Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

I love the thought behind this little story so I selected it for you today.

You are Wonderful

The following true story captured my heart. It happened several years ago in the Paris opera house. A famous singer had been contracted to sing, and ticket sales were booming. In fact, the night of the concert found the house packed and every ticket sold. The feeling of anticipation and excitement was in the air as the house manager took the stage and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your enthusiastic support. I am afraid that due to illness, the man whom you’ve all come to hear will not be performing tonight.

However, we have found a suitable substitute we hope will provide you with comparable entertainment.” The crowd groaned in disappointment and failed to hear the announcer mention the stand-in’s name. The environment turned from excitement to frustration.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*And something wonderful did happen Sunday before I left! There has been a large branch caught far up on my one and only pine tree left in the front yard (since Hugo) near the den and driveway. It was way too high for anyone to reach without very expensive professional help. For at least two years storms have come and gone and the large branch (that looks like it has been hanging from a thread) has stayed secure.

The doorbell rang around 4:30 Sunday afternoon, after I had returned home from Mt. Pleasant and was working on blogs in my back office. It was Luke. He was so excited and he pointed to the front yard…just a few feet from where my car was parked…the branch had finally fallen! I can’t believe I didn’t hear it and that I didn’t pull any further in or the branch would have hit the car! But Hallelujah and thank you Luke for disposing of it for me.

Luke, “I think you are wonderful!” 

Dear Reader:

Well, the time has finally come! The week of the Ya Ya Mid-Winter Retreat has  arrived! (Only this time it is either the week of the Ya Ya End of the Winter Retreat or Early Early Spring Retreat.)

It has been a long time coming but that just makes it even more exciting as the anticipation has grown stronger and stronger. A whole week at Pawleys Island…I can hardly wait to get there and be surrounded by my friends from the past, into the present, and hopefully always the future!

While I am away I will simply leave you with a short anecdote for each day or perhaps a positive thought or quote. I hope this week brings nothing but joy to all of you. I probably won’t be doing much corresponding while away…but will share all the fun and adventures when I return.

When I came across this adorable anecdote that Billy Graham used to make a point several times in his evangelical presentations…it struck home to me…even more so with the recent passing of this amazing man of God.

Billy Graham would have been 100 in November this year…and what an extraordinary life he lead! After reading some bibliographies on him…I chose these short excerpts for their different experiences and feelings he had as a young man preparing for the life he would lead.

ORDINARY MAN… EXTRAORDINARY CALL.

Christened William Franklin Graham, Jr., Billy was born on November 7, 1918 in a small town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina,  and grew up on the family dairy farm. Reared in Scottish Presbyterian heritage, his family believed in strict observance of moral values, but also took time to laugh at his father’s many jokes.

The Grahams instilled a strong work ethic in their children. Often their Big Ben alarm clock woke them at 2:30 a.m. to work the farm. Billy’s job was to milk twenty cows every morning and afternoon, as well as shovel warm manure and refill feed troughs with fresh hay from the barn.

Once, while visiting an aunt, all the children were ordered to spend time reading the Bible. After about ten minutes, Billy declared, “I just read a whole book in the Bible.” (Little did his aunt realize that Billy had discovered the Epistle of Jude, the shortest book in the New Testament!)

It wasn’t until he had transferred to the Florida Bible College that he found his calling in the swamps of the Florida bayous. He had accepted Christ as his Savior while still a teen but he just wasn’t sure he was meant to become a preacher.

Paddling a canoe across the Hillsborough River to a little island near the Bible Institute, Billy practiced preaching to alligators, birds and trees honing his sermons in preparation of additional opportunities to preach. Still, he struggled to surrender his will to God’s Will. He wasn’t sure he was thrilled with the thought of preaching for the rest of his life.

One night in 1938, however, while taking one of many nighttime walks around the golf course, Billy got down on his knees at the edge of one of the greens, prostrated himself before the Lord, and prayed, “O God, if You want me to serve You, I will.”

From that night on, Billy’s life purpose was set. 

