Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

One Christmas, many years ago, Mandy decided to make and give gingerbread ornaments. Since then all the cute ones have fallen and broken over time, but, of course (Murphy’s Law) the “blond-haired, strange-looking little gingerbread girl ornament, racked with tears, holes, and lost appendages, still survives. She is my favorite ornament….her “tackiness” makes Christmas “real” by making me laugh!

Quinn Caldwell, (All I Really Want) brings a humorous take on Christmas and decorations for his December 6 modern-day meditation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you do too! It made me laugh and laughter doesn’t cost a penny to give or receive!

Is there anybody else out there who hates tasteful Christmas decorations? Who’s appalled by genteel ornamentation? Who, when faced with a color -coordinated Christmas tree covered in matching ornaments, has to fight off the urge to set it on fire just to liven things up a bit?

I mean, this is CHRISTMAS we’re talking about, people! CHRISTMAS!  The day that unto us a child is born? The day that made all of heaven sing in wonderment and joy? The day the Creator of the cosmos entered history and changed it for flipping ever?

This calls for tinsel!

It calls for projects made in first grade with gobs of hardened glue and glitter. It calls for colored lights- the big colored water bubbly lights! It calls for motorized stands and blinking stars and construction paper chains and singing ornaments!

Christmas is not a day for restraint; it’s a day for blowing the doors off their hinges. I’m not saying you have to decorate your house. I’m just saying that if you’re going to decorate it, you best make it look like a party! 

When God decided to decorate for Christmas, God hung an enormous star in the heavens, not a string of demure white lights. No doubt the neighbors were appalled, but it sure did  draw a crowd!

So today, celebrate the God who didn’t hold back anything. Be unrestrained. Put on some music, loud, and start decorating. Make it look  like a party up in here, and praise God’s holy name!

………………….

The author, Caldwell, would be very proud of me this year…I still might have the “demure white lights” around my porch BUT this year they are the blinking kind…one section of the porch is lighting up constantly while the other sides wait their turn. It’s like doing a wave at a football game. I love it!

When Honey and I exchanged fun Christmas gifts Friday she gave me this clay “Fall Angel” who looks like she either fell into a pile of coal soot on one side of her face or she got a really bad sunburn.

But Honey knew I would think it was funny and give her a home where she was loved and accepted. (I told her about Mandy’s gingerbread girl ornament and how I  thought the two would hit it off…they did!)

And speaking of Honey…the Holiday Pottery Sale was in full swing when I got there a little after 10:00 yesterday morning. Here’s a few pictures of some of the crowd gathered at that time…

So until tomorrow…“God grant that I might decorate my life so outrageously that wise ones come from all around to learn what I know about You. Amen.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Before I left for Honey’s Holiday Pottery Sale… Walsh, Mollie, and the boys came over bringing breakfast ( I baked cinnamon rolls for everyone… but especially Rutledge)…I think he either ate five or six of them…we lost count.

Walsh and Mollie had come to get the rest of the old window sills that were taken out during the renovation last August. She has sold just about all of them on Craig’s list…lots of artists and home decorators  love to paint and decorate the panes….especially at Christmas. It just makes me happy that so many creative people will turn the old window panes into something fun and beautiful!

*I think the title for Rutledge’s and Lachlan’s “duo” photo should be “The Dynamic Dingle Brothers sing “O” …Little Town of Bethlehem!

Seeing this photo of Lachlan reminds me of the video Tommy sent yesterday about the story of another  little Lachlan…Lachlan Tannery who passed away last May from a rare form of leukemia….he was only two and a half years old. He was also a huge Clemson fan and the family has been adopted by the football team and showered with love and support.

He was also a twin and just a couple of days ago…his brother, Calhoun, named Grand Marshall of the MUSC Angel Tree parade, represented and honored his brother by participating in the parade.

Here is a link to Lachlan’s story and a link to the MUSC Angel Tree Christmas Parade. We mentioned the Tannery family earlier this year and ESPN picked it up and showed the story

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14292485&ex_cid=sportscenterTW&sf16569680=1

3-year-old honors twin brother’s life as MUSC toy parade

*Anne has such a green thumb…I knew exactly where to deliver the paper whites bulbs earlier this week….look at the progress already!

*Another year, another Christmas….thank you dear God, thank you.

2014

2015

Next year I have got to find a four picture frame….

Congratulations Clemson…it’s been a long hard road…but a “perfectly” memorable season to treasure.

