Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

It wasn’t until ‘the bug (s) from hell‘ came along recently that I, now, fully understand the importance of having a “sanctuary” in or around our homes.  The term sanctuary can be a safe place of refuge or a natural reserve (like a bird sanctuary.) Mine is both…it is my garden and yard.

If I had not had my garden to retreat to and find solace in its beauty and serenity I would have probably burned up from “cabin fever” by now. This garden plaque I once took a photo of (that Beverly Baruito kept in her garden at Edisto Beach) best sums up what my garden means to me in the realm of healing.

I decided to pick out my top five favorite sanctuaries that have kept me sane through this “maddening malaise.” The sanctuaries change constantly… depending on what’s blooming or growing or by simply calling out my name.

1) How can I be unhappy when I pull in my driveway and see this beautiful scene of sunflowers, pansies, bottle tree of all colors….”I am home.” Surely…I am the most blessed of all women.

2) Harriett’s day lilies bloom more abundantly each year…in different clusters around the garden…they appear quite regal with their blooms of gold glittering in the sunlight. What an awesome asset they have been to the garden. A special “Shout-out” to Harriett’s generosity!

3) Here comes the Queen….The Eva Cate Japanese Maple was the last to bloom this year as if the queen was waiting on her three “man-servants” to clear the way in the procession for her debut. The Queen! Unlike the grandson’s red maples…the Queen’s tree is a green maple. Since I knew nothing about these trees when I purchased them I had no idea there were different kinds/colors but they must have.. it all worked out perfectly.

4) The Gerber Daisy Corner- This sanctuary just makes me smile…every day another little gerber pokes its head up and beams back at the world. It is hard to be sad around Gerber Daisies.

5) The “Shared Co-op” Rosebush…..from my front porch. The beautiful rose bush is covered in buds and grows more breath-taking day by day. It has two proud grandmothers…Boo and my neighbor Vickie!

So until tomorrow…Let’s find a sanctuary near where we live so we can have a place to go  when we just need to converse with God for a little while and get caught up with Him.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

( Postcard- “The Little White Church” Eaton, NH)

Dear Reader:

I came across this notecard, while looking for a frame for a special water color “extraordinaire” Eva Cate is getting for her sixth birthday and kindergarten graduation. (More details later) Both will be here before we know it.

When I saw this (title) sketch…I immediately enlarged it  so I could see the outline of the church, its steeple, and the neighboring trees more clearly…slightly set apart from the dense fog of its surrounding.

There was just something about the scene that drew me to it. The church represented security, comfort, and safety from the encroaching mist creeping in around it. I could picture myself in the scene running as fast as I could…keeping my eyes on the steeple which represented refuge for lost souls.

Two weeks of keeping one’s own company can be very tedious and frankly, just plain boring. On the other hand, it allows time to pull up some old, dusty musings from different stages in our lives and look at them again…from the perspective of the latest stage  we are in.

The first thought that popped into my mind, when I saw the ‘little white church’… was the idea of feeling lost and then realizing I was almost home. During all the different stages of my life I have always felt, at times, like a foreigner or maybe a tourist in an alien land that I know, intuitively, is not my home.

This land has given me family and friends to support me and encourage me, from childhood to adulthood, on my “tour” through it. But it has also shown me the imperfections that lie hidden within it. In this life…nothing is quite as it seems.

Somewhere, along the journey, the truth hits us. This is not a sightseeing “tour”…it is a hands-on experience and our mission is to discover  our own hidden “talents/treasures/passions” and try to leverage the “imperfections” with our best efforts…to make the world a better place for having been here.

There is a homesickness that touches many of us throughout our life experience because we all sense that this life isn’t our home….it is just a temporary dwelling until we can finally return to our original home. The one we still get only glimpses of in this life…that unexpected sense of deja vu...having been somewhere we have never been before…the tingling excitement that shoots through us and then just as quickly  disappears. So we continue on…

So until tomorrow: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T. S. Eliot quotes …

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

 *Mollie and Marcia….Have either of you seen this little church or been there? Just curious?

