t like people staring at them while they eat. 🙂 When they do approach they look like they are posing on the perch rather than nibbling at the food. Sometimes from inside the house looking out the window…it looks like a painting with Sammy playing king of the roost.

A neighbor on the next block told me she lucked up and found a redbird bench at Lowes…it had to be put together but she had a handyman who did it for her….I told her Sammy the Cardinal might desert me and fly down to her house to see the red bench in his honor. (Of course she might, then, discover his ‘calling card’ left behind…always check the bench before sitting!)

An unexpected thunder storm rolled in around supper time-delightful…while I was sitting on my bench….the lightning got strong…so I jumped up and ran back in the house…but as I was typing this post…I looked out the window and noticed a few small chickadees had returned to the suet cage…They would sit on the the azalea branches over looking the cage…enjoying the rain.

The last few summers we have had extraordinarily hot weather in direct correlation with dwindling rain….to the point that we start playing “games” with God in prayer…saying things like ‘Please send us a tropical storm, not a hurricane, and don’t let there be strong winds associated with it… that do property damage but just bring us storms that dump a lot of rain….okay God?”

The brilliant C.S. Lewis described this typical mortal “Russian roulette” game we humans play with God…in this famous quote:

“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” C.S. Lewis

What a keen observation lying under all our layers of faith…the seed of doubt concerning the pain and sometimes  daunting challenges facing us as we await God’s help delivering the “best” for us.

We know in the end things will turn out for the best…just the way they are supposed to…the problem is getting to the end with as little discomfort as possible.

The sincerest, most courageous prayer we humans can implore is to ask for God’s best help (in any critical situation) while never forgetting to add an important “BUT”…”Not my will but Yours be done, God.”

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Only the strong survive…and here they are….

Family Quiz: What does Eloise have this year that she didn’t have last fourth of July?   A: HAIR

Dear Reader:

How many times in educational classes in college did we hear a professor quote Socrates with one of his most familiar mantras…”Know Thyself.” It was like it was the end-all response to just about any question in life…like vocation or goals and dreams. I reckon “Know Thyself” wasn’t in the Socratic rule book for nothing. Today we would probably go with a more modern synonym like “Be Self-Aware.”

Aren’t all of our lives a series of natural ebbs and flows? It has taken me most of my life to become self-aware of the boundaries that lie between the ups and downs of life. When we take time to reflect back on each of the repeated patterns we have experienced over and over again…we suddenly realize that it is our reactions to the ebbs and flows in our lives that make the difference between living a fulfilled life or a continuously stressed one.

Did we get ahead and gain from a “flow” time…saving money or paying off bills…or did we just dig ourselves deeper in debt by throwing it away doing things that didn’t help us take the next step to security?  ( So by the time the next “ebb” came through…we were in a worse position that the precious “ebb.”)

Do we like to think of ourselves as “victims” rather than face the truth that poor decisions and/or lack of strong decisions made over extended periods of time, repeated in patterns that we never broke …is actually the real culprit. Until we change and break the pattern in our lives…we find ourselves living that popular saying?- “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” 

A “perfect storm” doesn’t just come out of nowhere…it took a long time to build up due to on-going circumstances (today mostly man-made based on poor stewardship decisions in maintaining our planet)

Overall I think I handle most “ebbs” pretty well while taking time to count my blessings with the “flows.” Still…I have to remind myself every time a potentially financial or medical crisis arises to calm down and remember from similar experiences…that what I am facing is only an obstacle in the road…it is not a dead end.

If we actually died every time we made comments like “This one is going to kill me” we would have died more than the proverbial cat with the nine lives! 🙂 Instead we always move on but sadly too soon forget what lead us to the last crisis…until another one hits…and we are no more prepared than the last crisis because we haven’t changed anything in our pattern of life.

For example so many serious, potentially life-altering crises, like cancer, need only be considered a temporary detour and not a final destination. To date…these “detours” have put me on the back roads of my life journey where I get to find those corn fields in town and beautiful wild flowers along the less traveled country roads. Getting off the main highways (the main stream of life) the bumper to bumper traffic, the speed demons, horn beepers, road “rage’rs; and texting drivers can be an amazing catalyst to starting over with a better, calmer life.

