Chapel of Hope Stories

‘Did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in?’

Dear (https://humoresquecartoons.comReader:) Loren Fishman) Cartoon Creator (Don’t you just love it?)

Dear Reader:

I just had to insert this cartoon when I “randomly” came across it because unplugging and plugging back in are my “friends” in solving any computer problem I run into….it is the only solution I know.

Out of the blue this past week I started reading “Jesus Calling” (Daily Devotionals) when I discovered the book under a pile of other books while cleaning out shelves again.

A friend in my Sunday School class, Julie, had  mentioned recently, during class, that a particular devotional just seemed to “nail” where she was in her life at the moment she read it..

I agree. When I pulled up March 5….I got my perspective on problems back in place with some insightful information “to boot.”

Listen to these excerpts and I think you will see why this message hits home to all of us. Problems and Life go hand in hand….so since we can’t get rid of them….we need to learn how to handle them. Like waves coming into the shore…we need to decide rather to jump over it or dive under it….either way God is there for us.

Make friends wtih the problem in your life. Though many feel random and wrong, remember that I am sovereign over everything. I can fit everything into a pattern  for good but only to the extent you trust Me. 

Every problem can teach you something transforming you little by little into the masterpiece I created you to be. 

The best way to befriend your problems is to thank Me for them. You can even give persistent problems nicknames, helping you approach them with familiarity. Then introduce them to Me, enabling Me. to embrace them in My loving Presence. I will not necessarily remove your problems, but My wisdom is sufficient to bring good out of every one of them. 

………………………..

So until tomorrow….This advice reminds me of nicknaming my breast cancer “little c” because it didn’t deserve respect with a capital. It really works shrinking our problems down into chewable bites….yes, nicknames and turning problems over to God are the best solutions. I don’t know if I will ever be a “friend” with my breast cancer problem but “What a friend I have in Jesus.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy “Official” Birthday Honey!

Dear Reader:

When I turned to my Mary Englebreit’s calendar today and saw today’s illustration… I smiled. I remembered an incident that took place earlier this week that strengthened my earlier conviction that a smile can take one further than a frown in life.

I went to pay my Time-Warner bill at their office location, pulled the tab waiting number and sat down. It was unusually busy and the room was filled with audible (and exaggerated) sighs.

I mostly watched the news on one of the televisions and then used the time to re-arrange my cards in my purse while pulling out the one I was going to use to pay the monthly bill.

A young woman called out my name and I quickly jumped up and walked to her section of the counter. We were both smiling at each other and then she whispered “I was so hoping I would get you today and I did.”  “I needed someone like you.”

I must have looked puzzled because she said, “You always have a smile on your face when you come in here. Even if you are questioning a fee or if there is a problem, you never get mad…you stay pleasant and continue smiling.” 

I thanked her for the compliment. We finished the transaction and then once, again, she whispered to me. “When you turn around to walk out, take a moment and glance around the room. Look at what I get to see every day and then you will understand why the customers with smiles make my day.”

I nodded (with a conspiratorial wink) turned around slowly and began to walk out while observing the room closely. One man was returning equipment, his face was red, and it was easy to guess from his mutterings that this was not going to be a pleasant exchange. Three or four other people were talking into their Iphones complaining about the long wait to settle a cable problem, sighing audibly and shaking their heads. Two other women were sitting together with looks on their faces that resembled someone smelling something bad. They were literally glaring  at the counter.

By the time I got to the door….I turned quickly and silently mouthed “I’m so sorry….hang in there.” All I could think of was how grateful I was not to have that poor girl’s job. On the way home I thought of other thankless jobs people are forced to take sometimes out of necessity. Yet there was this sweet girl working at a cable office continuing to smile at mostly bad attitudes and/or unpleasant demeanor. 

I have decided to drop off a note from the (40 Days/40 Notes) project under the category of “someone struggling.” This poor girl needs an encouraging note badly.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” (Hanh Nhat Thich)

This was so true of the cable waiting room scenario. Everyone had a chance to keep a smile on their face and try to bring a little joy to others who had a tough job. Instead the majority of people waiting chose to frown and share their misery with others.

