Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

What is it about traveling to a new environment that keeps us in a state of anticipation and excitement? The whole time I was in Ireland I felt like a child on Christmas morning.

I couldn’t sleep late because every morning when I woke up I thought about our itinerary for the day and could hardly get out the door fast enough!

Later…I started thinking that I wish I could retain that same excitement in my everyday life at home….after all ….just waking up to a new day anywhere with all the possibilities it holds…defines it as a “day of wonder“….a day of gratitude.

And speaking of…The title photo (with the famous “Stones of Gratitude“)- were located in a Catholic church cemetery right in the same village where we were renting a cottage in western Ireland (after leaving Dingle)….Ballyvaughan!

We stopped by there on our way back from a breath-taking adventure at the Cliffs of Moher.

The sun was just starting to set….it had been a visually stimulating “tourist” day and to end it with the discovery of  “stones of gratitude” had Anne and I just plain “giddy” in gratitude, ourselves, for simply… the joy of life!

I thought it is only fitting that I use some words from John O’Donohue (Anne’s and my favorite Irish poet, author, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Celtic spiritualist) for this blog entry. Sadly, John died a few days after his 52nd birthday in 2008…so young. He was on vacation in France with friends… he went to sleep one night and never woke up.

I love this excerpt from a writing O’Donohue did for Amit Awakin‘ several years ago about the wonder and possibility of each new day. He might have died young…but he certainly lived each day to the fullest.

… No day is ever the same, and no day stands still; each one moves through a different territory, awakening new beginnings. A day moves forward in moments, and once a moment has flickered into life, it vanishes and is replaced by the next. It is fascinating that this is where we live, within an emerging lacework that continually unravels.

Often a fleeting moment can hold a whole sequence of the future in distilled form: that unprepared second when you looked in a parent’s eye and saw death already beginning to loom. Or the second you noticed a softening in someone’s voice and you knew that a friendship was beginning. Or catching your partner’s gaze upon you and knowing the love that surrounded you. Each day is seeded with recognitions.

It was his last paragraph that spoke volumes for me when he created a mental metaphor for new days with endless possibilities, alongside, daily creative writings.

Lately, it has been my blog writings each morning, that have really defined my days for me.

With the extreme cold weather settled into our lowcountry … keeping me inside- nice and warm…the anticipation each morning of creating another blog fills me with such happiness.

I don’t have to leave home in order for my mind to travel anywhere it wants to go….there are no boundaries in creativity…just new lands to explore. And to be able to do it with all of you readers and your encouragement sends me flying…no airplane needed.

… The writing life is a wonderful metaphor for this (each new day.) The writer goes to his desk to meet the empty white page. As he settles himself, he is preparing himself, for visitation and voyage. Each memory, longing, and craft set the frame for what might emerge.

He has no idea what will come. Yet despite its limitations, his creative work will find its own direction to form. Each of us is an artist of our days; the greater our integrity and awareness, the more original and creative our time will become.

–John O’Donohue, from “To Bless the Space Between Us”

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Now that the framework is set for our thoughts on this glorious Saturday…let’s pick up on the pictures of the remainder of our Irish vacation. (I believe we left off with me strumming on an old guitar with new Irish friends….and beautiful Irish voices.

The trip from Dingle to Ballyvaughan certainly contained its share of excitement….

1) The Mountainous Terrain: We had come in on the peninsula (right) side of Dingle which was fairly level, drive-able, and unbelievably beautiful…On the way out we climbed mountains….I half expected to see Julie Andrews emerge at any moment singing “The Hills Are Alive” because I felt that to be true, not only were the mountain alive, but we were about to get eaten by them.”

The sharp curves upward and downward were a driver’s (and rider’s ) worst roller coaster nightmare….I had to literally peel my fingers off the upholstery when we finally stopped…in order to climb out of the car on shaking legs….

2) Cows.… Awhile later…around a bend we were met by a herd of ‘escaped cattle’ with Holstein Hilda leading the pack…All we could do was pull over and sit back in the car, hang on as it shook from the trample of the passing herd, and laugh hysterically.

 3) Trucks of Bales of Hay – 

I think you can readily deduct from this picture that when we got stuck behind a truck carrying bales of hay…there was no room to pass. (Unfortunately it was hay-baling season…patience is a virtue.)

4) In order to save several hours of travel…we needed to make the ferry so we (and our rental car) could save many miles…the cows and trucks of hay had definitely thrown us off our time schedule…but God was good. We slid onto the ferry ….the side bars immediately went up behind us and before we could even get out of the car the ferry was crossing the river. We just made it!