This special season has brought much happiness into many fans’ lives. An early Merry Christmas present! For us “older-timers” we know how unique seasons like this are….if we are lucky it is an once in a lifetime achievement…maybe two if we live long…long enough! This is the “We were there” season for the memories!

Dear Reader:

When I heard the expression “When leaving earth…Make sure you leave your heart prints bigger than your foot prints” on a news segment last evening…I repeated it several times…and liked the meaning behind it more each time I said it.

Immediately two faces popped up in my mind…Mike and Honey Burrell. For those of you lucky enough to know these two individuals…there is no need to explain the extent of the level of generosity they both represent. They give until it hurts… and then keep giving until it heals .

Listing the number of accolades they have both received for their charitable acts over a life-time of giving would take more than one post to list. Yesterday, at the annual Christmas luncheon for MS, they spoke about the Challenge Race (to raise money for MS research) they both participate in each February…walking fifty miles…and to date raising over $60,000! Honey’s latest accolade was being awarded, last year, the most Motivating Walker in the race.

 In Charleston Magazine ( March of 2013) Mike and Honey were recognized for ‘going the extra miles” to fight MS.

Click on this link to see the whole article:

Going the Extra Miles | Charleston Magazine

I drove over to Mike and Honey’s house where we met before going to the MS Christmas luncheon (where the Burrells were presenting and I was telling a story.)

There were signs  pointing the way to the Holiday Pottery Sale today and everything was decorated so festive…including their mailbox.

…Also including Honey Burrell in her beautiful sweater and skirt. The house is decorated so “loverly.”  Honey said she is ready for the pottery sale…so come on early and stay late!

We also exchanged some fun gifts of pottery and pigs…too much fun!

Then we were off to the luncheon. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail and preparation goes into this special Christmas luncheon for those living with MS in the Summerville area.

There is always a special  hand-made gift at each plate (this year it was a beautiful angel with the manger scene at the bottom -exquisite) inspiring music, drawings for prizes, talented dancers and musicians bringing the Christmas spirit into everyone’s hearts…leaving big heart prints behind.

Andrea Andrews calls each year to invite me to return and tell a story at the luncheon…we have known each other since our early days of teaching social studies at Alston Middle School together. Andrea has been fighting MS for several years with such spunk and determination it (MS) should just retreat and run away…give up against such a formidable fighter as Andrea.

As I was pulling into my neighborhood…a tall, massive fire truck was waiting to pull out on Highway 17. I found myself yelling “Rutledge…Look a fire truck!” But there was no little Rutledge in the back…he would have gone “nuts”..all he wants for Christmas this year is a  fire truck, a  siren, a hat, a water hose, etc…anything in the fireman category!

(I have to admit I was relieved when I pulled into my driveway not to see anything smoking or more firetrucks pulled up!)

A few minutes after I got home…my back yard neighbor, Faye, came bringing Christmas gifts…everything was so cute….and two little “fellas” are sitting on my steps welcoming everyone inside “The Happy Room”

So until tomorrow….It is not enough to have lived and walked this earth we call home…we must leave more than footprints of the evidence that we were once here…we must leave heart prints on the people we passed along the way.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Slowly but surely my “Happy Room” is starting to feel and fill up with Christmas joy…There are still a few things left (like getting the Christmas tree with Kaitlyn and Tommy last evening) but overall I am almost there….just going with the Christmas flow!

Every year I choose one Christmas keepsake to add on to the collection…this year I found it at Rite-Aid (where they already have their Christmas items marked down by 50%!)

This Christmas train is very special…it is an Advent Christmas train with 25 drawers (that pull out) to put keepsakes or little notes in as Christmas approaches. *I put a Happy Birthday message in the third drawer in my brother, David’s memory. I think the grand children will have fun playing with the keepsake.

Here are some other shots of different decorations around the house…”It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” (And feeling like it too finally!)

I then had to run into town to pick up something that was being cleaned and polished at Dorchester Jewelers…I really got in the Christmas spirit…so much so that I went to Guerin’s Pharmacy for their fabulous hot dog for lunch…sometimes a gal just has to have a hot dog with chili…all the works!

The cutest gift of all was in line beside me to check out at Pet Co…I asked her mother, Krystal Lawson, if I could take a picture of the best Christmas present seen yesterday and she laughed and said, ‘Of course.’