The way i look at it….life is just too plain short to waste it without a smile. I would love it when my time comes to depart to live with God…that people can say:

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”  (Dr. Seuss)

So until tomorrow…Let us remember that life is still worth living if we will just smile!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I must share this amazing God Wink with you today. Wednesday afternoon, after coming home from the birthday lunch with Honey at the tea room, I saw a long rectangular box on the porch. It was so heavy I couldn’t really lift it….but I knew I had to get it off the porch since I would be gone.

I must have gone to 5 different neighbors’ homes but no was around….so I grabbed a knife and kept working at the thickest cardboard I had ever seen  and finally pushed it into my side. There I kept working on opening it until viola….I was able to pull enough of the cardboard back to see what my cousins (Marcia and Susan)  had sent me. It was a white headboard for the very guest bedroom I had been looking for one Tuesday with Anne.

Amazing Grace….Let God guide us and He does solve every problem….plus give us amazing family members/guardian angels….unbelievable Marcia and Susan….I love you! Next visit Marcia…you will have a back headboard to prop against.

*We just received some very sad news. Amanda, Kaitlyn’s sister, passed during the night. Please keep all the family in your ardent prayers! Thank you! 

Dear Reader:

In Simple Abundance Sarah Breathnach discusses the demise of “hobbies.” Why are people suddenly so busy that they can’t take a vacation or a “stay“cation any more. Why can’t people leave work long enough to have a hobby, a passion, a zone to retreat to like a child at play. Don’t we know that our imagination needs “moodling.”

What is “moodling” you may ask? Moodling is defined  by Brenda Ueland as ” long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” It is that beautiful state of exuberance that propels us into a happy state of mind. We have given our imagination permission, as an adult, to come out and play.

In this children (adult) book written by B.J. Novak he gives us all permission to do just that (come out and play) for both adult and child alike …especially because it has no pictures.

Some of you might remember him from his character in the popular television series The Office (playing the role of rather mild-mannered Ryan Howard.) What most of the audience didn’t know was that he was also one of the writers and producers of the show.

Novak loves to “moodle” and let his imagination take him wherever it chooses to go. Unlike too many people today….he isn’t afraid to play.

Breathnach says that ” During the last twenty years, most of us have misplaced an essential part of ourselves. Once we begin embarking on solitary sojourns to get reacquainted with ourselves, we suddenly realize that something is missing.

It is called Zest. Exuberance. Joi de vivre, as the French would say, or “the love of life.” The great delight that comes when the pieces of our particular puzzle finally fit. The heartfelt happiness we feel when something brings us keen pleasure. Something uniquely our own.”

Do listen to Novak explain his book to the children….who initially seem rather disappointed that there are no pictures and see how he quickly reins them into an uproariously good time.

*Anne will attest to the authentic reaction from the children in this video  since she borrowed my copy to read to a group of three and four year-olds. The exact same laughter and craziness rang out.

For the next couple of minutes….become a child again and laugh as you watch this clip…

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak – YouTube

So until tomorrow….the next time you get an invitation to “Come out and play” …”GO!”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*

*I am in Mt. Pleasant helping Mandy with the kids since John is at an out of town conference…..can hardly wait to read and test out this book on Eva Cate,…even without pictures I believe little Rutledge would laugh too.

*Yesterday Honey and I met at Time Well Spent (the tea room) and spent some wonderful time together…including celebrating her birthday which is, officially, coming up Saturday. A friend in need is a friend indeed must be Honey’s manta….because she is always the first one there when a friend is in need. Love ya Honey and Happy Birthday!

Reading the story last night to Eva Cate and Jakie-Eva Cate is not a big book lover but look at her!

Dear Reader:

I love having my two mosiac window sills hanging in my (once) lonely hallway. They can no longer pick up the sun’s lights but just the sheer beauty of their designs and my memory of placing each piece of glass carefully beside the next, makes me proud of one of the rare crafty things I have done. Mandy gave me one already done by her…and then I did the other.

No matter how hard I tried to get all the shapes to fit…my sill definitely had more spaces between the glass pieces. At first this bothered me…but now I see the beauty in the spaces and realize that it only adds to the overall beauty of the design.

In Amit Awakin one writer took this thought and expanded it to defend the human “broken-ness” in each of us. Here are a couple of excerpts from her article. (“Beauty of the Mosiac” Rosalina Chai)

Mosaic is at once intricate yet majestic. And it is precisely its broken-ness that lends mosaic its perception of fragile beauty – the space between the tiles or glass is as much an intricate part of its language of beauty as the mosaic piece itself. And isn’t this true too of our humanity?