While I have been coughing my lungs out…Jakie is climbing to higher places and Miss Eva Cate is preparing to dazzle the world with her first dance recital next month.

*Shelly Baker sent me this hilarious true anecdote last evening and….Oh how my grandmother would have loved it!

My 86 year old mother’s cousin has been sick for a couple of weeks. She called mom this week and since mom was out left the following message, “Evelyn, I’m just calling to let you know that you no longer have to hunt for a black dress to wear to my funeral, I’m feeling a bit better today.” Mom returned the call and when Sarah answered mom said, “Sorry I missed your call, I was at the thrift store looking for a black dress!” Some humor to lift your spirits, prayers for a speedy recovery, and lots of love from my heart to yours.

I tasted meat for the first time last evening….Anne brought hamburgers by last night…I only got through half of it…but for me it was the most in quite a few days….I am woman, hear me roar!

The sun came out beautifully last evening and Anne and I walked around the garden and front yard….Look at the dew on my (and my neighbor Vickie’s) rose bush….the rain droplets glistening from the earlier rains. Like the songbird in Archibald Rutledge’s story…I felt God’s presence in the glistening roses….I will be well….just need to practice patience.

Dear Reader:

Spring Creek runs behind and around  St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope… thus giving its name to the small community that calls this area home…the Spring Creek Community.

Most of the time the creek creates a soothing meditative state when one visits the grounds surrounding the chapel….What is it about water falling over rocks that soothes our jangled nerves and replaces our agitated state of mind with peace and contentment?

However, the owner (who bought the “estate” from the earlier owners- the Barutios) experienced a flash flood, brought on by melting snows one spring, soon after his purchase. The chapel was saved rather miraculously from the potential flood and the event even slightly changed the course of the creek’s natural design. The “flow” was interrupted.

To infrequent visitors  this slight altercation isn’t obvious or apparent….the creek is still “babbling”  its melodious tunes as the wind and rocks accompany it.

Isn’t this true of life….we humans design our future, make our plans…only to discover that “floods” and other “natural disasters” come along and change the direction we always thought we were headed?

I like the message in this following excerpt from a HuffPost Healthy Living article titled: “ What We Resist Persists: The Beauty of Going with the Flow” by Dawn Gluskin.

(Long afterward he said to me.)

“Do you remember that night? I thought it would be my last. But from the time the birdsong came through that window, I felt that I would get well. I don’t talk much about these things, but I felt all that beauty and peace were really the love of God. I guess He does not love us with words: He loves us by giving us everything WE NEED-in every way…when we need it.”

So until tomorrow…Let’s start adding pencils and erasers to our daily lives…so when the interruptions to “our plans” come along (and believe me…they will!) we can erase our human errors and add God’s new direction to our lives.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*It dawned on me yesterday that it has been exactly two weeks since the first “bug” hit me and since that time I feel like the poor antelope that wanders too far away from the rest of the herd (on the Serengeti) and becomes a target for every predator lurking…hidden and ready to pounce. I do believe whatever I have had has morphed into different formations over the past two weeks.” It has definitely been a bit of a challenge.

Yesterday when I considered the length of time….two weeks since first getting hit with the first virus…I thought to myself…Just two weeks…I feel like I have been sick for months now.

The hardest part, however, is realizing that I haven’t seen the grandchildren for two weeks. Now that really does seem like months. I want to make sure that I am not contagious and can’t pass something around again. None of the family needs one more “bug” at this point in time. Love you Eva Cate, Rutledge, Jakie, and Lachlan….Boo Boo is (hopefully) almost over her “Boo Boo Owie.” Soon!!!

.

Dear Reader:

While I have been “under the weather” as we southerners like to say…I have done a lot of reading and watching some television. Still, there has been long bouts of time remaining that have allowed me to return to the past and suddenly remember an isolated childhood incident I thought was long forgotten.