It would all be worth the hardships when we finally reached Ballyvaughan….this was our home for the next few weeks…located right on the Bay of Galway.

Here are some random photos taken from the Ballyvaughan area….the marina was just a block down from us and there were lovely gift shops, a small grocery, and the yummiest tea room…all within walking distance. 

Each day we would mark off a new itinerary….but, as is always the case, it was the surprises along the way that added such excitement to the trip.

 For example…we discovered that we had gone by John O’Donohue’s final resting place at least twice before we knew to stop and turn in. We had even commented on this pub having his family name…located in close proximity to the cemetery-Creggagh.

It was there that Anne discovered some of her ancestral family (the Driscolls) were buried there also…and met a part-time caretaker and inn owner who became an immediate friend. They ended up sharing several emails back and forth.

We never know who we will meet on any given day who will change our lives…do we? (A photo of Anne standing by O’Donohue’s grave)

To finish off our time in Ireland…I just selected a few photos from the sites we visited including the Cliffs of Moher, a creepy cave, the Burren, the Perfumery, the mountains of Connemara and Kylemore Abbey.

It was on way to Galway from this beautiful castle (Kylemore Abbey and Gardens) that a “miracle” occurred. My brother Ben had filed for Veterans benefits after suffering from PTSD (Vietnam) for years and his requests had gone unnoticed and forgotten for years.

But with all the recent shake-up of the Veterans Administration he was finally getting his “day in the sun.” He had an appointment to tell his story at 10 a.m. the day we went to this abbey…which in Irish time would be 3:00.

Anne and I had already planned to pull over and say a prayer for Ben and his long struggle with PTSD and the Veterans Administration. Suddenly Anne called out “It’s 3:00!” and just as she did we were coming up to a small church and a large sign that read: 

And that I did….I literally jumped out of the car and took off for the sanctuary….falling down on my knees in front of the altar…Anne continued praying in the car.

 Guess what? Ben’s story was recorded and there was hardly a dry eye when he left the room…he received his pension a week later. God’s miracle!

And as for Miss Eva Cate and her castles…little did I realize that there are more castles in Ireland per square mile than any other country. But my favorite was Dunguaire…not far from Ballyvaughan.

It was bittersweet leaving Anne and Ballyvaughan to return home (she had her sister and brother-in-law coming in next.) But I was also excited about re-living the adventures through lots of stories.

As I landed in Philly…one of the airport administrators took this picture of me, the cut-outs, and the Liberty Bell …asking if he had my permission to use it as an advertisement in the future. I gladly said “Of course” not knowing that another photo of the Liberty Bell would later come back to haunt me. Isn’t life interesting…never a dull moment?

So until tomorrow….Remind us Father to wake up each morning with “wonder” for the day….Your day filled with surprises for all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I remember when I got home…I immediately ran to the garden to see if it had survived the hot drought conditions prevailing in Summerville while I was gone. Tim and my amazing neighbor (Vicki) had really come through with the watering….my magic moon gate welcomed me back… with open moon flower blooms! And I still had my holding cross!

* Another “miracle” of sorts yesterday….I waited for the temperature to reach its highest point and about mid-afternoon I headed over to the Knightsville Piggly Wiggly.

On the way back I almost ran into the car in front of me from gawking at the gasoline sign. How many years has it been since I saw it this low? God is good!

  I hate to have to report that just when we thought we had Betsy in a better place following her cardiac tests results…another set of symptoms… sending her diagnosis in a  different direction has popped up.. unfortunately also.sending her back to the ER.

She is physically and emotionally exhausted at this point. …and just wants it to stop. Besides prayer I think we need to all sit on the top of the lid of Pandora’s Box to keep any more heart problems from popping out. The Clarkson and Crick families appreciate your prayers during this trying time…and believe me…it is trying!

The first week in October last year…I took three really big baskets of mums around to all my girls…Mandy, Mollie, and Kaitlyn. The baskets of flowers were gargantuan ….and filled with too many blooms to count…just waiting to burst open with life and joy!

 (Of course…I had to get me one of those huge mum baskets too to put in my garden!)

Yesterday when I quickly patrolled the garden to see if anything had survived the frigid night…there lay the seemingly black dead mums from the October mums… now brittle and lifeless.

  However, upon closer inspection, hiding under the dead stems was new life…beautiful, green stems fighting to stay alive amidst the formidable (below freezing) temperatures. (I gathered up all the mums and put them in my garage.)

What a great lesson for us all…even in dying..there is new life waiting for its opportunity to show us a new home.

