Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

I think the transition after the holidays with a long (usually cold) January awaiting….leaves us all a little less joyful, perhaps, than we were with the anticipation of Christmas and the holidays beckoning to us.

In the education field….this interval of time is particularly trying. My heart went out to all the teachers yesterday morning, especially those who had early morning (cold) bus duty. The reality of the time period can be  pretty harsh.

I was thinking the other day that perhaps all principals, CEO’s, or bosses of any kind should  put some money aside for the after Christmas “Just Because” celebration. Wouldn’t it be nice to have returned to work yesterday to discover that lunch was being catered, or special gifts or gift cards were in everyone’s “cubbie” or an announcement was made for everyone to stop by a certain room and pick up “supper” before leaving?

When asked by happy but bewildered employees….”What is going on”…the “boss” could say it is “Just a Because” gift for all the hard work throughout the year and in doing so acknowledge and recognize how difficult it is to return to the sometimes mundane daily rituals of life.

When I think back to some of my own most surprised moments that “repeated the sounding joy”  …they have always been at a random time, an ordinary day or night. That is what makes them so special…so unexpected… making us feel completely joyful!

For the shepherds and wise men….the first initial burst of joy when news came about the birth of Jesus must have sent them running around in an aura of great excitement and joy….for us living two thousand years later…it is up to us to keep repeating the joy by our actions and prayers of thankgiving for this great event and all the blessings bestowed upon us subsequently.

When Issac Watts wrote “Joy to the World” it was never intended to be a Christmas hymn per se. It was a joyful celebration for the Second Coming of Christ. There are no shepherds or wise men in the  lyrics.

Over 100 years later, in 1839, Lowell Mason adapted and arranged this song into a melody many believe to have been written by Handel, although it is still controversial. Watts’ idea was that Christmas might or might not always be joyful…but the return of Christ will “repeat the sounding joy” forever.

So until tomorrow we need to be reminded to sing “Joy to the World” on any day of the year ‘just because’ we want to “repeat the sounding joy.”

I think Eva Cate and Jakie caught the looks of sheer joy and wonder on the Riverbanks Zoo carousel just recently.(The difference in children…Eva Cate lives in the moment while Jakie is curious about how the carousel works while the ride is still going.)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Just received news that Libby’s grandson, Trey, is having emergency surgery for an infection just discovered in his leg bone…it has all happened quickly and obviously is very unsettling…please keep Libby’s family and Trey is your prayers.

Dear Reader:

Kate-Wolfe Jenson, in her latest blog, provided this famous quote that I love:

GOD’S FIRST LANGUAGE IS SILENCE. EVERYTHING ELSE IS A TRANSLATION. – Thomas Keating

As I went to re-decorate the Franklin Stove yesterday….after removing the Christmas Advent Train…I felt strongly drawn to a plaque I had hanging from a chest in the bedroom (“Be Still and know that I am God.”) I moved it over to the fireplace area and then added Palmetto roses and crosses with my two favorite Christmas cups I have received from Marcia.

At this time of the year, after all the busyness and excitement of the holidays…I find myself craving silence and solitude. It’s time to make time for  (as Jenson would say) “sacred pauses.”

I found this lovely garden spoon while cleaning up, put it by the Dingle tea china cup and added bright yellow flowers to offset the overcast skies of late.

Sacred Pause

(Kate-Wolfe Jenson)

there is a moment
between your exhale
and the

next

breath

in

a sacred pause
while life
gathers
to declare itself

mark such moments
in the coming days
allow for time between
grant yourself silences
and savorings

be

yes, there is a world
clamoring
outside your door
yes, it needs you

but first, a moment
connect with the holy
within and without

so you can emerge
fearless

…………………….

Dear Reader:

A definite God Wink took place yesterday. Here we are just barely with our toe in the door opening of 2016 and a God Wink has already befallen  me.

Like most of the mornings recently, yesterday appeared pretty gloomy when I got up, made even more so by the task lying ahead. It was time to take down the Christmas tree, the lights, ornaments, decorations all around the house, inside and out.