Isn’t it wonderful that we can find Christmas everywhere we go…if we just take the time to look?

I gave the church with silhouetted people moving through the Christmas Eve service to Dee-Dee (Miriam Dingle) many Christmases ago…after she passed Doodle told me that she thought I should have it…I now put it on a bedside table and enjoy watching the people go by. I, especially, enjoy remembering my Dee-Dee….truly my “mother-in-love.”

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Dear Reader:

One thing I have learned about plants and their natural life cycles, through gardening, is to let them “Go with the flow.” Instead of trying to force them to produce buds longer than naturally obtained…we need to enjoy them during their high tide flow and equally respect and let them go during their ebb flow. There really is a time for everything on earth.

As I started pulling some websites on the ‘flow of life’…I came across this book by Eric Butterworth and found myself reading all the “free pages.” I loved his thoughts on “Going with the flow” through life.

These are two of my favorites.

“Life is a flowing experience, and within every person is an inlet that may become an outlet to all there is in God.”

“Because life is an ever-changing flow we need to look at every circumstance and then affirm: “I accept the reality of the situation, but not its permanence”

I think that I have developed a deeper understanding of the flow of life and my appreciation for it as I have grown older and compiled more diverse life experiences. I have decided that ‘going with the flow’ is like entering and leaving a door.

Every time we enter a door…there is always the possibility of change lurking behind it. I always glance around when it is my home to make sure everything looks the “same.” But even when we enter doors into our personal lives…we know that change is constant.

Just pull out old photo albums and we readily see how change has taken place within our homes, our bodies. My front door now is a rich glowing brown….while the back of the door remains “haint blue” to keep out the Boo Hags and Boo Daddies from entering.

Once we leave the security of our home through the (now) exit door… we know  that all types of unexpected ‘changes’ can take place “out there” ( from fender-bumpers to chance meetings with old friends.)

There is no way to avoid the ‘flow of life’ ….it will find you wherever you hide because life goes on and we can find new opportunities for love and happiness if we keep moving along with it.

“Little c” has taught me that “getting in the flow of life puts us in healing streams, the flow of the creative process, and the illuminating guidance of life.”

Every summer one of the local television channels (parked usually at Breech Inlet) warns viewers about dangerous rip currents. The advice is always the same: Don’t try to swim against the rip current…but swim parallel to it…follow the flow… until you can get past the strong pull of the currents.

Isn’t that what we need to learn about life?…It’s all about letting go and allowing ourselves to flow with life’s pull…we might end up at a different place than where we started but the new location might be just the change we needed in our lives to find joy and good health.

So until tomorrow…Let us contemplate the truth that “We are unique and different at the surface. There can be no other”eachness” quite like us. And yet we have no existence outside of the whole…the “Allness” which is God.”

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

*I found this white cactus at Bombadils…(title photo)…don’t you love it…just a tinge of pink on a few buds? Here are some pictures of flowers sent in and some in my yard….thought today would be a good time to show them one last time and say “Good-bye”…it’s time for them to follow their “flow” into a dormant state for awhile.

Gin-g sent the following photo of these flowers….saying: “Only in the South”….

I think this following photo might have come from Libby…it is hard to tell with mobile numbers instead of names on pictures….but another geranium and pink daisy are still popping out to say hello on the first day in December. One of my moon flower buds is close to opening if the colder weather doesn’t get it tonight.

“Big Red” is proudly standing  taller on the white bench… down below the Christmas wreath…“All’s right with the world.”

Today I, also, remember my little brother David…he was born December 3, 1951. I love you. I miss you Da-bo! (pronounced Day-Bo)

*Help! I need your help. I have three little throw pillows that have a little plastic pouch on them to put a photo in for three grandchildren’s first Christmas…I have Eva Cate, Rutledge, and Jakie’s pillows …bu I need another Baby First Christmas (really any kind of Christmas pillow with a pocket for a photo will do) and I can’t find one on-line or in stores.”

If you do see one on-line or while out shopping…I will love you forever if you will let me know… I can’t bear the thought of little Lachlan not having his Christmas pillow…along with his sibling and cousins.

* Don’t forget…Honey’s Holidays Pottery Sale is this Saturday, December 5, from 9-2 at 111 Ayers Circle in Salisbury Acres-Summerville. Besides all the neat pottery I love seeing everyone again…so much fun…so come join in the fun this Saturday! See you there!