Whilst there are numerous titles out there extolling the necessity, power and beauty of our essential brokenness, more often that not, our daily interactions with our fellow human beings appears to be motivated by unconscious “should-ism” that demands perfection of one another. What is it about brokenness that we find so offensive?

What would happen if we accepted and embraced the idea that being broken is an essential part of humanity’s be-ing? What would happen if we ceased to label brokenness as bad?  I can imagine  with certainty … more acceptance that leads to more peace.

Finally, it is the coming together of many mosaic pieces that provides the meaning of its language of beautiful expression. We were not meant to be alone in our brokenness. We were meant to come together, so that another form of beauty may be birthed through the collective.

Chai finishes her message with the following legend:

At the beginning and end of time, Truth was a beautiful glowing orb. One day, the orb was shattered into shards that outnumbered the stars in the universe by one to infinity. These shards became souls. Thus it is that each soul represented one part of Truth. But Life intervened, and many souls believed that they were Truth, and so Hatred was bred. But some souls held onto the memory, and attempted to remind the souls who had forgotten.

I do not know the end of the story as it is yet to be written. But I do know that when all the souls are reunited, the space between the shards would be where the light shines through. And that Truth’s beauty would then take another form.

……………………….

While I was reading the legend for the first time one part of a sentence reminded me of what Jo Dufford sent yesterday in response to the “40 Notes for 40 Days” concept and Ruthie’s plea for one hundred pennies or one dollar sent by each American to help balance the budget.

I have the Circle program at church this month. I based my idea for the program on Debbie Macomber’s book, ONE PERFECT WORD. The word, ONE, kept popping up, and so I decided that was my perfect word for this year. As I read your message today, I thought, “ONE letter for each day of Lent, what a difference that could make for so many people, or if each one of nearly 3261/2 million people sent ONE dollar (ONE hundred pennies), we could begin to pay down the debt.”

Colby reminded me this morning to say, “Rabbit” (you have definitely touched her in so many ways), and she suggested that I use March 1st. as in the importance of ONE new day and how to make it count. Thanks again for all of your messages.

……………………….

Anne and I had “One” heck of a fun day yesterday! We went to Paige’s Thieves Market on Ben Sawyer Blvd to both look for headboards for guest bedrooms….we lucked out with that purchase but the day was so beautiful….that we just drove right over the bridge and ate at our favorite “haunt” Poe’s Tavern. We sat outside and just basked in the sun. Then we stopped by Southern Season and just went “nuts” over the variety of wonderful items of every genre inside.

When Anne dropped me off at home there was the most beautiful bouquet of flowers sitting on the white bench on the porch. What a way to start March!!! I love you Harriett Edwards…you couldn’t have made such a special day, even more special, than with beautiful fresh flowers!

March 1 in photos….While waiting on Anne I was sitting on my steps and noticed a “dappled” azalea bloom that had grown under an entirely different bush and was smiling at me so proudly like ‘Look I just took my first steps.’ This ONE lone bloom made me chuckle! All it took was one!

I bumped into one of the nicest florist clerks at Southern Season named Pam….all the flowers there were still in buckets of water and she gave me a great flower identification lesson….I could have stayed there all day and listened to her.

Dear Reader:

By most calculations we are well into the Christian Lent season of sacrifice and repentance. Many churches and cathedrals use this time to display beautiful paintings from the life of Christ….especially scenes from different parables and symbolic drawings of the Christian religion to adorn their services. (Pinterest)

When Anne stopped by the other afternoon she mentioned that she had seen an idea on Facebook that prompted her to add a new act of giving to this year’s Lent season.

A note, card, or letter is written to different people we know, as specified in the instructions….one letter for each of the forty days. One doesn’t have to just use Lent’s 40 days but (like Christmas and giving year ’round) can begin this gift of communicating thanks for other’s presence in our lives at any point in the year.

Here is the instruction sheet on how to cultivate relationships through Lent….Better late than never I am starting this today. I don’t know exactly what I will say to myself  the first day…but I do know I will thank God for his shower of blessings that continue to fall on me. I love a challenge…especially a literary/communicating with others/ one! A Lent Scheherazade contest….Yeah!!!