I curled back up in bed reluctant to start….but finally by mid-morning I had eaten breakfast..and was fortified to begin the rather sad task of closing down the Christmas decorations for another year.

I went and got the large bin that holds all the tree ornaments and started taking each memory off the tree and placing it back in its home until next December.  I had just gotten all the strings of lights and ornaments off (or so I thought) when Cheyenne, my eighth grade neighbor, rang the doorbell and asked if she could help me with the tree.

The tree, this year, was over 7 feet tall…so I told her we might better wait for Nick, her older brother, to help when he was available. Cheyenne just went over and started unscrewing the tree from the holder while telling me to hold the top of the tree from the upper kitchen level so it wouldn’t fall on her when all the screws were out.

It took her less than a couple of minutes to accomplish this and then she told me that she could hand me the top of the tree over the step railing and we would be out the door in no time.

I fixed the storm door so it would stay open…grabbed the top of the tree on the platform leading out the door…Cheyenne picked up the rest of the tree and a couple of minutes later…my tree was lying next to theirs beside the curb…all ready for pick up next Wednesday.

I couldn’t believe Cheyenne and I had done this…”I am woman, hear me roar.” (Actually it was my adorable Cheyenne who wasn’t about to let her brother do something she knew she could do…who pulled off this remarkable feat.) Cheyenne represents the new generation of girls who don’t think twice about waiting on a boy or man to do something she can handle by herself….go girl!

I worked a couple of more hours placing Christmas decorations back in their locations until next December. There was still much to do but I was getting tired. I fixed a banana sandwich and started stacking the children’s Christmas stories and books back on the shelf when I found a book I had ordered and forgotten to read to the children. It is called The Last Ornament.

I remembered coming across the book back in the fall, and thought the idea behind it was good.

It is always easy to get children to help put up the Christmas tree and place their favorite ornaments on it but not so easy to get them to help take it down and put the ornaments back up.

In the story a brother and sister are eating supper with their parents a few days after Christmas and all the decorations are now gone, as well as, the tree has just been taken down. Even though it is dark and snowy, they beg their parents to let them say good-bye to the tree one last time.

(In the meantime the ornaments are doing roll call in the box where they have been placed to make sure everyone has returned…and they discover that  Blue Engine is missing.)

It was the light from the kitchen window and perhaps a sudden, twinkling bright star or two…that makes the shivering, sad Blue Engine appear to Christopher….Blue Engine is his favorite ornament. It is returned to its spot in the box, covered with soft tissue paper to warm it up, and the children are thankful they went to say a last good-bye.

(The author suggests that after children help take off the ornaments…they have to guess which ornament is missing. (one is deliberately left on the tree after it is thrown out) They then get to search the tree where it lies one last time to see if they can find the last ornament.)

I placed the book beside the other Christmas novels and went to check my mail. It was just starting to get dark…I glanced one more time at the tree lying beside the curb where Cheyenne and I had tossed it…something red caught my eye.

I went over and glanced down ….it was one of my favorite ornaments…a cardinal in its nest. Christmas cardinals have long been known as good luck tokens…and the bright red at Christmas symbolizes hope during the dreary gray days of winter.

A great God Wink to start the New Year…with luck and hope.

*I think the cardinal was just as happy to be with my other Christmas ornaments as Blue Engine was with his friends….all tucked in safely to sleep until Christmas rolls around again.

Friday night I took a picture of the 2014 beautiful Christmas tree in all its glory and yesterday in its “back to normalcy” absence.

I found time this year to ride around and look at Christmas door decorations…my pick…beautiful home on N. Hickory. (the lighting caused the blue tint on the columns reflecting off my Iphone camera.) They’re creme-color.

So until tomorrow…May we all savor every memory we place on the tree of Christmas…the tree that symbolizes the promise of life ever lasting, the birth of Jesus, …the tree of life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Don’t we love being around people who can light up a room simply by entering it? These are people who keep a sparkle in their eyes, an amused look on their faces like they know something funny all the time, and have such a pleasant demeanor that they leave smiles behind wherever they go.