Dear Reader:

You might remember that last year I decided to start a new tradition on my street with giving little Christmas mementos to my neighbors… (including backyard ones too) on the first day of December.

This year…I purchased poinsettias….what’s not to love right? Poinsettias set the tone and mood for Christmas. By giving on the first of December the recipients can enjoy this historical state Christmas plant the whole month.

I felt like Santa Claus, with his sleigh full of toys (or in my case my wheel barrow filled with poinsettias) stopping at each house to deliver them along with a card and a “Dingle Jingle” verse. I lucked up…everyone was at work or elsewhere…so I was able to leave the poinsettias and notes on the front porch of every home. Here are a few samples.

After delivering the poinsettias I picked up some paper white bulbs and dropped them off at Anne’s house to help her get started on her Christmas December flowers.

Anne told me to stay and she was heating up some french toast with blackberries on it….oh my goodness….dessert first, then supper. Yummy!

I have a few more deliveries to make today for an early start on Christmas. Ding-dong!

I am loving the idea of giving Christmas early so recipients can enjoy the gift all month.

So until tomorrow…Let’s remember that Christmas isn’t a day…it’s a feeling…so whenever you get the feeling to give…just do it! Down with calendars…up with moments!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Don’t forget! This Saturday, December 5, is Honey’s fourth annual Holiday pottery sale. It will be held in her garage at 111 Ayers Circle from 9:00 to 3:00! Come see Honey’s original designs….great Christmas gift ideas!

*During the time of Advent…while we wait and pray…let’s remember this little message about both…the best is yet to come!

Dear Reader:

Most of us by now, at this stage of life, have experienced more different types of waiting than we can (or even care to) remember.

In the photo above Mandy was trying to help get Tigger to pose with his Christmas decorated collar on (Sunday evening) by holding a treat up high behind her. Sweet Tigger patiently waited for me to make some snapshots and then pounced on his treat….he has the ‘game’ down now. No need to fight it…just do what it takes to get the reward in the end.

We have all experienced Tigger’s type of waiting…like waiting for our turn in a long restroom line, or in customer service to make a return, or Walmart….the store famous for being able to get in…just not out. We won’t even touch the SC DMV (Dept of Motorized Vehicles) as an example…too unsettling.

Waiting for serious health testing results ( now that has got to be near or at the top of everyone’s most dreaded waiting period in life) can be excruciating…we would actually prefer to “DMV” it over waiting for the phone call letting us know our medical testing results.)

Caldwell, in his readings for a modern Christmas, suggests that the news, itself, on the state of the world, is comparable to “standing in the slop and calling out, “How long Lord can the world wait…how much longer can this earth survive without Your return?”

Yet waiting is just as surely about “standing in the shining, shivering with delight and singing, “Come, Lord, come.”

Can’t we all remember the wonderful “delicious, shivery“kind of waiting? There’s smelling the “almost done apple pie, listening to the opening theme of a movie we have waited a year to see, or feel the baby kick a week before one’ s due date…letting the world know of his/her approaching arrival.

Advent encompasses both kinds of waiting…It is about feeling the difference between God’s absence and our deep understanding that everything one day will change….there is no “if” in the equation…simply “when.”

So until tomorrow…”Okay God, You know i’m no good at this waiting thing. But I know You are. So enter into my “wait” and liven things up by showing me another clue to understanding You.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Yesterday it was Rutledge’s turn (along with Mollie and me) to wait on his ear tube procedure at MUSC. We were both rather nervous because Rutledge had the tubes put in when he was ten months…(been there…done that)…and wanted nothing coming at him near his ears again. (one tube had come out)

I added more trucks to his backpack, a Mickey Mouse doll, coloring books, reading books…they all worked well, along with the kind nurses’ stickers and plastic animals.

Rutledge came through like a champ….no crying, or temper tantrums….he laughed and played…and was still laughing when the medical crew left with him rolling his bed to surgery.

Rutledge had been promised a popsicle as soon as the procedure was over (by the nurses)….but by the time Mollie and I got to the recovery room Rutledge was still out like a light.

However, later, as he was coming to…he remembered the popsicle…I had forgotten he said “orange” and ordered a purple “grape” (right color scheme anyway) so I had to physically track down the nurse for the right flavor.

He was so drowsy he couldn’t open his eyes and  kept hitting the popsicle on his forehead or nose…anywhere but his mouth…still he held on tight…no one was taking that hard-earned popsicle from him. It was his “shining, shivery” reward of delight for waiting.