So let’s all take time to look in the mirror and get to know ourselves a little better. My conversation would probably go something like this…”Now Becky…how many times have you blown up a temporary drawback in your mind only to discover that the problem was quite do-able…You just have to get over your own fear of incompetence and give people an opportunity to not only help you but teach you. Stop making the same mistakes by changing financial patterns. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses….start taking “baby steps” to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help…nobody knows everything…and start breaking old habits with new guidelines to follow from people you trust. As soon as a new pattern is created…watch your life change forever. Through it all ask for God’s help…to lead you …He will never steer you wrong…in His own time. Count your blessings, not your problems. It is true…no matter what anyone’s circumstances are…there are plenty of people who would love to have your worst day. Never forget that….”

So until tomorrow…May peace and tranquility flow through you into the mirror. Take a long look, then step back and start loving the person you see in front of you…flowers don’t compare their blooms with other flowers…and neither should we compare our strengths and weaknesses to other people. God is crazy in love with each of us just the way we are…now take that love with you wherever you go…to face each obstacle in life…knowing you are never ever alone.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Flowers are my mirrors…I just have to stop and take a long look at each bloom to see God’s benevolence  to me in His everlasting gifts of beauty and peace.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a “cobweb in the brain” day! Ever had one of those? It’s not really a headache as such…or if it is…only a hint of one deep back in the recesses of the mind…it feels more like a fuzziness or cobwebs in the attic (as Grandmother Wilson called the feeling.) You just want to keep shaking your head…hard.. to knock it out and clear your brain pathways again.

As the day went on…the fuzziness continued… and then suddenly around mid-afternoon an unexpected summer shower arrived and blessedly cooled things down. So I got in my car…rolled down the windows and just started exploring Summerville…turning down back roads, taking detours, and finding some of the most beautiful “rural” areas in vacant fields and empty lots. The scenes filled me with such beauty that my brain settled down and I could feel the calmness start to cut through the cobwebs.

*There’s also a lot of be said for turning off the air conditioner and breathing in fresh air in an ‘open windows’ car!

Look at this amazingly gorgeous corn field I found…standing tall and straight after the summer shower. Imagine finding this in an old neighborhood within town limits…I had never come across it before.

I pulled over and parked the car…and just let my mind rest and wander. It is astonishing what happens when you do that…my old brain reverted back to the wonder of a child.

I remember learning and later teaching about the importance of maize…the most important gift our Native-Americans taught us to plant and use. The gift (corn) that keeps on giving.

Colonists soon learned how to use Corn (their most staple food product) to make cornbread, cornmeal, corn flour, johnnycakes, corn pudding, popcorn, corn on the cob, cream of corn, corn chowder, etc.

Today corn is still the most major ingredient…particularly as a filler in cheap hamburger patties and other meat products and in corn syrup used in practically everything imaginable. (Not exactly what the Native-Americans and early colonists used it for…certainly not the healthiest by-products .)

When I think of corn…I immediately think of corn on the cob…and don’t forget the butter…is there anything better? I remember as a child literally squealing when I looked at a boiling pot and asked Dora if she was cooking corn on the cob…she would smile…and go to the refrigerator and pull out a stick of butter as a response to my question…I would scream and run outside to tell all the neighborhood kids we were having corn on the cob. (I got some mean looks I remember…every kid could eat corn on the cob every day, every meal.)

By now my ‘child wonder brain’  had drifted off thinking of expressions using the word  “corn”…and suddenly I found myself wondering why corn is so good…but “corny” has a negative connotation…as in being “un-cool?” How can anything with corn be “un-cool.”