This is not to say that these same people don’t have their own ‘cross to bear’ with problems…after all life is a series of problems until we take our last breath. (and even that is a pretty big problem) But somehow they understand Francis Bacon’s famous quote:

“In order for the light to shine so brightly…the darkness must be present.”

A couple of days ago I was reading in my happy room…the weather was rather gloomy once again, overcast and gray. Suddenly, however, the sun’s rays shot through my shutter blinds and turned my yellow walls next to the orange stucco fireplace/mantle a lime green.

It was so beautiful that I grabbed my Iphone and quickly snapped the photo. (I kept thinking that lime green looks good with burnt orange too!) The light filtering through the late afternoon sun brought me such happiness by turning something ordinary into something extraordinary!

We know that God is the light of the world…but we need to remember that He also placed a divine spark within each of us. It is up to us to take that spark and become the light of change, inspiration, awareness, and opportunity. In other words…to become the creators of our own reality with God’s guidance. To live each moment of our lives with a purpose.

If our light is simply a smile that can light up others share that gift…because they then will also smile and light up another’s day….this chain sequence will have a positive effect on many people’s lives from moment to moment.. And you never know when that light will be returned back to you. Case-in-point:

 

* I hope everyone remembered to eat their Hoppin’ Johns yesterday for good luck. I had rice with a mixture of black-eyed peas and field peas. Yummy! I substituted butter beans for “greens” but hey, they are green.

Besides…I need extra luck because I forgot to get the rabbit photo  on the blog yesterday morning.

Dear Reader:

It’s here, the first day of January, the first day of the new year-2016! Isn’t there such a clean feeling about starting over again with a new year in wait? It’s like smelling a recently cleaned kitchen floor or the scent of fluffy white sheets and bedding from the washer and dryer. Or a fresh breath of air floating through the house from a newly opened window. Yes…a fresh start is upon us.

God talked of a fresh start in Revelations (21:1,5) “Look, I’m making all things new.” (5) “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Some of you might remember how worried I was that “Big Red” my favorite geranium, a symbol of my fight over cancer, might be on its way out…a few weeks ago. The stems were unhealthy, sickly-looking and the plant had produced no blooms during the spring, summer, or fall seasons.

Then one day in late November there was one tiny bud, a few weeks later, one bloom, and at Christmas I had two blooms with one about to open…in the title photo you can see three large beautiful red blooms now…but what you can’t see are four more bud clusters about to open….”Big Red” has a renewed life going on now and is entering 2016 in better health than ever….green and fresh-looking again…like in its youth. Seven years old and still going strong!

If we believe at some point in the future God in the Trinity, will return and make this old earth new again, white-washed and beautiful…then we have a lot of work to do this year.

If we believe God is at work right now to bring this world to its final fulfillment…then we’d better get busy helping God in this enormous undertaking. If we look in the mirror and believe that God is perfecting our very selves then we need to be working closely with Him to achieve just that…

If we don’t believe any of these things….and some people don’t…then there probably is no harm in living 2016 exactly the way we have lived all our others years…. doing our thing, wandering along aimlessly, and just getting by…

But if we do believe there is a time in the universe when all creation will be made new again…then we have our work and hope cut out for us this new year.

If we meet every person we encounter along our journey this year and see someone who is being “molded for glory and is just a split second from shining like the sun” (Quinn Caldwell…”All I Really Want:) then our relationships will change dramatically. 

Our first assignment is to pick one thing in a room,  our home, yard, garden, or porch and then imagine what it will be like when God’s done with it For me I chose “Big Red.” Look how far it has come already…I can only imagine its beauty and glory with four more clusters of buds about to arrive.

Our second assignment is to treat people we meet this year as if the “glory of heaven” is in them…over and over again, day after day. Then let’s see if a new world begins to emerge for us.

So until tomorrow…Let’s clean our slates today and start looking at life differently…with open acceptance and love for mankind for the New Year.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday was definitely Clemson fans’ favorite day….what a win! Donna Clark had given me a beautiful purple scarf and official tiger rag over Christmas….I wore it proudly and victory came….so guess what the Boo is wearing January 11…the only problem is that I crunched, scrunched, and even chewed on the official tiger rag until I was afraid that i was going to tear it….but a wash and a dryer should have it ready to go for the final game! Whew….tired but happy…. still energetic enough to do the happy dance!