And we all know the rest of the story…the ‘preacher man and the presidents’ …he would rise to the top yet always remaining true to himself and his Creator.

One way he did this was to tell simple anecdotes (much like Jesus’s parables) so people could quickly understand the metaphors. For example:

Let Go

The following is a very meaningful story which is called “Let Go”, and written by Dr. Billy Graham.

A little child was playing one day with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best, but all in vain. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now, my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull.”

Dear Reader:

Friday night I watched the AARP (PBS) Great Performances Annual Awards. (It was the first time this feature film achievement award show has been televised.) The wonderful actress, Helen Mirren, was being honored with a lifetime achievement award.

From the start of this awards show the whole atmosphere was different. Nobody looked bored or disgruntled…or waiting for the cameras to go off to run to the bathroom or get refreshments. There was genuine appreciation for the winners of the different categories for the 17th annual movies for grown-up awards.

All the movies up for awards were “grown-up” movies with life lessons embedded in them…stories of life situations experienced and seen through the eyes of people who have experienced life and recognize the mountains and valleys within.

Helen Mirren, was obviously touched by this award for her versatile display of talents ranging from Shakespearean to comedy to dramas to tragedies. The 72 year old actress has had 50 years of movie-making and yet her delight in this recognition by AARP and Great Performances was genuinely sweet and touching. She did laughingly admit that getting a “lifetime achievement” award felt a little funny…as if it might be a subtle hint to hang it up now. And yet she felt like she is just coming into her own at the age she is.

I felt like I could relate to her comments. I, too, feel like I am just now ‘catching on’ to what this wonderful ‘game’ called life is all about and feeling more comfortable in it than ever before. Living life does take a lifetime of experiences to show us the way.

In 2005 Carol Poole and I were honored with a Life Time Achievement Award from the South Carolina Social Studies Council. I remember thinking the same thing as Helen Mirren…Does this mean it is time to hang up all the workshops and traveling we have done for so long.

It was not.

And when I think back now to 2005 when we received this award…my life was only, in certain ways, beginning. I was three years away from being diagnosed with breast cancer, I was teaching adjunct classes at two local colleges and thought my life would follow this path to the end.

I should have known better…the best was yet to be…my children’s marriages and finding their loves, five grandchildren didn’t exist…so many wonderful things were still waiting in the wings of the future.

Aren’t we humans bad at jumping to conclusions about ourselves and others without realizing that life is not predictable…and that is what makes it so exciting, so challenging, and never boring.

I love this simple little anecdote which teaches this lesson in such a sweet way.

Two Apples

A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mom came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: “My sweetie, could you give your mom one of your two apples?”

The girl looked up at her mom for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite out of one apple, and then quickly took another bite out of the other. The mom felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.

Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mom, and said: “Mommy, here you are. This is the sweeter one.”

No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgment. Give others the privilege to explain themselves. What you see may not be the reality. Never conclude for others.

So until tomorrow…Every day of our life when we wake up and have a chance to do something nice for someone else is a ‘Life Achievement Award Day.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I was out first thing Saturday morning to water while it was still cool (Am I really talking about watering in February before it gets too hot?)and at first I thought it was snowing…the petals from the blossoms on the Wild Plum were falling down with each breeze. It was beautiful…maybe that is the best kind of “snowfall” in the south.

The purple trailing anemone had decided to pop up in different places from yesterday…but it is acclimating quite well.

Dear Reader:

In one of the daily devotionals I like to read occasionally the story of the heartfelt meeting between the risen Christ and Mary Magdalene in the garden appeared. It always touches me. If you remember the story, Mary thought Jesus was a gardener. (I love that passage…what better way to be seen….as a person who grows life…which is exactly what Jesus did…and does.)

Mary is weeping outside the tomb and turns around to see a man standing there whom she doesn’t recognize immediately. It is Jesus who makes the first overture…“Woman, why are you weeping…whom are you seeking?”