It started with watching clips from the Ken Burns documentary on Jackie Robinson… which was provocative, fascinating and sad all at the same time….then I drifted off to sleep (mainly to stop my hacking…sick of hearing myself cough…I am at the point where I hate to cough because all my stomach muscles are so sore I cough and yell “ouch” simultaneously!)

When I woke up, pretty disoriented, pieces and scraps of an old memory were tugging away at my memory box…..baseball, ball, bat….that was it! I knew instantly what I had remembered.

When I was about eight,  several kids from different neighborhoods started meeting on empty lots (wherever we could find one before being asked to leave) about the same time each day after school. Sometimes we would play kick ball or dodge ball (Did I ever hate that game….remember I was still wearing dresses every day and my poor legs were just one big bruise.) But in the spring the game of play had to be, unequivocably, baseball.

Some envied kid always lucked up and got a baseball for Easter and then all it took was a couple of available bats (for me they came into two sizes… heavy and heavier) and the game was on. Obviously being eight, a girl, a tiny little girl and no  redeeming athletic abilities… I was chosen last.

In other words…I was the wildflower picker out in left field with nothing but ground moles to keep me company.

One afternoon, however, hardly anyone showed up….apparently the infamous stomach virus had hit the neighborhood so I was going to actually get to bat and move up right behind third base for my field placement. I had been promoted to gopher batter and chaser of balls that got past the third baseman.

Because there were no light (aluminum) bats in our childhood games the bats felt like they weighed half of my body weight. When I would try to hit balls at home I always threw the bat (in my excitement upon actually making contact with the ball) in those rare moments of childhood.

The catcher (Freddie Jones) warned me in quite expletive language what he would do to me if I swung that bat back and hit him….So when the ball came my way I was more worried about throwing the bat than hitting the ball. Somehow the combo worked.

I hit it and a God’s Wink (even back then) the ball started rolling right to  first but at the last second it hit a root or perhaps a mole hill and bounced up right past the first baseman’s glove. All the kids started yelling for me to run to  first.

So terrified of hitting Freddie…I ran…taking my bat with me. When I got close to first I simply tapped the “base” with my bat and kept on running….I did the same thing for second …at first I heard protests and then shouts of “Out” but the farther I went (huffing and puffing pulling that big old bat behind me) I now heard cheering and phrases like “Run “Bat Girl!” “Go Bat Girl” (Bat Man had just emerged in the late fifties and was the “Hot” super hero.)

By the time I tapped third with my bat…”Bat Girl” had pretty much had it…I was running out of energy fast and home plate looked a mile away. If it hadn’t been for the cheering…I would have just dropped to the ground. But with all my waning strength… I leaned forward and tapped home plate before collapsing.

Everyone was laughing and patting me on the back…apparently I had added some unexpected spirit to a lackluster game and from that time on…I was “Becky…Bat Girl!”

(You know you have made it when you get a nickname from the kids you hang out with….and it is funny…I never improved much…even when I grew into the bat a little more…but it didn’t seem to matter…I was “Bat Girl” and that was that. In the hierarchy of childhood acceptance I had made it to the top!)

I do remember Freddie taking my bat from me, still tightly clutched in my hands, and throwing it against the surrounding fence where it lodged until the next game. I didn’t have a number put on it or my name or anything….after all it was Freddie’s bat. And back then cameras were non-existent in my childhood…at least for children.

But every now and then, while flipping channels, I will come to a baseball game and see bats hanging from the fences and smile…”Way to go Bat Girl.”

So until tomorrow…Let us give thanks for precious memories that reassure that we have never been alone.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I was delighted to see a picture that my “old” neighbor Debi Sullivan Gray discovered of the children around Tommy’s age that played together growing up…..The two Charlottes, Ashley, Courtney, and Tommy

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153382157511916&id=523351915&set=rpd.1047040972&source=49

Dear Reader:

I am not a big fan of “blustery days”…on many levels.