The Tiger Rag Before and After the Game! Much chewing going on….

PARTY TIME!

Jackson said it was too funny…Libby went and got champagne glasses, party horns, and candles to display on the table….only they had no champagne and she figured they would both probably be sound asleep when the 2016 ball fell in Time Square….at least they played the part…welcome to the 60’s! Welcome to 2016!!!!!

Carrie went and picked up Eva Cate yesterday and took her home with her to spend the night. That angel was helping Mandy out by keeping Eva Cate entertained while Mandy’s foot slowly begins to heal…the pain medicine she is on is making her feel queasy and the foot feels like a magnified throbbing tooth-ache.

So you can imagine how delighted Mandy was when Carrie called and said she would take Eva Cate home and they would see the New Year in together. Last night after the game…she sent me two photos of what they had been doing all day and evening….

COOTIES!  2015 ended with playing COOTIES. Eva Cate wanted me to see them…I think it is a hint to get some before she spends the night with me next week.

Carrie also taught Eva Cate how to make Playdoh and then she made some cool things. A picture of the playdoh cook.

Carrie…you are the bestest “Auntie” in the world! How lucky Eva Cate is to have you in her life and wake up to a New Year with you! Love you girl!!

Oops! I was about to forget to remind everyone to say “Rabbit“…I got so caught up in the game last night and the New Year that I forgot it was the first day of the month and New Year…Duh! Here she is…all ready to party!

Dear Reader:

By the time you read this short blog today…we will almost be living in a new year – 2016! I wish for you, certainly, a Happy New Year but more than that I wish for you a different dwelling place.

As tourists don’t we always want to go to some town, city, or location where a famous person, living or dead, once lived or continues to do so? England’s picturesque  Stratford-upon-Avon is certainly a popular tourist spot as the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

The tourist trade elevates (around Christmas) in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is certainly defined by Jesus’ birth!

Yet, today, as we face another year perhaps a new thought should be planted in our minds. We don’t have to travel or to change our lives around in order to go to  Bethlehem  to find one certain place that was defined by Jesus.

“When Christ came into our lives we were changed. No longer just ordinary human beings, we became the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. God now defines us….just as surely as a town becomes known for the significant person who lived there.” (Find Peace at Christmas)

Since God is everywhere and dwells within us…we are all like RVs …we can travel or move anywhere we like but God is always with and within us….and like what Dorothy realized at the end of the Wizard of Oz…”There is no place like home.” There is no place like discovering the presence of God in us…and that is “home.”

Billy Graham has said: “My home is in heaven…I am just traveling through this world.”

I hope for everyone that 2016 is a wonderful year for you as your travels take you to places that elevate your understanding of life here and the life here-after. Personally I thank you for all your support and loyalty to the blog…you help make me feel complete and for that I thank you.

So until tomorrow…Never forget that God came to live with us so we could live with Him.

* Mandy came through the foot surgery like a champ…I heard John and Mandy leaving around 6:00…she had her surgery around 8:00 which took about an hour and then around 9:30 John came in hanging onto Mandy who looked like she had celebrated New Year’s Eve early! She was, also, hanging on to John for dear life….got in bed and by the time I left was still snoozing away.

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes…I know this is a pretty painful procedure and takes awhile to completely heal…but at least it is done and over now.

Meanwhile I just got to have fun with Eva Cate and Jakie!

Happy New Year! 

*Speaking of homes a “fairy” left me this home to put in the garden….completely “fairy made” including a shell from Edisto. A very special place indeed, a lady bug for good luck…a cute red Christmas troll hat and always a mushroom, of course!

Now when I look out my back bedroom window I see my old camellia bush that serves as the border line between me and my neighbor’s yard…I am so glad it is on my side of the line…I love seeing fresh camellias floating in a bowl.

And speaking of looking out my back bedroom window…I have decided to place my art pole there on the bedside table…so it looks out on the garden but is inside so the weather and sun won’t fade it…will just place it in the garden for special occasions.