So until tomorrow…This post might seem pretty “corny” but it got rid of my cobwebs and for that I will be very appreciative. In fact I am going to go pop some corn right now in celebration of a clear mind again!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*A special shout-out and thanks for prayers of support for so many things going on these past few days and especially for “the girls” tight web of friendship and support, not only for each other, but our children too. 🙂

I love houses where the owners have purposefully added a flavor of “country” right outside their door…my kind of people! (More cobwebs vanished taking this picture too)

Anne admitted it is going to be hard to leave fiddle camp in Maine…wonderful people, fun, and oh the weather…cool wonderful weather. But we all miss ya Anne and pray for a smoother passage home than going.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning while I was waiting to be called back for my annual physical at my wonderful Dr. Montoya’s office…I was kept amused by a small child…maybe 9 months or so (barely crawling but not walking)…who was sitting on the floor… propped up by her mother’s legs behind her.

Her mother had discovered a box of wooden blocks and placed them beside the little girl with the big brown eyes and ribbons tied throughout her hair…adorable. Intuitively she reached in the box and pulled out the blocks Then she started placing them one on top of the other. (*It is like babies arrive  pre-programmed… knowing what to do with blocks…start building.)

She continued… one block on top of the other on top of the other until they began to sway and they came tumbling down. All the previously bored-looking adults suddenly began watching the little girl in high anticipation.  She was our main entertainment and we all needed some. Every time the blocks tilted and then fell…everyone clapped with glee. The little girl looked around at all our faces and giggled too. It was wonderful!

As I watched… I remembered my own childhood and then my children’s …how after all the fancy Christmas toy presents had been revealed and played with….within a short time…the children all migrated back to the toy chest filled with blocks and began building again.

Without even being aware of it…each creation of God’s is given a blueprint deep inside showing the structure that reveals who we are…it is simply a matter of time before our own unique construction is complete.

“A child in a nursery school piles blocks upon blocks, pretending to build a house. A youngster on the beach mounds wet sand into the walls and turrets for a castle. Long we before we ever learn the word “architect” or its meaning… we become builders, mirroring, however faintly, the image of the Maker.”  (Images of God...John and Katherine Patterson)

The child playing with blocks, along with Honey’s bluebird of happiness and health (good luck charm) necklace took me over the top yesterday at my physical. All my vital check points were right on target and I am off  all diabetic medicine! 🙂

Dr. Montoya had been slowly easing me off the medication over the past couple of years and today she said my sugar levels were still perfect with the lowest dose medication. I no longer needed anything to regulate my glucose levels. She said this should also help my stomach problems from the new cancer medication since most diabetic medicines can affect nausea and diarrhea.

I left so elated….and now that I no longer have glucose problems I only need to see her twice a year instead of quarterly. Thank all of you for your prayers…they certainly did the job!

So until tomorrow…“We are all apprentices to the “Divine Architect” as we help build God’s design for the world….working as God intends for the establishment of justice, compassion, and peace.”

“Today is my favorite day” (It really was!) Winnie the Pooh

*I found this adorable idea on Etsy and found myself laughing and chuckling to myself. I think I might have to order these planks and letters to make witty sayings on the wall too. My adult-version of building blocks.

Wood Letter Board Ledge- Vinyl Record Storage-Wall Hanging Decor

Latest cuties in the garden:

*MORE fantastic news! Ted really likes the rehab center he has been transferred to….the staff is so nice and now Brooke is going to be able to start her own PT on her rotator cusp during the two weeks she and Ted are there….Hallelujah! God answered so many prayers yesterday.

Honey sent me this picture of the gorgeous sunset going down over the mountains in their back yard…a beautiful tribute to a day filled with God’s blessings.

Dear Reader:

Every Ya will tell you, hands down, that Brooke makes the best grits. While vacationing on any of our retreats she makes a big breakfast one morning  for all of us…. getting up early and ‘putting the grits on.’ They literally simmer for hours….but the wait is well worth it.

They are the creamiest, tastiest grits around. (*Now trying to wash or clean out the pot…whew…that is an entirely different matter…they have to soak about as many hours as it took the grits to simmer to get clean in time for the next retreat.)