……………………..

*Christmas didn’t have to wait long at the Turners…they got back Saturday from Huntsville, Alabama and the tree and house (inside and out) decorations went up Sunday. It really got me in the spirit!

Catch-up Family Photos of the Ya’s…..Loving on Ya!

Tommy and Kailtyn have the cutest tree around….loving on it!

*Today is the first day of December….Say “Rabbit” and hold on tight…it’s going to be a wild ride!”

Dear Reader:

Yesterday at church a prayer was given following the  ‘Joys and Concerns’ portion of the service. I found myself  listening tentatively because I remembered hearing that prayer/poem somewhere before. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that precise moment. It was like water to a desert traveler.

Take a few minutes to ‘slow down‘ and read each paragraph of the prayer because with the Advent of Christmas upon us…(with a lot of different kinds of waiting about to appear)…I suspect we all need to immerse ourselves in the powerful and truthful words of this prayer.

“Slow Me Down Lord”

(Alfred Peterson)

“Slow me down Lord”

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind
Steady my hurried pace
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me amidst the confusion of my day
The calmness of the everlasting hills
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
With the soothing music of the singing streams
That live in my memory.

Help me to know
The magical restoring power of sleep
Teach me the art
Of taking minute vacations
Of slowing down to look at a flower
To chat with a friend
To pat a dog
To read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable
Of the hare and the tortoise
That I may know that the race
Is not always to be swift
That there is more to life
Than measuring speed.

Let me look upward
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down Lord
And inspire me to send my roots
Deep into the soil
Of life’s enduring values
That I may grow towards the stars
Of my enduring destiny.

………………………

I shot the photo of the giant oak in my across-the-street neighbor’s yard….and guess who burst into bloom today….”Big Red!” I, not only took time, to look at the flower…the blooms…but also to have a chat and congratulate my faithful floral friend on its continued support and perseverance.

In tomorrow’s post we will “slow down” long enough to bring in the Advent season (with the start of our new month) focusing on the different kinds of waiting.…some more negative, some more positive, and then the very special kind of waiting…the “delicious, shivery kind!”

So until tomorrow…Take a deep breath, slow down, and get your roots nestled all deep in the ground….your values safe from cold winds and unexpected turns in our paths.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that I decided to open the doors of my bedroom (wide-open) that lead onto the deck. The sunlight came filtering through the door slants… filling the bedroom with warm rays of sunshine. I grabbed my latest novel I am completely immersed in…propped up on a pillow with natural light falling on the book… and promptly fell asleep for a short nap.

When I awoke I began staring at the wonderful painting of flowers and leaves in front of me on my bedroom wall. Oranges and yellows always capture my attention and interest first. I have recently discovered too…that the scent of fruits…primarily orange and lemon scents work best on my body metabolism. It is strange how the combination of scents and sights go hand-in-hand if we use our senses to discover our own secret scent.

The blue leaves in the painting also captured my imagination…I would love to run through a forest filled with blue leaves…I can visualize it in my mind….a snowy winter forest and blue leaves falling from the trees onto the snow. I am running around picking up the leaves as fast as I can until my basket overflows with all different shades from periwinkle to turquoise to  aqua.

Have you ever considered the role that gravity plays on our ability to detect different smells? If there were no gravity on earth…there would be no smells. Astronauts lose their sense of smell in space because there is no gravity to move smells around.

Facts like that always kinda blow my mind….most of the time I am quite happy that I have the ability to smell. Without smell…we lose our taste buds and that is the worst….It happened to me each time I went through a round of chemo…I had this metallic after-taste that blocked all other taste buds from ‘doing their thing.’ Nothing tasted quite right…it was like I was eating a poor imitation of a piece of chicken or slice of fruit or little vegetable. Life loses a lot of color when smell and taste diminishes…

Color also plays an important role in the games of chance we love to watch and “agonized” over. When I woke up yesterday morning and was opening the window blinds…I discovered that the orange day lilies Susan had given me as a hostess gift…(one) was blooming. “Aha” I thought in delight…a sign, an omen…orange for Clemson today.

Later when I saw the beautiful Japanese maple in my backyard with its bright orange leaves against the periwinkle sky…I thought “Wow…how cool…another good omen. ” Go Clemson!”

I have no doubt  there were Carolina fans out there doing the same thing…”Oh look at that deep shade of red in my roses”…an omen that Carolina will come out on top.” 