Teachers are part-time meteorologists/astrologers when it comes to understanding the connection between the weather and their students’ behavior…or lack of….  Experienced teachers know that a blustery day produces “antsy” students…if it were windy on the way to school I just sighed…it was going to be a long day.

Of course all teachers know that the full moon brings out the werewolf in the vast majority of students….even those sweet students (you can usually count on to help pass out papers and tell the other students to “shush”) reveal their fangs when the moon is full.

So if, perchance, you get a full moon and a blustery day together… the wise teacher knows to call in sick and get a poor substitute to go where ‘no man has gone before’ and return home sane.

I will have to say, however, it was Hurricane Hugo that instilled the fear of wind in me which I have never quite gotten over….

Thursday evening when I returned from Columbia I thought I had a mystery on my hands. It was just starting to turn dark but I still had my sunglasses on. In my left hand I was holding a few packages (of course we went shopping….it’s what girls do when we get together) and with my right hand I was pulling the storm door open with the keys dangling from my teeth (cute, huh?) when I tripped over something.

“Oh no!” it was Big Red who had toppled off the white bench and my “Boo’s Blessing” sign was haphazardly lying over part of it. All the water had run out so I quickly got her picked back up…but left the “Boo Blessing” sign down…it is so light I knew it wouldn’t stay up there for long. Then I watered “Big Red” and went in to think about who or what could have done this.

It just didn’t seem possible that the wind could topple “Big Red” in her heavy container. I wondered if a cat had climbed up on the bench but haven’t seen one do that since Lucy and she never knocked over “Big Red.” It was a true mystery.

Then Friday morning I put the “Boo Blessing” sign back up and  I went to CVS to pick up my Z-Pak and Continental Corner to get my lemon chicken soup. I glanced at the porch as I pulled in and everything was right in place. I breathed a sign of relief.

But just as I began to open the storm door I heard this eerie whistle of wind and abruptly the storm door handle jerked me forcefully forward… as it flew shut, the “Boo Blessing” plaque started flying around the porch like a satellite landing partially on my head (it is very light) and since I cut off the one large stem that had broken and was dragging the porch floor….the other stems have shot up taller…so “Big Red” is now a little bit top-heavy.

Thus, its stems were, precariously, swaying, and if I hadn’t been there to grab the planter…there is no doubt it would have toppled once again….who would have thought it?

So anything that hurts “Big Red” is not a friend of mine.

Finally, as a gardener, it is frustrating to have a nice rain come and save you from watering….only to have vicious winds blow in the next few days following the rain and dry everything right back up again….leaving the gerber daisies crying out for more water.

So until tomorrow… the “Boo” is not a “Blustery Day” fan by a long shot. But I am a fan of all the other blessings in my life….so when the blustery days come  we must ride them out and appreciate the calm sunny ones  even more.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I took my Iphone out to the garden to take pictures of the trees, plants, and garden flags swaying in the windy gusts (yesterday) but I discovered something new. (Just like the day when I stopped on Highway 61 to try to capture the beautiful fall leaves cascading over my car and myself, like a snowfall, only to discover that I was unable to catch one leaf falling in the lenses…some moments in life are simply meant to be seen, felt, and enjoyed…. but never captured for posterity.

There is another lesson here….photos freeze the moment making it inaccurate on certain occasions….the only photo that infers it is windy was the garden flag flying “at half mast.” All the other photos froze the action thus deceiving the viewer from seeing the blustery day.

 If I were teaching the skill “inference” this is the only accurate photo I could use to ask the students: “What type of day (weather-wise) can you infer from this photo? ” A. rainy b. cloudy c. windy d. none of the above   Why?

These are the other photos I took in the garden but, as you can tell, with the click of the Iphone the photo was frozen… leaving the wind completely out of the accuracy of the memory of this day. Years from now…I would think it was just another beautiful day in the garden….and you know what…it was!

Dear Reader:

I remember one of Poppy’s (Mr. Dingle) favorite responses when asked how he was doing was to respond, “Couldn’t be better…I can still sit up and take nourishment.” (We all knew it was coming but always laughed anyway!) *And for Poppy it was true…he did love to eat and as long as he had something that satisfied him he was a pretty happy man.