These days, the Ya’s are having to pluck one “true grit” out of the pot to deal with the medical challenges facing all of us at  varying degrees. Right now… this refers mostly to Libby and Brooke.

Libby had to reach way down to find her true grit before her surgery earlier this month…but she did it and came through with flying colors. It will take awhile to completely recover but she just amazed all of us with the ‘grit’ she showed in preparation for the surgery and after it. Last of her stitches came out yesterday!

Then again, she is the daughter of the once “Queen of the World Grits Festival” in St. George, SC. Her mother, Nell Bennett, organized and ran the festival for many years and was famous in the low country for her southern hospitality and beautiful, warm smile.

Nell could rattle off recipes for tomato-gravy grits, french-fried grits and grits pie — the result was worth the months of work for her and the festival steering committee, as she greeted festival-goers with a cheery, “Grittings to you.”

After Nell’s death the state senate had the interchange between highways 78 and 15 named in her honor…she was St. George’s most famous, lovable resident.

Brooke is surely pulling our her own true grit as I type. She was supposed to start her own physical therapy tomorrow on her shoulder/arm….now everything has been postponed until the doctors inform the family what procedures and rehab lie ahead for Ted in his situation.

* Just heard that Ted is being transferred to a rehab center for two weeks to get his strength built back up before being released to return home… so Brooke will be staying longer than initially expected.

But knowing Brooke…she understands that (just like cooking grits slow and steady brings about the best results) all Brooke can do now is take each day at a time…researching as many potential medical options as possible, doing her homework, and then letting the chips fall where they may. The situation is in God’s control…not hers. Brooke is the epitome of  “true grit.”

Sis Kinney said it best in her comments yesterday…. “As we get older and older, we have to remind ourselves that at least we’re getting older and older! And, with that age progression comes the inevitable aches and pains, and sometimes – like Brooke’s husband – falls and breaks.

I feel VERY blessed that I have never had a broken bone; have lots of aches and pains though! Glad Brooke’s Ted is on the mend.
And, yes, the hugs and kisses from grandchildren are sometimes the glue that hold us together in our “not feeling best” state!”

So until tomorrow….Grandmother used to tell me to have “pluck” …another good word for “grit”.…both meaning….“sticktoitiveness” a diligent spirit; the nagging conviction that keeps us pressing on when it’d be easier to give up.

When the going gets tough and the tough get going...grit your teeth…pluck up your back straight and tall… show the world your most important access to success….true grit….Always remembering you are the one who never gives up!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Sweet memories of happier days (in the mountains) when the Ya’s went to Saluda to stay in Ted and Brooke’s mountain cabin to go see The Carole King Show in Greenville.

Dear Reader:

I don’t know where Gin-g finds so many cute cards that are right on target….but when I got home from Mt. Pleasant yesterday afternoon I immediately fell sound asleep. When I woke up I went to check my mail and here was the card above.

As I read it…”It’s hard to feel blessed when you don’t feel your best” I initially thought to myself what a solid piece of truth is in that statement…and it is.

But then I remembered all the fun from my stay-over with the grandchildren Sunday night and visits Monday to my other grandchildren before returning home…I decided to try re-phrasing the statement to…”Not Feeling our Best?…But We’re Still Blessed!”

I had so much fun with Eva Cate and Jake after John and Mandy left for Florida for John’s business conference. I laughed till I cried as Eva Cate entertained us while dancing to the 80’s music!

Later we all snuggled tightly together on the sofa until little Jake fell asleep (a true miracle) and then Eva Cate and I got to talk girl talk. Eva Cate read two more chapters to me from Ivy and Bean. (So proud of her improved reading capabilities…all her hard work with a tutor is really paying off…felt like crying I was so happy.)

Reading is so critical…even more so in today’s society where directions and changing technology requires more and more reading prowess!

Raising children is hard work…there’s no way around it…but at the same time…the love that flows between children and parents and grandparents…just fills one to capacity. And these days it is touch in the form of hugs and kisses that provide exactly the blessings I need to feel my best…in spite of temporary medical situations.