In Archibald Rutledge’s (Poet Laureate of South Carolina and one-time owner of Hampton Plantation) book God’s Children he has this (following) quote which has remained with me since first reading it…simply because… it is just so “doggone” peaceful and lilting to the human ear.

“It was late October and the dying year was so beautiful, as only lovely things departing can be beautiful.”

Even as I was giving three gorgeous baskets of bright yellow mums away… back in October…in reality…they, too, were already in the “dying year and invisibly departing in their own beautiful way.”

I think what Rutledge is saying in this quote…as I consider myself in the “autumn” of my life…that from the moment we all take our first breath…we are (knowingly or unknowingly) dying… until we take our last.

Normally we give thoughts like this little of our time or contemplation…until one day we hear the diagnosis of a challenging form of breast cancer. It was only then, for me, that I understood the intimate relationship between life and death.

It was only when I was faced with the possibility of death…that I really began to live. It was like Someone took a bottle of Windex and cleaned the vision around my being. Suddenly colors were magnified…like seeing everyday life in 3-D.

I was drawn to laughter, children’s voices, music, art, and nature in a way I had never fully appreciated. Instantly, I was more alive and feeling happier than I ever remember… …as if I had popped out of Mother Earth’s womb with a second chance to “see” what I had missed…what I had taken for granted the first time around.

Regrets over missed opportunities, from my first life, would descend from time to time. Instead of crying over “spilt milk” I decided to start rectifying my lost opportunities.

Thus…last June found me in Ireland with Anne Peterson. I had always wanted to go there, especially to Dingle, Ireland, and now opportunity came knocking at the door. Anne was renting a cottage for almost a month and asking friends and family to come stay for different parts of that time.

Without a moment’s hesitation I said “Yes! When do we go?”

Peggy Franklin, observed from an earlier blog that the single most viewed day for 2014- was the day John got our first batch of pictures from Ireland on the blog…almost a thousand views that day. Peggy wanted to see them and of course, they were privatized along with all the rest of four years of stories.

So I have decided to begin taking a day or two a week and pulling pictures and stories, from earlier posts no longer available to viewers. I, also, see the need to update new viewers on some history pertaining to the blog.

…(In order to help viewers who have just joined us since November 25  understand better the original reason for starting the blog, the role of St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope in my life, an explanation for Scheherazade’s story competition which ended successfully for me in 2013 with 1002 stories told to beat Scheherazade’s 1001 Arabian Nights tales…and other needed bits of “lost” information.)

Today I will end the blog with pictures from our first stop in Ireland…Dingle!

I hope you enjoy.

* One quick bit of information for my new readers….My four year-old granddaughter,Eva Cate, was sad that she couldn’t go with her Boo Boo to Ireland…especially since she is into princesses and castles.

So I had enlarged a cardboard picture made of her and Rutledge to take with me and share in my adventures…culminating in a scrapbook… dedicated to both of them.

Never did I dream that this personal “project” would introduce me to so many new people (“my people”…retirees) who enjoyed the idea of taking the “grandchildren” with them on a trip abroad…without any of the “problems” of taking the grandchildren with them abroad.

It all began innocently enough…Tim dropped Anne and I off at the Charleston airport…Do you see the Detour sign above our heads…it should have had a blinking warning icon next to it.

The “Luck of the Irish” would have to be drowned in beer at the “detour” airport bar… as we would end up losing an entire day in Ireland due to a “detour” because of bad thunderstorms in Philly….where we were scheduled to depart for Ireland that evening. (We would actually leave the following evening.)

So we had to detour to Charlotte, stay in a “sketchy” hotel (at best) fly to Philly early the next morning… and spend the whole day there at the airport waiting to fly out that evening.

On the flip side, however, the Rutledge and Eva Cate cut-outs lured a good-looking man into conversation with me all the way to Charlotte (way too short a flight)…things were turning around quickly.

And then a white knight came to our rescue …Anne’s beautiful niece  met us in Philly and showed us the town while Ben Franklin shared some wisdom with the “grandchildren.”

By the second night when we finally left the good ole’ USA for Ireland…we were exhausted! The flight was jammed pack…because lots of other people had gotten bumped from the night flight before too…with the summer thunderstorms. But we were just happy to be in any seat as long as would wake up in Ireland! (I just partied on with a location wedding party fired up and ready to celebrate!)

We did it….we finally got a car rented (will not even go into the havoc surrounding that encounter of the third kind) and then drove (on the right side) towards Dingle…the closer we got the  more beautiful the land and sea became.