Thinking he is the gardener, she says, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Jesus says to her “Mary!” She turns and says to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!: Master/Teacher (John 20: 14-17)

The last time she had seen him he was stretched out on a cross and covered in blood….what made her recognize Him now…His voice! His voice that personifies His true self…His identity on earth.

Haven’t we all experienced someone approaching us and asking tentatively, “Aren’t you Miss Barbour, or Mrs. Dingle, or Becky?” and it is usually a student I taught years ago or a fellow teacher…perhaps a friend from the past.

When I nod or respond “Yes” they usually follow up with …”I wasn’t sure at first but I never forget a voice…particularly yours with that unique southern accent.”

Isn’t it interesting how our auditory senses outlast our visual ones in the memory department?

It always turns out it isn’t just our voice recognition that brings a past human connection over to us but the memory of what was happening between us…the relationship… the last time they remember hearing my voice.

Since I did lots and lots of storytelling sessions in my district, as well as, many other school districts in the state…it is the sound of my voice mixed in with the story itself…that leads them back to tapping my shoulder and asking “Aren’t you Becky Dingle, the storyteller? Aren’t you Mrs. Dingle…my eighth grade social studies teacher?” 

One of the things we all wonder about is if we will recognize loved ones in our next world and somehow I feel that it will be hearing their voices again after such a long time for us mortals…that will first bring back the instant recognition of a “glorified” loved one. At least this is my hope and dream.

One project I am going to undertake now is to have the grandchildren (might have to wait on Eloise) speak into a tape recorder so I can always remember what their little voices sounded like at a certain age…

What made me think of this is when Jakie was born…and I was changing Iphones. John took the newer one (thank you Jackson!) and went to get me hooked up. On my old phone…I had a recording of the time Eva Cate first told me “I ‘OVE OOH BOO BOO!” It was so sweet and I would replay it over and over.

When I realized it was now lost forever I was so sad…so this is a project I want to do periodically as the children and their voices change…sticking with the same few questions so, not only their voices will change, but their interests also.

So until tomorrow…There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man’s lack of faith in his true Self. William James

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday was planting day…such fun! I had so many planters/containers with only dirt left over from last year (whatever plant had been in there had long died)….so I bought marigolds and Creeping Jenny to place in several pots on the benches. (Figure if we have a cold snap I can bring them into the potting shed)

I also succumbed to purchasing two Trailing Anemones…don’t know if they will make it but thought I would give it a try…they are so pretty…got a little creative with the purple trailing anemone and put an old weathered (bottomless seat) chair over it for it to grow through and lean on….we will see how this works out.

Aunt Whitney had more luck with her stroll with Eloise yesterday morning…It put her right to sleep. Mollie said it is chilly in the morning (forties) in Phoenix and the conference is being held in a beautiful hotel complex.

Dear Reader:

Wednesday’s blog ended with this photo I took while waiting in traffic at Five Points…I just thought the fading sunlight was so pretty on the path and green foliage…everything was lighting up under the last sunbeams of the day.

It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the photo again…that I picked up on something different in the picture. If you will glance right up above the marker (in the forefront of the photo) the sunlight is apparently hitting a leaf and casting it aglow…but to me…I, immediately, saw a white feather (too many Forrest Gump re-runs I reckon) gently falling down amid the foliage.

Wherever the truth lies…it made me so happy…like God was definitely sending me a little wink just to let me know He was with me. When things like this happen…I always sense that God has just walked through the place I am now discovering minutes before and leaving “bread crumbs” for me to find to guide me home.

I have never been a consistent walker until these past few weeks…having my neighbor Vickie walk too certainly helps keep me on track…but even when our schedules don’t click to walk every day…I can’t let a day go by without walking now. I realize it is my time to walk and talk with God through the beauty of the scenery I pass…finding some new natural discovery every day without fail.

The walks are making me realize that we can never remain in one stage of life forever…as much as we might wish sometimes. Whether it is a happy stage we don’t want to end…or a grieving stage that we don’t know how to leave…God is gently pushing us out to keep walking…walking with Him.