When it comes to life’s “games of chances” I believe we all fall back on some pre-ancestor superstitions…If I blow three times in my cupped hands Walsh will catch the long pass ( I did that all the time when he played high school football -worked most of the time too) or if I held my breath and squeezed my hands three times we would make that first down.

It really is strangely funny how when we get down to brass tacks with our desire for some one or something to win we can see signs, omens, and rituals all around us. Our “civilized” selves take a back seat to ancient rituals and sayings.

Throw away all the statistics on paper…I don’t believe there were many people who thought yesterday’s game would be a run-away…this old state rivalry is so embedded in our state’s history and our own family history (psyche) that the past always comes into play…It will hopefully always be a fight to the last whistle…That’s what the great South Carolina rivalry deserves and what it gets from its finest athletes on both sides of the fence.

So until tomorrow…Let’s get out there and taste and smell the last days of fall!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Don’t forget! Mark your calendar! This Saturday, December 5 marks the fourth annual Christmas Pottery Sale!!!

Honey and Mike’s wares are always a hit at Christmas…actually any time of the year….these are the gifts that leave memories behind! Come join the fun….Honey’s House: 9am to 3 pm!!!! See directions and location below!

Dear Reader:

I have never been much of a hot tea, coffee, even hot cocoa drinker…I just prefer cold drinks as a whole. But my “Dolphin Lady” Linda Karges Bone convinced me of the importance of drinking hot green tea (for my immune system) after my diagnosis with “little c.” I did come to enjoy my tea time quite regularly back then.

When I came across this meditation of thoughts and blessings (conveyed through a morning ritual of a hot tea and a lit candle) to brighten the path before us each day….I loved the creative imagery behind it.

This meditation comes from Helen Moore. It was published in Awakin Weekly  recently.The series of blessing connects all the links to the past until we get to the origin of the discovery of things we take for granted today. A great history lesson in itself… with just the right amount of spirituality thrown into the blend.

“I Awaken Before Dawn”

Helen Moore

I awaken before dawn, go into the kitchen and fix a cup of tea.
I light the candle and sit in its glow on the meditation cushion.
Taking my cup in both hands, I lift it to my Lord and give thanks.
The feel of the cup against my palms brings the potter to mind
and I offer a blessing for his hands.

I give thanks for the clay, the glaze and the kiln.
I take a sip and follow the warmth into my body.
I offer a blessing for those who brought electricity to my home,
who dug the ditches for the lines,
who built my home and put in the wires,
who made my tea kettle and brought me water to fill it.

I take a sip and bless the people in India or China who grew the tea,
cultivated it, picked and dried the leaves, took it to market,
handled it through the many transactions to bring it to my home.
I take a sip and bless those people in Florida, California or Central America who grew the tree that blossomed into flowers.

I give thanks for the warmth of the sun and the rain which turned the blossoms into lemons,
and I bless the hands that picked the fruit, sorted it, touched it as it traveled from the orchard to my table.
I take another sip and bless the hands of those who provided the sugar
which sweetened the tea, harvested the cane, processed it,
bagged it and sent it on its way to me.

I take another sip and lift my cup in gratitude as I feel the interconnection of my body now with theirs,
my blood now with theirs,
my bones now with theirs,
and my heart fills with love for all of creation.

I give thanks.

………………………

We are all connected in this world.

So until tomorrow… from a cup of tea to a bite of bread…we have a whole new world to thank for each part of the process in bringing these important ingredients to our breakfast tables. Let us never forget (as people living in a country of abundance) all the unseen faces of people around the world who make our lives more blessed… more than others can  imagine in their dreams. We must remember to reciprocate so all our brothers and sisters get a ‘taste’ of the earth’s bounties we should share.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Speaking of abundance and feeling connected….Mollie, Rutledge, and Lachlan came to visit Boo Boo yesterday. Mollie took Lachlan and they went to get a little Christmas shopping done while Boo gladly stayed home and took Rutledge to the Laurel Street Park to play and be a child again.

In the midst of playing Rutledge looked up and spotted “the digger”…it was love at first sight! He learned to take turns with Miles, another little boy in love with the “digger” too. (His mom and I agreed that the park should take a big chunk of land, dig it out…adding several more “diggers” around the massive circle. Every child just wants to dig in the dirt..that simple!