*Donna Clark gave me a beautiful purple scarf and official tiger rag over Christmas…I have them on ….my good luck charms for the game today… Go Tigers!

Dear Reader:

From the devotional Finding Peace at Christmas (RBC Ministries) comes the true story of Simon, an immigrant from the Netherlands to the United States. His wife, Kay, and all three children were born in this country. Then, as the children grew, Jenny married Roberto from Panama, Bill married Vania from Portual, and Lucas married Bora from South Korea.

On Christmas Eve the family started the tradition of gathering together to celebrate the birth of Jesus by forming a circle, holding hands, and singing “Silent Night” together in each one’s native tongue. The first time it happened chills ran down everyone’s back and one member of the family commented that they now all felt what the shepherds must have felt on that “silent night”  long ago.

The silence of that night came to an abrupt halt when an angel told the shepherds a baby had been born. God’s gracious gift, His Son, was announced on that silent night and the announcement “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people” changed the world forever.

What a gift we all received that night…we received joy! Not undependable happiness based on circumstance…but eternal joy that can not be deflated by circumstance because it is placed so deeply in all of us.

Last Sunday, our favorite son from Charleston, Stephen Colbert, was certainly full of joy as he spoke to Meet the Press about an “Eureka” moment he had when he first realized that it is the “discovery, not the invention” that brings us the most joy on earth.

It is not his life-long dream of hosting a late show coming to fulfillment that brings him joy these days but the process of interacting with his guests and learning new things that keeps him in a perpetual state of joy. It is the process…not the final project that is important in life.  (He does exude joy every time I see him on his show.)

Orville Wright, who out-lived his brother, Wilbur, by several decades was asked by a reporter one time…about the joy the two brothers must have felt when the first heaver-than-air machine left the ground and flew that famous day in Kitty Hawk, N.C.

He paused and shook his head. “No that was not our most joyful day…the most joyful day was when our father brought home a toy helicopter (made in France) and gave it to us. That night, and subsequent nights thereafter, Wilbur and I would let our imaginations go wild far into the night planning for the day man would fly. Now that was pure joy!”  

Ben and I went to see the movie JOY the day after Christmas and we loved it. It is based on the true story of Joy Manano who invented the “Miracle Mop” and became a ‘mop millionairess’ selling it on QVC and other cable vendors.

The actress, Jennifer Lawrence, plays the role of Manano, and the underlying theme of the movie centers around her ability, as a small child, to create cut-outs where her dream world lives.. It is her grandmother who tells her that she will find joy in this world and to never settle for less. Every time her world starts falling apart…it is her return to the creating process that keeps her path open for new possibilities in her search for joy.

So until tomorrow…Let us remember the joy of being a child again whose dreams have no limits and experiencing, once again, the pure joy we felt in creating the world we wanted to live in; the world according to our imagination and creation. The world of joy!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I think when it finally dawned on me that all kind of “endings” we experience, while going through life, are really opportunities paving the way for “new beginnings” …my perspective on life changed dramatically.

Especially at this time of the year… as we transition from one calendar year to another…I find myself thanking God for still being here to see another year arrive… holding surprises, some good and bad, new adventures, and opportunities for growth, both earthly and spiritually.

2015 certainly contained its fair share of problems….floods, a friend’s loss of home (Jackson) Betsy’s cancer scare, Libby’s health issues, a sinking porch, my brother’s minor stroke….but then I realized that Jackson is going to end up in a good place with more security and less stress, Libby’s health problems are slowly improving, the same as my brother’s, Betsy made a nothing-less- than miraculous recovery, my sinking porch lead to a total make-over of my home which was long over-due and needed and Brooke now is a grandmother….new birth…new life…new hope as we tell 2015 good-bye and welcome in 2016. (Brooke with her little grandson-Caleb.)

Perhaps my biggest lesson learned from life this past year comes from my garden….last spring I bought two ferns, not realizing they were supposed to be in-house ferns….one was a “rabbit-foot” fern and I don’t remember what type fern I put in the old white wicker chair in the garden…but I do remember pulling the tag off and glancing at it…moaning to myself “Oh no I bought an inside fern.”