Time moves forward and so must we.  Dr. Ray Pritchard says: “You can’t stay (stuck in a stage)  because God’s Word is always going forward.  

In Philippians 3:14 Paul says that he moved forward toward “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. The Christian life is not static. It is a walk with God that moves you forward into a larger life with God.

I think the difference in me now and when I was working, especially when all the children lived at home…is that I was experiencing experiences only at the surface level (there was always somewhere else to go, something requiring a deadline, papers to grade, projects to help the children with, a daily dozen distractions….etc.) and now?

Now I really take in the wonder of the experience. And this differentiation makes all the difference in the world. For example…with the Bradford Pear blooming today swarms of bees, yes bees, are everywhere. I looked this up because I don’t remember seeing swarms of bees around the pear tree in the past and the article said that it wasn’t their favorite place to hunt for nectar but since it was one of the earliest to bloom…in large numbers the bees could do quite well accumulating nectar from the Bradford Pear.

One bee in the back yard was either infatuated with me, mad at me, territorial, or loved the smell of my Clinque “Happy” cologne! As I was cutting back weeds from the forsythia this bee buzzed me and then followed me all over the yard. I managed to even get some close-ups of him.

The Forsythia is out and blooming and my Ginger Shell plant has a green shoot…I was afraid the cold really got it this past January.

And here is my infatuated, happy, angry stalker bee…upclose and personal.

So until tomorrow…Ah…the wonder of the experience.…Thank you God for precious time to experience Your precious world.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Mollie and Eloise made it to Phoenix safe and sound…it just took them longer than expected. Rutledge gave little sister a big brother good-by hug for good luck.

Walsh decided to take the boys to a College of Charleston (Cougar) basketball game last night….He said Rutledge was really into the game….not so much Lachlan. During the National Anthem Lachlan could be found on the dirty floor between the bleachers eating popcorn off of it…I was scared to even ask if it originally belonged to them…the popcorn I mean.

This picture in front of the College of Charleston basketball sports arena with Rutledge and Lachlan…looks like something out of an old spooky movie…the regular child and then the “child of the corn” with strange lit eyes. One just has to laugh…Lachlan is now the official middle child and must live up to that decree of honor… and P.S. He has to go a long way to catch up with his dad.

*Don’t forget…. if you haven’t already voted…the family sure would appreciate you voting for Lee Barbour for Charleston Best Musician. The voting ends at 12:00 P.M. today. *And thank everyone who has already voted since our February 11 blog letting you know about the competition. Will certainly update you when we hear the results…very soon! Just click on the “here” below and find the Best Musician category! Love and kisses.

In other local news, I’m very honored to be nominated for Best Musician by the City Paper this year! And, while the nomination is awesome, it would be even more incredible if I won! I’ve always hoped to earn that title but did little to promote that goal. Self promotion is a difficult one for me, and getting better at it is another goal for 2018! So, if you think it is a fitting title and are willing, please go vote for me here. Also, if you wanna vote for Gradual Lean for Best Jazz Band, by all means, go for it…thanks in advance!

Click on this link to read a short synopsis  on Lee’s musical talents.

lee-barbour-musician | ABOUT

Dear Reader:

When I pulled up to the house late yesterday afternoon, from keeping Eloise for Mollie to get ready for their trip, it was like the Bradford Pear had exploded blossoms while I was gone. What made the scene particularly beautiful was the ‘white’ on ‘white.’ Rarely is the Wild Plum blooming at the same time as the Bradford Pear …it has usually bloomed and is sporting green leaves before the pear pops out.

But that wasn’t all that had started popping while I was away…my first azalea bloom was smiling back at me when I went to check the garden. The violas were beautiful after I had watered early in the morning before leaving for Mt. Pleasant.

(Is this really February with temps in the 80’s and I am already having to water?…This could be a long hot watering season (s).

 Here’s a little trivia for you…did you know that Washington really wasn’t born on February 22? And that he was a year older than stated all his life?  It all has to do with a calendar…or better yet…changing one calendar to another calendar…confused…well read and be ready to win a trivia question/answer on Jeopardy!