The gerber daisy you see in the title photo just popped wide open yesterday….the funny thing is that it doesn’t have a “neck” (stem)…it is practically lying on the ground but it is as happy as it can be. And look how far the ‘bowing’ gerber daisies have come.

I think these daisies should be called Janus…the god of January that looks backward and forward. I have never seen two daisies turn their backs on each other and not be drawn to the same sun together….must be a long-standing family issue.

Isn’t it amazing what a little rain and sun can do? To just ‘sit up and take nourishment?’ 

Recently I have started thinking that the sixth decade of our lives should come with a warning…”Some Assembly Required.” (Which we all know means a major all Christmas Eve night operation.)

Jackson started hobbling around a few weeks ago and figured if she ignored it… it would go away…it didn’t. So with Matthew’s (her son) wedding just around the bend she broke down and went to the doctor. She still hadn’t heard back from tests when we were up there Thursday but yesterday we got a text saying…”Not good news…bone spurs.” She was advised that she might could try this or try that and maybe this would work in time….but it has become obvious that Jackson won’t be doing much dancing at the party.

She is so bummed, as we all are. As she said, “Here comes Limp-Along Linda” down the aisle.

I can’t get rid of my”bug”…whatever it is….started into hopefully the last stage Tuesday….draining and coughing….whooping and crouping. Dr. Montoya called me in a  Z-Pak yesterday so am praying hard I will be able to “sit up and take nourishment” this weekend.

The first thing I have kept in me for any length of time….was Continental Corner’s lemon chicken soup Friday….so far the best medicine in the world. I should have bought it by the gallon.

If you want to lose weight…get this strange “bug” I have….it seems to keep morphing through different stages…but have lost five pounds since the day after Easter when it hit.

Perhaps the best title for us “Baby Boomers” (who are settling into the sixties) is “Gently Used.” Yep…some constant repair and attention will be needed to keep us up and  moving….but no matter what else happens…so far we can all “sit up and take nourishment.”

So until tomorrow….Let us remember how fortunate we are to live in a time when minor repairs can keep us going…. and we mustn’t forget…the best is yet to be.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

The other day I came across a line of scripture that made me stop and re-think the close connection between letting go and grasping the unknown…a close connection but a long leap of faith

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians. 3:12

I kept reading this line of scripture over and over….because it dawned on me that the changes we most fear in life….losing  our home or job or even loved one requires us to “let go, then take hold or grasp the hand of Christ Who can already see our tomorrow and the ‘promised life’ that lies ahead… if we can act on our faith.

Yesterday the Ya’s talked a lot about letting go….Jackson went through many sleepless nights, after losing her home to the October flood, trying to figure out what was the best way to proceed….try to save the home, rebuild, or start over elsewhere.

She later said after weeks of agonizing indecision she got all the numbers crunched and realized, in her case, it was time to let go of the family home and at her particular stage in life… look for a rental apartment in the same area of Columbia that she was familiar with….She no longer wanted to worry about constant home and property upkeep, equity loans, unexpected tax hikes, etc.

After she made the decision to sell her property (and it sold quickly) her new apartment home opened up magically with everything she wanted and more. She took it. Two weeks ago she moved in.

For the first time in months…Jackson said she slept peacefully through the night. It was the right decision….she had to let go of her former dreams concerning the family home, reach out for God’s guidance, and then remember that He was nudging her closer and closer to the person she has always been destined to be.

The Ya’s now call  Jackson “True Grit”….We have seen sides of Jackson that we have never seen before….perseverance and presence. She asked questions, demanded answers and explanations and emerged from the whole ‘turning her world upside down’ experience stronger for having gone through it.

I will give you every place where you set your foot” (Josh. 1:3).