A few of the challenges that really caught my attention are:

Write to Someone Who….

You taught

You share a secret with

Walked with you through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Once forgave you

Is a father/mother figure to you

Once gave you good advice

……………………………………………………………………………………….

You get the idea. It makes us stop and remember all the people who have helped us grow through good times and bad. It is time to recognize them for their part in our life journey…even if an experience was negative….that, too, can make us stronger..

So until tomorrow….When we think of Lent may we transfer the stories of Jesus into our own lives and use them as role models for life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*March 1-WOW! Another month and before it is over Easter will have come and gone. Time, these days, just seems to go faster and faster… like an out-of-control carousel. But let’s hang on for the ride because life is beautiful. Now say “Rabbit’ and let’s all have a wondrous March!

*Anne has my back….in case I forgot to put a rabbit picture in the post… she decorated hers so I am thinking March is going to be doubly lucky.

Honey, Mike, and the family are probably still putting band-aids on their feet but once again the Burrell/Salisbury family came through for the MS Challenge Walk. So proud of all of you! And thanks to everyone who gave to this wonderful effort to keep researching a cure for MS.

*As Gloria Houston, children’s author, continues her battle with cancer…..on her Home page website, there is the sweetest little video…her mother, Ruthie, the main character in the Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, is asking people to donated  100 pennies (or a dollar) in honor of her upcoming 100th birthday (she actually died about two months before she officially turned 100) to help pay off the national debt. Go Ruthie….she feared for her children and grandchildren if we didn’t get the debt paid off.

In lieu of flowers when she died in January of 2014, the family decided to continue to honor this last request. When you pull this link scroll down to the video and there you will see and hear a very determined (almost 100 year old) woman pleading for a better tomorrow for future generations. That’s our Ruthie!

Scroll down until you get to: ruthie’s plea

Gloria Houston: Home

Dear Reader:

I love Emily Dickinson’s works but I think I would change one word in this quote….from door to window. “Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every window.”

Sunday morning I was up early and had just gone to open the shutters when the sun’s rays shot through one half-opened shutter I had been adjusting… and this image caught my attention and appreciation. So beautiful! Mother Nature was creating her own art works on the walls in my house using the sun as her paint brush.

In our Sunday School class we are finishing up with one book we have been studying…in order to start a new project. I  missed some Sundays so I thought I would read the Epilogue to see how the author brought conclusion to her story. (It ended up being my favorite part of the book.)

The title of the epilogue was “Dark” and it was captioned with the Emily Dickinson quote in today’s blog title.

The book had been about an early, youthful rejection of the church (with its fair share of hypocrisies) by the author, It is the story of one person’a journey to re-invent what the church really means on a personal level.She concludes that “Church is a moment  in time when the kingdom of God draws near; when a shared meal, story, song, apology, and even a failure is made holy simply by the presence of Jesus among and within us.” 

She finishes by reminding us: “The church was alive and well long before we came up with phrases like “making it relevant.” It will go on long after the grass grows through our cathedral floors.”

The church, as we have known since we played the finger rhyme “Here’s the Church” as children, is the people. We are the church.

Here’s the church – finger rhyme

Here’s the church, and here’s the steeple
Open the door and see all the people.
Here’s the parson going upstairs,
And here he is saying his prayers.

I told my Sunday School class that I equate becoming a Christian and signing up for the journey… more like playing “Mother May I.” Some days I feel so close to God and then by the next day I have slipped back into a dark abyss (my own personal ‘rabbit hole’) still searching for the light.

Three feet forward,..five steps back and so on and so on. My hope is that one day “Mother” (God) will say” Becky, it is time. Take one giant leap of faith forward  and don’t look back….the Kingdom of God awaits.” (I will remember to ask permission and, hopefully, be welcomed with open arms.)

Maybe that is why I am so drawn to all kinds of light… lanterns, candles, solar lights, decorative strings of light, etc…perhaps they are God Winks letting me know He is still watching over me, guiding me, and waiting for the time when I will enter His Light.

So until tomorrow….Let us be assured that just as love conquers hate….light is and will always be victorious over darkness. Go open the doors and windows to let the sunrise in.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Happy Leap Year….Personally I am ready to leap into Spring!