February 22, 1732

Mollie and Eloise are taking their first plane trip together…Mollie has a national Beauty Counter conference in Phoenix…which, fortunately, is also, where her little sister, Whitney lives and teaches. So Whitney is going to get to see her little niece for the first time. It should be fun. (In the photo Mollie is modeling their special ‘beauty counter red’ lipstick for the month of hearts.) Safe travels girls…and let us know you are there safe and sound!

So until tomorrow…Let’s enjoy whatever weather we have now and look forward to whatever descends in the future…it is all beautiful.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This is my ‘happy beauty’ photo from yesterday…taken from the open car window while stopped for traffic at Five Points…the sun dappled through the trees so beautifully…but there is a mystery here too…examine the picture carefully and see if something strange pops out at you!

(Kelly Rae Roberts)

Dear Reader:

As a history teacher I have always found it fascinating to compare our interpretation, today, to some event in history… from the safe vantage point of decades and /or centuries later in hindsight…Yet how different it was for those people living at the time of the event (whether war-related or some other kind of crisis) and not knowing what the outcome would be.

This is especially true this time of year as we wait for the annual Easter Story…the Crucifixion and  Resurrection. We have the benefit of knowing the outcome of the story today…but not so for the people living then. And aren’t we mortals quite impatient when we want to know the ending to something and aren’t willing to “allow the unfolding?”

Psalm 106: 13 says it best:…“But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold.” 

In one form or another…several times a week, I read excerpts from famous theologians, religious authors, and shared blog writers who all remind all of us that this journey through life is not ours alone…we are not expected to solve problems or live life alone…we are to be still and listen for God’s guidance and allow His plan to unfold.

In fact, right now, during Advent, isn’t the idea of waiting for God’s “plan to unfold” the focal point of this season?

During our own lifetimes when health crises or financial crises (or any other type of crises) hit…don’t we always want to know the ending right then and there…if we are going to “live happily ever after” instead of just trusting in God for His plan to unfold for us?

Nature understands this…(Sometime I think that Nature is the higher “creation” in God’s hierarchy…not man.) No matter how much a plant might want to bloom intuitively they wait for the right time to reveal their hidden beauty…kept secret during the winter months.

And speaking of secrets…Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. Doodle Simpson) stopped by yesterday and studied the unnamed white blossoming tree, in my side yard intently…it was then that she noticed an important clue…not recognized earlier. The tree had thorns growing from the stems off the branches. The bark was similar (a little lighter) than my Bradford Pear and the trunk slightly narrower…but the main clue…the thorns.

Taking another sample from the tree (including more information and descriptions)..Doodle returned home and went to work. After following more investigative scrutiny, she emailed me and announced, that the best guess her research produced: (Drum roll please!)  It is a Wild Plum Tree!!!

I immediately pulled pictures up on the internet and there it was …complete with the right trunk, bark, thorns, and blossom design. Doodle said she still might be wrong…but based on her hypothesis this was her best inclination. I told her it looked like it to me too…the Mystery of the White Blossom Tree is “officially” now closed.

From now on…I will tell people who stop and ask about it annually… that it is a Wild (Native) Plum tree…(Prunus Americana.) 

*It makes sense because when we, initially, moved into this neighborhood in 1982 an elderly gentleman in poor health lived next to us….and he had let the yard go back to nature which we loved. It was like another lot separated the two houses and there were lots of wild azalea bushes and other beautiful native plants. This was one tree that survived cut-backs by later neighbors who bought the house.

So we didn’t have to wait too long for this secret to “unveil” but it was fun having your help and interested curiosity in the mystery.

Monday evening Walsh, Kaitlyn, Tommy, Mandy, and myself had fun helping Tommy and Kaitlyn decide if they are going to keep the name Khaleesi or change it to something else…The texted exchange got funnier and funnier…not sure what the final outcome will be…but it was just enjoyable helping in the “unveiling” process.