Didn’t God promise Joshua and his tribe of Israelites the promised land… only if they set their feet upon it?  In other words….we just can’t dream of God’s promise, think about it, or wish for it…we have to do something about it. We have to meet God halfway….be present to the changes and persevere until our goal is obtained. (In other words…get up off our ‘arse,’ move our feet,  and steadily continue walking to the destiny that God already sees and knows fits each person uniquely.)

Jackson has set her feet into her new “promised land” (her new apartment) by taking action…not just hoping and wishing. She met God in His promise of tomorrow, grasped His hand and followed His directions until landing exactly where God intended.

I am sure you have already guessed that my first “potting shed” potting planter project is now sitting on Jackson’s new deck. A small token and reminder of how far Jackson has come…. from seeds of hope to blooms of beauty in her new life. Our “True Grit” girl. (Though Libby, your sweet mother will always be the best “Granny Grits” for all the ages….she was the Grits Festival in St. George.)

Some people eat to live…the Ya’s just plain live to eat..so once again here is another eating episode…we have decided, like Julia Child, it is what we do best…or at least enjoy the most!

So until tomorrow….”Don’t worry about tomorrow…Jesus is already there.” Congratulations Jackson…we are so proud of you!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning I was catching up writing some notes to friends and family…consisting of sympathy, birthday, and new home/move cards. After I had finished I went out on the deck (with my heavy bathrobe on…burr!) and my heart lit up.

The early morning sun’s rays  caught Jakie’s Japanese Maple in its cross-hairs and Moses’ burning bush could not have been more spectacular. It appeared to be on fire! Just breath-taking!

Later when I talked to Mandy I told her about the experience and told her that I thought everything was going to be fine with Jakie. (From birth he has had allergy problems which expanded with age….allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts. Now he has to have breathing treatments for environmental/seasonal allergies.)

Obviously it causes a considerable amount of concern and watchfulness to stay on top of all this….and it has put Jakie in a very low category for  appropriate age weight which is worrisome to his family.

I remember when this tree sapling was first planted, along with Lachlan’s and Rutledge’s trees… Jakie’s looked kind of funny. Instead of just one sturdy stem emerging from its roots it had three branches growing out. One person’a advice was to go ahead and divide it or cut off a couple of stems so all the energy could go towards the one major artery. Another friend told me to leave it alone….nature would right it if needed (after all Mother Nature is pretty good at doing what is best) and that is what happened. *Thanks Anne for the advice

The little “Jakie” tree has such a strong foundation with three major stem/branches it is a force to be reckoned with….I told Mandy that I thought it was symbolic of Jakie’s health problems…a slow start but one day he will be a force to reckoned with in his own right.

A few years ago I never would have thought like that….I never saw everyday miracles happening right in front of me….but all that has changed since my encounter with “Little c.” (breast cancer) So today I want to send a belated, special thank you to it.

Dear Little c” 

Let me apologize for not sending you this card of appreciation earlier but sometimes, when it comes to dealing with you, it takes time to process all that is happening.

After all…it’s not as if I invited you into my life. Don’t take it personally but I always thought just ‘other people’ got invited to join your club. So when my invitation arrived…I must admit I was pretty shocked…actually, downright dumb-founded. 

Also, frankly at first I was quite intimidated by you…you appeared ‘bigger than life’ (producing a shadow that started blocking out the sun in mine) and your influence completely turned my life upside down.

Most days started with doctor visits which had been pretty rare in my other life. Then came ‘treatments.’ All kinds of them….chemo, radiation, and three surgeries. It didn’t leave much time or energy to think about you directly….I went through a long period of  simply “reacting” to all the medical stimuli aimed at me,  rather than processing the subtle but important changes coming into my life.

Membership in your club forced me to look at what I wanted to leave behind in my life….what was something that I could do to make the world a better place before departing? And then came the benchmark day of all benchmark days when St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope came into my life and for the first time I understood what my mission was. Do you know how freeing that is? Without you, “Little c” it wouldn’t have happened. 

And today?…I don’t hear from you much…I don’t know if you are still hiding somewhere deep inside or if I have been officially kicked out of your club but what I do know is that my life has never been the same since meeting you. 