Dear Reader:

It just so happened that the timing was perfect yesterday morning to capture the sun’s first rays hitting the yard and the garden. It was breath-taking. The word that kept coming to mind to describe this early morning beauty was “dapple.”

Phrases from books I had read in the past brought passages like “The sun’s rays dappled on the young boy’s face casting shadows across it.” Or as a noun: “No dapple of shadows was there, no rustle of leaves,no green, mossy trunks of trees.”

Dapple actually means to mark with spots. In the middle ages….the term was used to describe a “dappled” shade of grey on certain horses.

But yesterday….it was the “dappling” of sun light hitting the different plants and flowers that made my heart sing with joy. I, especially, loved watching the sun cast its rays on the new sprouts peeking their head out for the first time. (Little daffodils who just got planted about a month ago….quite remarkable actually!) The sun seemed to go right through the light azaleas  turning them into pink candy stripes….gorgeous!

Come with me on a “treasure hunt” looking for sun-drenched “dapples” of beauty. I can look out my window by the computer and fall in love with nature all over again….what a motivator for new idea for the blog posts.

The scene below is what I get to see every morning now when I sit down at the computer (out by new windows!)

With spring just around the corner….I got two new items for my little “dappled” fairies in the garden!

Cindy Ashley sent me this article/photo after Friday’s post on “every day” blindness to the beauty around us. In Death Valley, California this year….El Nino has provided something quite miraculous….not a dead, life-less valley, but one filled with flowers. I told Cindy it is what happens when Mother Nature meets El Nino as God smiles. (am enclosing the link Cindy sent so you can read the article and enjoy more photos if interested.)

Rare superbloom in California’s Death valley | Earth | EarthSky

So until tomorrow...

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, Hill and vale and tree and flower, Sun and moon and stars of light: Lord of all, to thee we raise this our joyful hymn of praise.

"Today is my favorite day"  Winnie the Pooh


Take a minute and listen to the beautiful old hymn....it will start and/or end your day in peace.

For the Beauty of the Earth - John Rutter - YouTube

Dear Reader:

It was Henry David Thoreau  who said: “The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” No truer words were ever spoken.

After my cousins left Thursday to return home, I returned to Simple to Sublime to pick up an item I had left with Samantha, the owner, until I could get back to pick it up. I parked in the back corner of the First Citizens bank parking lot (near the hedge where you can cut through and be right on Short Central… practically in front of Samantha’s shop.)

On my way back to the car I stopped dead in my tracks….there was the most beautiful mural of two birds on the side tall building of the town parking lot. It was a delight to the eyes! Where in the world had that come from?

I took a picture and as I was backing up to get the right angle I noticed another woman in a car, with the windows down, doing the same thing…taking pictures of it. Apparently I wasn’t the only one happily surprised with the mural. (We started talking  and I told her I would run back in and see if Samantha could tell me anything about the mural and come back and share the information.)

Samantha said she remembered it had something to do with Audubon and a well-known mural street artist. It had gone up several months ago.

I forwarded this information to the lady in the car and then finally introduced myself….she reciprocated….Good Grief Charlie Brown!…it was Patsy Knight. I had worked with her husband, Al, at Alston Middle School for years….sweetest man ever born I think.

I decided to come home and research the mural. Before I did that, however, I remembered reading an article awhile back that talked about  “everyday blindness”….missing what was right in front of you. That is exactly what happened to me. My cousins and I, even, walked right past the mural leaving Short Central to go eat lunch at Continental Corner and never gave this gorgeous mural a glance.

It made me wonder why I still feel like I have to go and do some days…so that I will feel that I have accomplished something. It is as if I think I am using up other people’s oxygen, unfairly on earth, without earning it.

Work ethics are so embedded in me that I sometimes forget that my worth has nothing to do with my work. I am getting better at this and appreciate retirement more than anything else in the world….but I still need to work on accepting me, just being, as enough. “Doing” isn’t personal worth. Taking time to stop and admire a beautiful mural, which fills me with joy, should be quite enough to make God smile.

Here is an excerpt from the Summerville Journal Scene dated July of 2015 that set the stage for the upcoming mural. (The mural went up the following month in mid-August.)

An American redstart is a little black bird, with a montage of yellow, orange and red feathers decorating its wings – and this little feathery critter could be the focal point of a mural coming to downtown Summerville. 