Tommy and Kaitlyn got side swiped a couple of weeks ago on their way to work on I-26 (a young driver not paying attention…most likely texting) and it totaled Tommy’s old car…which is never good since the amount of money left to put on another car…if slim to nil. But the most important thing was neither were hurt.

Tommy had some good news yesterday… which ended his waiting for a “car plan to unfold”…he got a newer car. He said this was his first “big boy” car since all the other preceding ones have been family cars handed down when they bought new cars.

Lots of changes…lots of fun…and love…as you can see with this other sibling affection between big (though smaller) brother Pip and his new “Sissy. (Khaleesi) *Tigger is going to be jealous if he sees this.

I worked hard outside yesterday in the garden and back yard..cutting back dead stems off the mums, picking up lots and lots of pine cones and sticks…throwing out broken planters and containers, pulling off dead vines from the morning glories that once reigned so prolifically on the fence last summer. …(When I came back in around 1…I was so hot…my face was beet red.)

But later yesterday evening…it was worth it as I stood on the deck and looked out…slowly but surely all the dead vines are off the fence and the dead branches off the trees are disappearing from the landscape.

 It is all part of God’s plan being unveiled…nature’s way of cleaning out debris to make way for new life that is surely coming…(with just a little help from me.)

Dear Reader:

A few months ago I ordered a calendar and date book from Kelly Rae Roberts artworks. I just love my 2018 date book…it is adorable with her whimsical artwork on each page…then Anne gave me a 2017 calendar for her artwork, too, that she knows I love…and I do.

This particular message (title photo) spoke to me yesterday…the weather has warmed back up…the shutters have been flown open once again,  the windows pushed up as high as they can go….winter germs out…fresh air in. Bring on this imperfectly perfect crazy mess of a beautiful life I live!

After all these years of collecting and cluttering I realize that my happiness, today, is tied directly to my minimalism. The less I have…the better I feel. It truly is like the legendary albatross flying off one’s shoulder. Freedom brings about such an elevated degree of happiness that joy just has to top it off like cherries on a sundae. A wonderful combination!

Some days it feels like the process of removing unused objects from my house…is like peeling an onion to get to the delicious center that will make every dish more palpable to awakening all our senses to the taste of  life. My personal happiness is growing in direct correlation to my “stuff” departing.

I am still going through the process and probably will be the rest of my life…but that’s okay…because now the process brings such happiness and joy… by proclaiming my freed time to play more and have more adventures in my life.

I loved the following thoughts from Joshua Becker on his website… with this message “Life is not Perfect…Fortunately.” (excerpts)

“Life is not perfect. It never has been and it never will be. But this can be good news. It means we can stop pursuing the mystical, perfect life. It means we can stop chasing perfect skin, the perfect job, the perfect house, or the perfect spouse. It means we can find freedom to live within our imperfections.”

…Some ideas to share and steps to follow…

We can finally stop chasing happiness in perfection. Happiness is not something to be attained when everything around is perfect—it can’t be. Instead, it means we can find contentment and happiness and joy even in the midst of defect. And when we begin to realize happiness is fully available to us today regardless of our circumstance, the better our chances become of finding it.

We can relate to one another in our weakness. Once we fully understand that all people are imperfect by nature, we can stop pretending that we have it all together. I am imperfect and you are imperfect. So let’s stop pretending that we aren’t. Instead, let’s begin living authentic, vulnerable lives with another. For it is in our weakness that we find our greatest commonality and community.

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So until tomorrow…Like Baker infers…being imperfect opens up our eyes to the good and joy around us…Since it is harder to obtain…the achievement is so much sweeter… or as stated so beautifully:

…”The mountaintops are high because the valleys are low. Without sorrow there is no joy. Imperfection brings beauty to the good. And because we know life is imperfect at best, we can find even greater joy in the little moments of triumph”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Speaking of Beauty and Pretties…Honey surprised me yesterday morning by showing up at my house…I cannot think of a more wonderful way to start the day…and look what she brought me that she made…a clay heart-shaped flower holder for my deck. I can hardly wait to put it up and have beautiful flowers spilling over in it.