I see miracles everywhere, everyday, I feel God Winks coming at me faster than I can take them in, I see the universe as one and our connection to it…I still hear God’s voice reminding me to trust in Him and hold His Hand. Some mornings I still have to unclench my own fingers from holding on so tightly. 

Where in the world would I be right now without you “Little c”….you taught me about life, love, and miracles. I chose life and love and miracles followed. 

Gratefully

Becky Dingle

P.S. Please take my name off the “Active” List and put it on the “Inactive” list. Then after a certain amount of time (that you deem appropriate) you have my happy permission to exclude me completely from your membership. 

………………………….

Let me share a “miracle” that I never would have noticed (“BLc”/Before Little c)…Big Red is out-doing itself I am happy to report…clusters of buds are appearing all over the plant. I did, however, have to cut off one stem…It had broken and was hanging off the bench, dragging on the porch floor.

I remember sweeping it and all the dirt over the side of the porch and forgot about it….until yesterday. Once again I was sweeping off the porch and just happened to glance down….the stem fell in just the right position to embed itself in the loose dirt and a baby “Little Red” is alive, and growing ..living near mom but not on it. A happy day all around.  “Big Red” is so proud and I feel like a new grandmother again….Welcome to the family “Little Red.”!

So until tomorrow…Father, Thank you for the adversities in our lives-they force us to leave our old comfort zones and reach out to hold Your Hand…where  a beautiful new adventure lies waiting on us. It is always worth the journey to get there.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Today’s blog marks the 500th blog since Chapel of Hope Stories Part 2 began in late November 2014. Where does the time go? I’m just here for the ride as long as it lasts and what a wonderful ride it has been so far! Thanks for taking it with me! I love the company!

Dear Reader:

Don’t you love Gerber Daisies? Their beautiful little smiling faces just make you smile walking by. Over the years I have planted more and more of them and this year I am reaping the rewards for the earlier plantings.

I have dozens of Gerber Daisies ‘resurrecting’ themselves this year….they seem to be popping up everywhere. All I have to do is lift some Gerber leaves and there is the next crop, all curled up and just waiting to unwind to face the sun.

Gerber Daisies seem a little more spiritual to me than some of the other plants in simply the process selected to bloom from its buds. It begins in a almost human curled-up fetus position, and then slowly unwinds until right before blooming….

… It is then that they face downward, as if giving thanks and paying homage to their Creator one last time, before raising their heads and producing  beautiful smiles full of sheer happiness and joy at the gift of life..

Don’t you think we can take a lesson from the Gerber Daisy? If we took time each day to pay homage to our Creator, bow before Him. thank Him..wouldn’t our own lives  be brighter and filled with more joy.

When I came across this story while researching Gerber Daisies…I knew God was helping me make the link…the connection between flowers and humans…and what a wonderful connection it is. *Thanks God for helping out while your servant feels little under the weather.

 Facing the Sun….Facing the Son

(Anecdote by Pastor James Moore)

Pastor James Moore of Houston, Texas tells the story of a young man whose wife died, leaving him with a small son to raise alone. After a beautiful and moving memorial service, the young man and his son returned home from the cemetery.

Family and friends had all gone home. The man was lost. Numb with grief, he decided he and his son would go to bed early because there was nothing else he could bear to do.

After tucking the little boy into bed, the young father laid in the darkness – heartbroken and weeping – wondering how he could go on without his wife beside him. The voice of his son broke through the darkness with a haunting question, “Daddy, where is Mommy?”

The father could not speak. He simply got up and brought the little boy to bed with him. The child could not fall asleep. He was confused by the day’s events. Although he did not really understand all that had happened, the child knew something was very wrong. He tossed and turned, disturbed and restless, occasionally asking questions like “Why isn’t she here?” and “When is she coming back?”