Michael Dawson, center director at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, is vouching for a mural to be painted on the wall of the parking garage in downtown Summerville. Conceptual drawings for the mural consist of an American redstart, and it would be featured on the Short Central side of the building, on the outer part of the stairwell facing the road.

Dawson explained the plan Monday morning at town council’s finance committee meeting. Dawson touched on Birds In Residence: Downtown Summerville (B.I.R.D.S.), a public art project involving the collaboration of the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, Sculpture in the South and Summerville DREAM. The program is meant to educate residents and visitors on Summerville’s native birds and bring folks to check out the historic district.

The mural is the work of Roman artist Hitnes, who is traveling the eastern half of the U.S. in the footsteps of naturalist John James Audubon, painting murals as he goes.

The B.I.R.D.S. project consists of a series of 21 bird sculptures scheduled to be installed throughout the downtown area. 

…………………………..

So it looks like we will be privy to more art works in our beautiful little ‘town in the pines’. I can hardly wait to see the others!!

This incident just points out how “blind” we can become to a daily routine and how important it is to pause and look around each and every day….there are secret discoveries waiting.

So until tomorrow….May we slow down enough to appreciate the exquisitely detailed beauty of nature … whether on God’s canvas or man’s….

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*With a lovely (in the 70’s) week with NO RAIN predicted as March comes “marching” in….I got out the white dogwood wreaths for the two front doors, a senetti plant that loves sun and is a late winter/ early spring plant to put on the green chair. Welcome spring….a little early!

I discovered all this green leafy foliage popping up around the area where I planted the daffodil bulbs and wasn’t sure what it was. So I called Dr. Morning Glory (she makes house calls)  to come check it out….we all know how hard it is to get a “doctor” to make a house call.

Dr. Morning Glory said that she believes the green sprouts emerging aren’t daffodils but other bulbs like Irises….the ones Harriett gave me long ago.

But after much “probing” Dr. Morning Glory (a.k.a Anne) discovered that the recently planted daffodil bulbs are trying to make their debut this spring.

Life is always victorious!

Dear Reader:

Marcia and Susan physically left yesterday but I can still feel their spirit and presence within my home. We let decades go by without seeing each other and yet we took up each other’s thoughts and sentences as if we were still young teenagers back in 1963….(That was the year my family left cousins behind in Fayetteville, NC to return to mother’s immediate family in Laurens, SC.)

We grew up as sisters… and sisters we became again. While reminiscing through old photos we talked about the important role of parents in providing vacations and adventures for their children… so one day they would have memories of these childhood “escapes” to share with their children. “Remember When” times.

None of us came close to what Susan and her husband John gave their children (and themselves)  in 1995….a memory to truly last a lifetime…a year “hiatus” to travel the entire Caribbean, including all the little islands that dot this beautiful part of the world

It had always been John’s dream to do this. But after the children arrived Susan admitted that she was the one who kept coming up with excuses why they couldn’t just pick up and leave for a year.

One day, however, she started remembering all the things her husband had sacrificed for her and she realized that it was now time to reciprocate this love in the fulfillment of his dream.

After more than a year of preparation John and Susan’s family of five would live in their boat and travel the seas together….no longer just fulfilling the roles of parents and children…but a newer role …that of ship mates.

There would be set-backs and problems because that is simply life…but what they gained as a family far out-weighed any “annoyances” along the way.

Susan wrote letters to family and friends to update them on her new life and how they were faring. Here is an excerpt from the last letter (two of them were published in the Fayetteville Observer.)

(Susan is a gifted writer and I loved reading both published letters. One section, however, touched me…in fact it touches all of us in our thirst for a type of freedom and life-style that modern society no longer provides.)

Captain Jack Sparrow would have understood John’s need to live out his life-time dream. Sparrow’s search for his beloved ship-“The Black Pearl” (Pirates of the Carribean)  was tantamount to this life of freedom…The “Black Pearl” meant freedom  ….just like John’s boat “Sweet Surrender-(named after John Denver’s song) meant freedom to him… to remove himself and his family from the restraints of a “normal” life as defined by society and instead teach his children about the possibilities of life as defined by other life styles. What an education was in store for all!