When I could finally pull him away from “The Digger” …he went sliding down (backwards) and going in circles.

Mollie and Lachlan got home minutes after we did…we  ate lunch and then mommy modeled some vintage dresses she got for 75% off ….putting each one in the twenty-some payment category…wonderful for parties…a little “Jackie O” going on. Great shopping deals!

Rutledge and I tried on our “funny glasses” while Mollie and Lachlan smooched a little.

Lachlan is the child who doesn’t sleep…Mollie says that if he and/or she get six hours out of twenty four it has been a good day/night… and the six hours is broken into two or three hour increments.

She is right….Rutledge fell fast asleep sitting with me in the rocking chair (after lunch) and was out like a light while Lachlan just played on….He never stopped for even a quick wink. I get tired just looking at him in constant motion….he is famous for his “mid-air crocodile turn” (wrestling move)…. so one has to hold Lachlan tight or he is flying through the air.

*It was so nice at Laurel Street Park yesterday….all the moms, dads, and grandparents there shared one thing in common….we aren’t ‘serious’ shoppers….but would rather be playing with our little ones.

It was great to see Ellen Styles, her beautiful girls, Ginny and Lindsey, and her beautifully blessed grandchildren at the park enjoying the day.

I met a new friend, Miles’s mother Lindsey Fox, who was once in the Air Force and stationed in Iraq. She said she is now living out her dreams of having a family and teaching dance (Zumba)….It is a good place in her life…with a deep understanding and appreciation of just how lucky we are to live in this country . Great to meet you Lindsey! You make America proud!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday…after a long “Fall’s” nap, my stomach filled with delicious left-overs, I “moseyed” outside. The neighborhood was eerily quiet. Everyone, apparently, had left to go elsewhere for Thanksgiving dinner.

I grabbed my Iphone and simply began strolling around…enjoying the memories of Wednesday evening with family and friends. Suddenly the lyrics of “For the beauty of the earth” came flowing into my thoughts and I started humming along.

My walk and appreciation of God’s beauty must have been a similar experience for the author of this poem/hymn. He, too, took a stroll along the back country roads of England in 1863 and was inspired to put his feelings down in prose.

In 1863, Folliott S. Pierpoint was wandering through the English countryside around the winding Avon River. As he looked on the peaceful beauty surrounding him, he was inspired to reflect on God’s gifts to his people in creation and in the church. Above all, Pierpoint thought of the sacrifice of Christ, in the greatest of sacrifices, that of his life in return for ours.

He thus originally wrote the text of “For the Beauty of the Earth” as a hymn for the Lord’s Supper. The original chorus read, “Christ, our God, to thee we raise this, our sacrifice of praise.” The hymn was meant not only as a song of thanksgiving, but as the only thing we could give Christ in return for his mercy and love: a hymn of praise laid upon the altar as a sacrifice.

Editors have since altered the refrain so it has become a more generic hymn of thanksgiving, but as it stands, it takes on a deeper meaning when understood as something we not only sing, but offer up to God. (Source: Hymnary .org)

For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

As I walking around the side yard…I noticed my sasanqua bush was covered with buds..and then I suddenly spotted it…the first “birth” of beauty and “love which from our birth over and around us lies.” blossoming out of the bud.

Refrain: Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light

 For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild

For yourself, best gift divine, 

to the world so freely given, 

agent of God’s grand design:
peace on earth and joy in heaven

We are a part of all who came before us and all who will follow…we are never alone in our journey…we are all part of God’s great plan for us. I find that to be the greatest blessing. Thank you God for life.

BEST- For the beauty of the Earth – YouTube

So until tomorrow…Take a few minutes and go discover the beauty of the earth….outside, inside, under, and above….we are surrounded by it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Here are some beautiful photos Mary Fennemore sent me earlier in the week showing some photographs she took while in West Virginia earlier this year. I selected just a few I loved…but all of them were exquisite.

Since I enjoy seeing the pictures of your lovely garden I thought I'd send
you some that I took. The attached photos were taken last spring in some of
the garden areas of Capon Springs, a resort our family goes to in West
Virginia, occasionally. The flowers were exquisite and the little signs and
garden art, delightful.

May God continue to bless you as you continue to serve Him with an Attitude
of Gratitude! Psalm 118:1




Thank you Mary again for sending these photos! 
Thank everyone for the beautiful Thanksgiving 
thoughts you shared with me....I appreciated it 
so much!