Yesterday when I woke up at six…the children were already up…playing quietly in the ‘little den’ so as not to wake me…so we had a very early breakfast and were dressed and waiting on Katie, the baby sitter when she arrived.

We were going to ‘divide and conquer’ with Katie taking Jakie to his pre-school in downtown Charleston while I took Eva Cate to her day camp. She was thrilled Katie was getting there early to braid her hair…it was adorable!

I decided to stop by Walsh and Mollie’s before coming home to leave the photograph I had made of Walsh and his children on the slide…a great belated Father’s Day gift.

Mollie, Eloise, and I went and picked up Rutledge from Bible School and had lunch together before I headed back home…filled with hugs and kisses…the medicine that keeps me thriving…

Katie kept the children busy with art classes last evening and then even let them draw me a picture on her phone! Cool!

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Updates:

*Ambika thanks everyone for their prayers and thoughts for her, her loved ones and country.

*Ted’s surgery went well (Brooke’s husband) who fell Saturday evening in Saluda… He ended up having a partial hip replacement. Yesterday was a tough day…he is still in a lot of pain and fuzzy from the medications…but his daughters have come to be with Brooke and keep her company during this trying period. Please continue your prayers for a full recovery….Brooke wants to thank everyone of you for keeping her family in your prayers.

Dear Reader:

Doesn’t life sometimes seem like a pile of lists that we have to check off to get through it?

From the time we are little we all learn about lists…the list who shows which teacher we got for the year or the list that shows our class schedule or the list that tells us if we made the “cut” in a particular sport …it might even be a list that shows if we made the acceptance list to a college or university we want to attend. We grow up becoming quite familiar with lists.

The problem with “to-do” lists is that they are never ending. As soon you  complete one…you find yourself making  another one. At some point in life, don’t we all stop and wonder….is this all there is to life…to-do lists?

In THE TO-BE LIST book by Latesha Randall with Sebastian Walter…they felt the same way. Isn’t life supposed to be more than doing…shouldn’t there be time provided for simply being?

(Excerpts from The To-Be List)

“Sometimes you just want someone to give you a little perspective and remind you that life isn’t all about doing- it’s about the beautiful journey of being.”

We live in a busy, fast-paced world where we can easily place a higher priority on achieving goals than on enjoying each day. But at some point in life don’t we all have an epiphany that even though our days are filled with things to do, we are missing out on life?

Doing is a short-term undertaking, being is a lifelong endeavor. When you focus on who you could become instead of what you can produce, you wind up  getting even more done. Hopefully this book will help you unlock the potential you already possess to be perseverant, selfless, adventurous, and even slow. It will give you a new perspective on what it means to really live. In the end you will come away with a deeper understanding about how fulfilling life is when you can just be.”

So until tomorrow….Hamlet contemplated the age old question of doing over being and the futility of “listing” rather than “living”…he, too, wanted to know “To be or not to be?”  That really is the question, isn’t it…life is only fulfilled with being…doing’s come and go leaving little memory of their existence.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Will keep you updated on Brooke and Ted as I hear…left for Mount Pleasant yesterday afternoon to keep Eva Cate and Jake over night and get them ready for pre-school and day camp this morning. John and Mandy are at a business conference in John’s field of work in Florida.

Katie, the babysitter is coming on duty until I return at the end of the week. We all have to find time to squeeze being in don’t we? But let’s “be” prayerful for others, like Brooke, going through tough times.

The flowers I left behind yesterday….

Urgent: Ambika, our dear loyal blog reader, texted me yesterday in response to the blog post about the metaphor of rain to plants and God’s love pouring on us. The area of India where Ambika lives is going through a drastic drought….not an “inconvenience” like the off and on one in the lowcountry but a three month drought leaving livestock and people literally dying of thirst.