When the weary father had run out of answers and the anxious little boy had run out of questions, he finally said, “Daddy, if your face is toward me, I think I can go to sleep.” The father turned toward his son, wrapped his arms tightly around him, and asked God to strengthen them both for the days ahead. In just moments, the little boy grew quiet and was soon fast asleep.

The father lay there in the darkness for a while, staring into the beautiful face of his son. A new resolve took root. It was just a tiny broken seed, but that is all faith requires when placed in the hands of God.

So in childlike faith, the shattered and desperate young man cried out to God, “Father, I don’t see how I can survive this. The pain is just too much, Lord! The future looks so lonely and so miserable. But God, if your face is toward me, I think I can make it.”

………………….

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

So until tomorrow…May we replace our inner fears and insecurities with the peace of understanding that only comes through God

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I will mark this day on my potting calendar….April 4, 2016….my first potting project begins in my new semi-renovated potting shed.!

I found this astrological moon calendar….just perfect for planting the moon flower seeds.

My first potting endeavor is making me so happy. I used my Iphone to play some soothing music and  was lost in time…envisioning what the finished potted planter will look like when complete.

I was in my happy place…It is everything I hoped for and more than I expected. All the dirty, yucky work to get to this place was more than worth the labor. (Though at the time I kept telling myself that I would rather have a root canal than keep knocking spider webs out of the corners and sweeping up broken items in every category imaginable…while they multiplied right before my very eyes.) What would I have done without Ernie to haul seemingly endless boxes and trash cans of “stuff” away? Cleaning out the garage (after it has been abandoned for decades) is one of the most difficult labors of love one can do.

And it was a labor of love…to myself…to have my special little niche to putter and potter around in. It was part of my overall dream and visualization when the idea of a garden was first brought up….and now I am there. It is a strange feeling to find oneself living the life visualized…a most satisfying one.

Don’t get me wrong…there is still a  ways to go….a coat of paint and some fun accessories to Bohemian it up will help the overall effect…still I have my “soul nourishing” niche! Everything else will happen in its own good time. Thank you God.

And recently I needed this special hideaway even more badly….I contracted the virus that goes with the hand, foot, mouth (adult version) “bug” from the grandchildren…all the boys attend the same pre-school and this very contagious virus swept through like a tornado.

I first felt it a week ago last Monday and when it hit…it hit like a ton of bricks….chills, fever, muscle aches and pain and the worst…mouth sores. Over the past week it would seem to get better only to make its return known the following day….I feel like I have been on a roller coast ride for a week.

Thank goodness my annual physical was slated for yesterday at Dr. Montoya’s office. You can tell how yucky I was feeling when I almost cancelled the appointment because I figured the “physical” exam results would be a skewed Duh! I was sick and had a doctor’s appointment by happenstance and I was going to cancel….obviously this virus had affected my cognitive decision-making ability.

I got a lot of reassurance, from my doctor, that this virus, too, would pass, it was just my compromised immune system that was having to fight extra hard to ward off the results of this nasty little virus. I was given a B-12 injection to jump-start my immune system and medicine to help with the mouth sores. I love my doctor!

So re-energized with hope and new-found stamina I put my hands in the dark rich potting soil and never looked back. The best medicine around….

It is really our perception of our dream goal that makes the journey getting there bearable.

(Simple Abundance-Breathnanche)

” Here’s an interesting proposition. Most of us don’t think of fixing up our homes, basements, attics,  or garages as a pleasurable ‘pursuit of happiness’ because we usually approach it as a feat requiring more physical, psychic, creative, and financial resources than would be necessary to scale the most formidable mountain in the world….

“This morning, for instance, I would rather go over Niagara Falls in a barrel than tackle our basement. But then I would also love to carve out a little space for an art studio where I would have the space to dabble in my textile designs. 

To accomplish this, I have to redeem more space from chaos. If I approach this project as a hobby, instead of a chore, maybe I’ll find the time to do all the other projects needed done to create a nook of my own.”

So until tomorrow….“Dreams don’t work….unless we do.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*The clematis is climbing and showing off its beauty to the world!