But I went on and stuck it in the wicker chair with the sun beaming down from above….today both ferns are thriving…the same ferns who are not supposed to endure temps over a certain gauge of highs and lows…stayed outside all last winter and through the hot summer…and they are perfectly happy!

Life finds a way to live….even ferns whose owner doesn’t read the tags saying “Indoor ferns, idiot.”

Remember the four camellia “bushes” (looked more like sticks with an occasional green leaf) I planted November 12  …well…look what is already happening. Two bushes are loaded with buds and two blooms to date.

Life goes on…the secret, for me, is learning how to stay in it for as long as I can… to keep learning as many of it’s secrets as possible in the time allowed me on this Earth.

So until tomorrow….

The ‘Course in Miracles’ says one day you will realize that death is not the punishment but the reward. And it says that birth is not the beginning of life but a continuation. And physical death is not the end of life but a continuation. – Marianne Williamson

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy Birthday to my “baby” Thomas David Dingle, better known as Tommy “Deduction” Dingle. I love you Tommy Dingle and I am so happy God blessed me with you. December 29, 1982…a very good day!

Your birthday “jar” awaits!

Genes and chromosomes are pretty powerful stuff? Eva Cate and Jakie!

*I will be leaving today to spend the night at John and Mandy’s to keep Eva Cate and Jakie while Mandy has surgery on her foot early Wednesday morning…She has been plagued by problems that prevent her from wearing regular shoes and is hoping the surgery will remove all the discomfort she is undergoing now…especially as a teacher who is on her feet all the time. Please keep Mandy in your prayers Wednesday that all goes well with the surgery.

*Please keep Anne Peterson in your prayers, also…her flight got cancelled from Newark (snow storm in Chicago where her plane left Monday night) so she had the option of flying to Charlotte and renting a car or perhaps they could get her out Wednesday or Thursday??????? This is not what you want to hear after a wonderful Christmas with family and you are now ready to get home and in your own bed.

I was supposed to pick her up at 10:00 last night….I feel so badly for her. Please keep Anne in your prayers as she travels back home somehow… someway…hopefully rental car from Charlotte at this point.

• At 8:15 this morning I heard from Anne…she had spent a pretty miserable night at a Super 8 hotel near the Charlotte airport (which was not “super” at all)…a smoking room whose lids on heaters/air conditioning units fell off in your hands. And her luggage, including her toothbrush, is still at the Newark, NJ air terminal.
• 

When Anne showed up first thing this morning to rent her car she was only met with empty long hallways and no human beings. She said she yelled out loudly “Is anybody home?” and listened to it echo and reverberate down the hall.

(She figured the clerks were all hiding behind the counter until the “crazy” woman left.) But finally a human appeared, Anne got the car, and she is heading home this morning…Joy will certainly occur when she pulls up in front of her home by noon. After all…”Joy comes in the morning.”)

*Today marks my 400th blog post since re-starting Chapel of Hope Stories November 23, 2014.

Dear Reader:

I hope for you that your memories of opening up Santa and other presents are ones of complete chaos…that you remember opening and opening and then there came another slew of gifts from more family & friends arriving…For a child it is like being caught up in a wonderful dream that just keeps on going…even when you pinch yourself.

I overheard John telling Mandy Christmas morning that they would just let all the children keep playing amid open packages, torn wrappings, and ribbons. No big outdoor lawn bags would be brought in yet. The “magic” of Christmas is made magic by children seeing their parents relaxed, happy, not cleaning up and breaking the “spell” of sheer exhilaration.

For 364 days of the year, children hear….”Now share that with your brother or sister, take your turn, save a biscuit for your dad, half the last oreo cookie in two,  or let your brother take his turn riding the bike now.” This is familiar territory but to wake up one day and feel like Disney World came to your house, along with Santa Claus ….that is sheer magic.

The calm before the storm. Walsh sent this picture out after he and Mollie left my house Christmas Eve… (where the family had gathered following the Christmas Eve Service.) They had gotten the boys to sleep and  decorated for “Santa.” Walsh emailed and said that  the “magic” was ready.