Read Ambika’s message below and then let’s all pray urgently for God’s love and rain for India and Ambika and her loved ones!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning we had an unexpected thunder shower that hit in the wee pre-dawn hours. The lightning and thunder woke me up. I was doubly surprised since it had not even been forecast. I vaguely remember smiling to myself, as I turned over in my sleep, knowing I wouldn’t need to water  and how happy the plants must be with this precious, unexpected, gift from God.

The pouring out of love God showers us all with…is a metaphor for the rain that falls on nature….both are acts of love.

I feel sure when the rain begins falling the plants feel the love of God, their Creator in the refreshing and replenishing raindrops. (*They would need it…it got up in the high nineties yesterday (with the heat thermometer in the 100’s)…hot and sticky!)

Doesn’t God prepare us, too, for challenging “hot times”  with unexpected examples of His love for us? His love is like armor…it wraps around us and protects us from the difficult challenges that lay ahead of us… unexpectedly. (at least to us)

It is obvious to see the results of a garden that is going through a drought…the leaves start withering, turning yellow and then brown. Many stems simply fall before a bloom has time to finish forming. But then if the rains do come…the garden is a luscious green, and the blooms begin popping out all over…a breathtaking Garden of Eden effect. Rain and sunshine must always be in balance for nature to survive and succeed.

Have you ever thought how much love (percentage-wise) you have received in your life…and has it been enough? Don’t we question the amount of love we give and receive in different stages of our lives?

One of the most down-to-earth, touching, and powerful lines in the movie The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood takes place between the character (SiddaLee Walker) Sandra Bullock and her father, Shep (played by James Garner.)

After being “kidnapped” by her mothers’ friends (The Ya Ya sisters) and brought back home to Louisiana…her father comes to see her.

She adores him, yet feels sorry for everything he has had to endure from her mother who married him on a rebound after her first love was killed in WWII. (* Sidda remembers over-hearing (from the Ya Ya’s) that her poor daddy knew going into the marriage that his wife wasn’t over Jack’s death…but Shep thought he had enough love for the both of them.)

After hugging each other tightly…Sidda looks deep into her father’s eyes and asks him “Did you get loved enough, daddy?” There is a long pause before he stares back in her eyes and honestly responds ” What’s enough?”

Good question…Do we ever feel like we have been loved enough… upon reflection of our life here on earth? Most love is temporal….friends, parents, relatives, family, pets, spouses…come and go.

I think the day we finally fully understand that it is only God’s love for us that withstands the length of time…and the only love we can count on for every single breath of time we spend here…is the “a-ha” day we know we have been loved enough. God’s love is the strongest force on earth. We just have to know how to accept it.

After the rain I went out and sat on my new bench…I looked up at the magnolia tree and saw the most beautiful bloom hanging down… as if smiling at me.

When enough love (rain) is given, don’t we all bloom and blossom …showing the world the best we can be?

So until tomorrow…

Let us remember to be grateful for all the love we receive and be generous in all the love we give…like sunshine and rain…it is the balance of blessings that provides all the love we need. 

I definitely got more than my share of blessings yesterday from Gin-g, Jo, and Honey. Honey sent a package (that when opened) was a ‘bluebird of happiness AND healing” necklace…I told Honey I would be wearing it (for good luck) next week at my physical.

Gin-g sent a wonderful patriotic ‘Thinking of You’ card that will be perfect to put out on display for the Fourth of July! (*And we have all been thinking of you Gin-g ….so glad your ordeal is closing in to the finish line. You look terrific!)

Jo sent an adorable friendship/encouragement card for all of us to remember....”Don’t hide your light…let it shine on others instead.” You do this, Jo,  and so many more of you readers and friends….Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” It makes me so happy to feel so loved.

***Just got this upsetting text from Brooke earlier this morning. Her husband, Ted, fell and broke his hip. They have been up in the mountains (Saluda) at their mountain cabin visiting with some family of Brooke’s….not sure when all this happened.

Ted is now in the Hendersonville Hospital and will have surgery tomorrow to mend his hip. We definitely need lots of prayers for this situation. Thank you ahead of time for them….I know Brooke appreciates all the uplifting she can get.   Thank you!!!!