Honey also gave me another hint her mother-in-law had told her…if you want to keep squirrels out of your flower beds or planters…put pine cones around flowers so the squirrels won’t  try to dig down and pull the roots up…another deterrent, as well as marigolds…I think the double protection is going to do the trick. Now let’s hope this unusually warm weather wave doesn’t wilt or kill the pansies. Always something with gardening.

I have several readers on the case of the flowering tree outside my computer window…Beverly thought it was a Stellar or Star Magnolia and I did too when I pulled the picture off the internet…but then Vickie showed me a real one in a neighbor’s yard and it is more oriental and ornamental in its smooth bark and petite trunk.

Vickie thinks it might be a Mahaleb Cherry because of the cluster design and Doodle is considering an Ornamental Pear tree… it does remind me of my Bradford Pear in the aspect that the bloom comes first and then the leaves. So the mystery is still open….will have to examine the trunk, I think, more closely to match it up correctly. Thanks everyone for your input…this is fun. I do know when I do have the name…I will never forget it.

Love is in the air…Tommy and Kaitlyn are fostering a little dog named Khaleesi….They kept Tigger for John and Mandy over the weekend for them to go to Disney World…and apparently Tigger, the old bachelor, is completely smitten with Khaleesi…Valentines is over and the love keeps coming.

And Rutledge is smitten with his little sister Eloise  too! Love is in the air…!

And Jakie is in love with Mickey Mouse ( and especially his new Mickey Mouse shirt from Disney) and his bouncing donkey…Life doesn’t get much better than this. Love is in the bounce!

Dear Reader:

There’s just something about tree houses that bring back such wonderful, childhood memories…secret codes (Pig Latin) hidden “treasures” and great hideaways when supper is ready and you aren’t.

But the thing I remember most…were the “sacred” trust bond rituals among the club members…usually the girls against the boys…fighting it out over territorial claims… who got to the tree house hideaway before the other. We would do the chants and promises to secrecy among each other…the favorite refrain being: “Do I have your word?” with the response of “You have my word.” We would make the three finger promise over our heart believing no one would ever break our trust or give away our secrets.

Of course they did get broken…for lots of reasons…mostly adolescence arrived and with it junior high pranks and broken promises. By high school the idea of secrets and trust in promises to keep one’s secrets was jaded and sadly…innocent childish trust a distant memory.

In The Rock that is Higher Madeleine L’ Engle takes this refrain to a spiritual higher level…. from the disappointing broken promises of man to God’s never-ending promise to us…His Word.

(excerpt)

“When was the last time anybody asked you, “Do I have your word?” Or when was the last time anybody said to you, “I give you my word,” and you knew that you could trust that word, absolutely?

How many times in the last few decades have we watched and listened to a political figure on television and heard him say, “I give you my word…” and shortly thereafter that word has been proven false. In the past year alone, how many people have perjured themselves publicly? Sworn on the Bible, given their word, and that word has been a lie? 

…Small wonder that when God tells us, “I give you my Word,” few people take Him seriously.  

“I give you my Word,” said God and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. ” The Word became the living truth for us, the only truth that does set us free from the shackles of misguided trust in our world. 

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Psalm 118:8 –  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. 

Isn’t it nice to know that there is one “Person” in this whole wide world whom we can trust to keep our secrets, forgive our mistakes and weaknesses, and love us in spite of it all…God’s WORD.

So until tomorrow…Let us remember to stop when counting our bills and coins…and take a moment to realize that trust in man and money is risky at best…but trust in God brings us the ever-lasting (not subject to the whims of Wall Street) divine dividend of God’s trust in us…we have His WORD.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

More happy “pretties” to share…spring surprises!

The squirrels dug up all my pansies and my snap dragons (from my last barrel arrangement) ….so this time my pansies and petunias are in the center and my “guards”… the marigolds that squirrels don’t like… are standing tall and doing a good job…no squirrels so far.