Even through my adult eyes…the magic was palpable.

When we studied the Native-Americans in my eighth grade class…one of the Northwestern tribes (I remember teaching about it but forgot the name of the tribe) held a ceremony called The Potlatch Ceremony. One of the tribesman would take all his possessions before the tribe and give away everything he owned to date….only to start collecting more possessions to give away again. It was a way of letting the others know how wealthy he was…a type of a bragging rights ceremony…with the benefits going to others.

We have talked a lot in the blog about the freedom of simplicity and learning to live ‘minimally’ …and it is all good. But, I think, every child, around the world, deserves one day or simply one time in their life to watch their parents break all the rules…to leave the dreaded garbage bags in the kitchen drawer just a little longer while allowing the ‘chaos’ of Christmas to remain in its cluttered state.

( Kaitlyn’s t-shirt message combines the best of two worlds…simplicity and caring)

*One reason for prolonging Christmas chaos is to teach us adults what the children finally settle on among all the big and popular items we bought for them….they love the wrapping paper and empty boxes. From eighteen months down…chewing on ribbons and crunching up wrapping paper… making it snap, crackle, pop is the most popular diversion…while slightly older children prefer playing in the empty boxes. It never fails to happen. Case in point!

After the children opened everything and tried out a few new toys…they soon gravitated right back to their old, pre-Christmas toys or activities…finally settling in with squealing and playing with each other…toys aren’t fun alone. An important lesson to learn!

* Mandy kept telling me to open my present from her…but it was wrapped so beautifully I couldn’t bring myself to tear it open. (worth all the parent plus loans for her to get a degree in art education from Georgia Southern.)

P.S. Just opened it and my oh my….I am completely spoiled…thank you “Eva Cate” and “Jakie.”

So until tomorrow…Let us all have the chance to experience in our life, at least one time, an over-abundance of any or everything….so we can feel that all-encompassing feeling of sheer happiness  before recognizing the fact that friends and family and God provide the constant joy and friendship we need.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• *Honey and Mike returned to their mountain home after Christmas and upon looking out on the view from their deck…she texted me this morning with this photo message: “This is where I find God.”
• *Walsh and Mollie can always tell Rutledge of the El Nino Christmas with temps in the 80’s…so warm that the family could go the beach the day after Christmas and Rutledge got to ride the waves…quite an “historical” feat!
• 

Dear Reader:

The “children” went in together to get me an art pole for the garden by Stephanie Burgess. She makes a variety of these poles for the home or garden. Mollie had seen these and gotten a grandmother art pole for her mother, Marcia, and got the Breast Cancer Survivor pole for me. I LOVE IT!!!!! What a special and memorable gift!

All four sides are colorfully decorated and illustrated with different sayings and statements:

1. LOVE – I Am a Survivor: Sisterhood Forever
2. STRENGTH- In the middle of an ordinary life the extraordinary happened…and I found out how strong we are
3. COURAGE- Choose Hope. Discover the blessings on your path
4. FAITH-BELIEVE!

Many old religious traditions suggest that if we ever came face to face with God on earth…we wouldn’t survive it…or at least get a pretty serious sunburn that glowed like Moses…forcing him to wear a veil to keep his grandchildren from screaming and running away when they saw him.

This idea leads to the explanation that one of the veils God used was His Son, Jesus…to get up close and personal to us…and today he uses all aspects of His Creation for the same reason.

Daily we need to ask ourselves… in whom or where did we meet God today? Perhaps Rick Carson was God’s messenger at church Christmas Eve… reminding me of the blessings of family.

I, also, find God daily in my garden…so once again I grabbed my Iphone and took these photos of God’s reminder to me of the beauty of His Creation in my garden.

Perhaps we can find God in animals?

So until tomorrow…Take a minute and look around you…Like the old picture book “Where’s Waldo” God is hidden closer than you think.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Libby’s sister, Linda, gave Jackson and her family their beautiful Pawley’s beach home for the holidays….they are experiencing the same dense fog we are in the mornings…but somehow at the beach it is always more beautiful, isn’t it? Jackson and her boys!