Pirates of the Caribbean–end scene – YouTube

(Harper -10- Brooks -16- Susan, John, and Jenny- 13)

…And now here are Susan’s thoughts as “Sweet Surrender” began the last leg of their journey  home.

…” I am trying to think of a way to make you “feel”  this adventure, but try as I might…I don’t think I can describe the rush you feel when you gaze toward the heavens on an all night passage and see the Southern Cross in those lonely, wee small hours of the morning.”

“I can’t make you feel the terror that seized my heart when we were approached by an unlit, unmarked naval warship in the middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean, anymore than I can explain the contentment that consumed me when Brooks and Jenny walked down the dock ahead of us, their heads bent together and arms hugged tightly around each other’s shoulder.”

“I can’t quite make anyone else understand the pride that I feel when I think of all we’ve ventured and all we’ve gained…And though I might  be able to give you just a small peek, or taste, or smell of this adventure, I know I cannot share the knowledge and understanding of each other that we have “ventured and gained.”

“The physical journey, the thousands of miles that we have traveled, is recorded in our ship’s log. It’s there for any and all to see. 

“The other journey, the journey that our hearts took, will live quietly within and among only the five of us, for I’m afraid that we will never be able to say what it is that happened to this family as we saw both the worst and the splendid best of each other. 

“The photographs will eventually be tucked away in the cabinet in the den, under the TV…and the rusted can in the ship’s “pantry” will be discarded…and the  boxes of plastic trash bags (bought by the thousands) will be used up maybe by the time Harper goes off to college, but the memories of what the “crazy Hornadays” did for one short year will live on in our hearts…and I think might just be the most wonderful of times and the most cherished of memories.”

….Susan signed off with her daily reminder to her children, “Go out there and live it, this (life) is not a dress rehearsal!”

So until tomorrow….Let us summon the courage to live the life we dream of but then talk ourselves out of… for many “practical” reasons….Instead let us “surrender” to what our heart is telling us to do….

“Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin’ for something that I can believe in
Lookin’ for something that I’d like to do with my life”

*The whole family of Hornadays would break into this song at intervals throughout the trip… singing loudly on the boat….Not only had Dad’s dream come true….but  he had brought them along to share it. “Totally Awesome!”

John Denver – Sweet Surrender Live HD 1280 x … – YouTube

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Safe travels Marcia and Susan (L to R)! God Speed! See you at Wrightsville Beach this summer!

Dear Reader:

Over the past two days Marcia, Susan, and I have had time to start peeling back the layers of past events in our lives to reveal what connects us as cousins….the blood-line of similar values.

We shared lots of old photos, stories of the heart-break of watching our parents grow old, and for some of us losing them. We updated each other with our adult children and  grandchildren.

Soon we realized that a common cord ran through the tapestry of each of our lives and that was our wish to keep working at becoming the person God imagined when we were created. None of feel that we have reached that goal….it is a day- by- day struggle to keep reaching out to the world so that important spark of the Divine within us can continue to grow within us.

We all three share high work ethics modeled for us by our mothers and grandmothers. With a predominant English, Scot-Irish genealogy we share a determination  to follow our dreams and turn them into active reality. And lastly, we all share a sense of humor that has served us well in difficult times.

We, also, admitted that we agree God is not going to make us be something we aren’t unless we trust Him enough to allow His Presence to guide us instead of trying to do it all ourselves. We must first be open to His messages and then respond accordingly to His wishes. We all cling to faith and trust as our compasses through life.

We understand how important family is and how short life is…our pledge is to meet again soon because life is preciously short. As we enter a new stage in life we can no longer afford the “luxury” of putting things off for another day. We only have today, the hours, and minutes that make it up.

So we talked a lot, ate a lot, and shopped a lot….it’s what cousins do !

We only got halfway down Short Central because we stopped at every shop….Susan told me that she was in love with Summerville and all its friendly store owners but Samantha at Simple to Sublime was the friendliest of all…Marcia and Susan loved her….what’s not to love? (Trying on coats while Samantha took our pictures.)

For dinner we met Ben at Oscars and had more stories to share and lots of laughter.

So until tomorrow….Help us Father help ourselves by being open to Your Guidance….without our willingness to follow Your lead we won’t reach our full potential.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Sorry for the delayed post….my eyes were closing as I was typing last night and I hit Feb 26 instead of 25….Oops! That is what having too much fun will do to ya!