Vickie’s Japanese tulip tree is just gorgeous…and look at these camellias (hybrid) she shared with me on our walk yesterday afternoon from her camellia bush in the backyard..

I have this gorgeous tree and blooms on the side of my house…but I don’t know the name of it…any ideas? A flowering something???

The state flower….the yellow jessamine is out in abundance now…pretty decor for this neighborhood mailbox.

Actually… except for a few short excursions outside… I remained inside the rest of the day…the sun never came out and the predicted warm temperatures never materialized… the gray clouds with spurts of rain dominated the skies…  and dampness seeped into the house.

So I put on a log, lit a candle, grabbed a book and thanked God for the luxury of a quiet day to read and reflect and count my blessings.

*And speaking of blessings…thanks Anne for calling and stopping by to pick up the grandchildren’s tree name markers to touch up…Anne is leaving for the Florida Keys Friday and she said she was ready to just piddle with small projects like mine before she leaves… down-sizing after her show…which took a lot of work…and was very successful!

Dear Reader:

When Mollie texted me Friday night about bringing the boys and Eloise to come visit me…(Eloise’s first look at Boo Boo’s home…and visit to Summerville) I was so delighted! Immediately I thought of family who had been dying to see her but the flu bug and cold weather had been on-going deterrents… who would now have their chance.

As it turned out Doodle, Lassie, and Carrie were going to be together in Summerville so everything fell into place. Eloise’s first debut to her extended, adoring family.

After everyone left Saturday afternoon…the thought came to me that God, in all His wisdom, purposefully decided to have His son enter the world as a baby too for all the same reasons Eloise’s arrival was so successful.

There is something so magnetic, pure, and innocent about a newborn baby’s entrance into the world and into the family. Everyone understands, at different levels, that life, as it has been known, is forever changed. You can’t return to how it was before the infant arrived…nor would you want to.

Only a few days into a little baby’s appearance, everyone attached to the child, in whatever relationship, can’t remember a time when the child wasn’t part of this family on earth.

Jesus’s arrival  would change so many different relationships between Him, his Father, and His fellowman that, the world, would never be the same…just better than the empty vacuum Jesus entered as a newborn. One little baby can draw family and friends back together again like no other event can achieve. A newborn restores our faith in hope, in life, and in our eternal existence.

Thank you Eloise for bringing family together again yesterday…to see you and delight in the person you will one day become…a change-agent for good in a wearied world in desperate need of renewed hope for mankind’s future.

*My across the street neighbor, Vickie, was able to walk over and meet our newest addition to the family before Eloise had to return home.

Eloise really took to Doodle….a little extra twinkle in her eyes…like she is thinking “Wait a minute…I know you from somewhere!”

Haven’t you heard that when a baby looks over your shoulder she is giggling at the angels behind us?

The boys would check in periodically to see what Eloise was up to…but mainly they just enjoyed being little boys…eating cupcakes and playing with scooters, swings, and things that move.

This little window that separates the bedroom hall from the den has been a favorite “peek-a-boo” spot from the time we bought this house…in the early eighties… when I was expecting Tommy.

Oh…the time is flying too fast and now I know how even more precious these first months are with a a new baby in the family..because you can never  get back those moments of pure entrancement and love as you stare back into a tiny one’s soul…

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Sprucing up the deck for the coming of spring. It will come!

*Another God Wink…the day the blog post on the Friendship Train came out Jackson found some boxes of photos that didn’t get destroyed completely in the flood and lo and behold there was a picture taken in 1949 of her grandfather at a gathering of WWI veterans to honor the French Gratitude (Merci) state boxcar in Greenville. (Jackson’s grandfather (Robert Nyle) is the second from the right at the bottom of the picture.

*Beverly Parkison had a God Wink experience with a hummingbird too…

Love both little stories. I have never seen up close a nest of hummers but I did witness a mother humming bird pick up her baby , by the head, and direct it to a flower. One of those once in a life time things. Enjoy your weekend.