We stayed at a wonderful B&B and immediately headed into the delightful seaside village of Dingle….first thing…to ride Fungi…at least the sculptured one…the adopted dolphin of Dingle at the marina. (Later we took a boat tour and got to see the real one)

We took several tours during our stay at Dingle and then also squeezed in some adventures on our own….saw where the movie Ryan’s Daughter was filmed and where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman honeymooned in happier times.  Some beach walks, great restaurants, and wonderful entertainment!

Everything, it seemed, was named Dingle in Dingle…”A dingle dingle here and a dingle dingle there!”

One morning while looking through a history book on Dingle…a picture appeared that gave me a start….does anybody else see a resemblance between this little resident of Dingle (back in the Great Depression) and our little Rutledge Dingle today-on the right?) I believe the “Black Irish” genes are in full force.

It was our last night in Dingle which turned out to be the most fun….we heard some wonderful Irish music coming from a pub that lured us in…. We ended up having dinner there and stayed until the musicians closed down the place.

I don’t remember ever clapping or tapping so much in my life. The two young men were so gracious afterwards….to let me hang with them (and the cut-outs )  and let Anne take a picture of the “whole” group to remember this fun night by….

Before we left the next morning…I had one last mission to accomplish…there was a restaurant/tavern at the end of one street in Dingle, originally called Walsh’s Townhouse….but sometime right before we arrived…it changed names.

  I was able to talk to the proprietor (last name Walsh) and explained that my son’s name was Walsh Dingle and he had a little boy named Rutledge Dingle…she immediately grabbed a little teddy bear with the inscripted Dingle on its woolen sweater for me to take back to Rutledge, as a gift, with her regards. A great way to leave one of the most beautiful locations in the world with beautiful, friendly people!

Tomorrow I will finish off the pictures of our later adventures in the Burren (rocky, craggy) area of Ireland and then the mountains! A miracle even appears in the later episodes.

So until tomorrow…Let us see life anew and take advantage of all opportunities to “engulf” our amazing Father’s World and meet the most wonderful people along our journey!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

   I heard from Mike and Honey yesterday…isn’t Cocoa growing…precious? She has adjusted quite well to living in the mountains… (Mike says she is “gifted”)… until maybe yesterday morning.

Honey and Mike woke up to 06. to 08. degrees up there on “dem dare mountains” near Hendersonville, NC …it couldn’t even muster up one degree! Unfortunately the water is no longer running. Mike sent me a comment that the Effie “funnies” on the blog motivated him to clean out closets yesterday. You go Mike!

 Mike and Honey said that a few prayers thrown their way for running water would be quite appreciated! Y’all have got it Burrells….we will all pray for running water your way! BURR!

* One hour after I typed this I called Honey to check on her and Mike and they had just gotten their running water back…I told her what I had just typed…and we laughed….the blog readers must have a ‘hot-line” upstairs!

 * I had a sweet email, last evening, from Chrissy, my physical therapist for the last three months. We exchanged emails and I gave her my blog website last week at our last appointment.

She mentions that she believes there is a reason that our paths crossed and I felt it too….God definitely played a role in both of us being able to support the other along our individual journey.

Dear Reader:

I decided on the coldest day this year, in the “dead” of winter- we needed some warm “live” laughter!

And who better to bring this to us than the late “Miss” Effie Wilder (Fran Townsend’s mother) with her famous taradiddles (defined as pretentious nonsense)… along with Archibald Rutledge sharing one of his workers’ Tall Tales from Hampton Plantation?

I took this picture of (one of ) my bedroom closets for two reasons:

1) The design of this closet… with the higher two shelves containing shoes and the third lower shelf containing blouses… was the smartest move I ever made. I saw it on a long-ago Oprah Show and got Tim to build it for me.

Yep, the best thing I ever did….now I can find every pair of shoes and boots plus (by simply glancing down) on my shirt/blouse rack…it takes half the time to locate which blouse I want to wear than with a standard closet!

2) The extra coat hangers… dangling at the end of the blouse rack… bring back to memory the problem most of us have in collecting more coat hangers than items to hang them on.

Yesterday I stopped by Belk and ended up bringing home four new coat hangers worth of pants and blouses. The clerk even asked me if I wanted to keep the hangers…I could have so easily said “No“…and gotten rid of them.

But old habits die hard…I simply smiled and told the clerk just to leave them on the hangers…it would be easier. “Easier“…Right…until I get home and add them to my already growing crop that I had just gotten rid of back in the fall…now reproducing, thanks to me, in leaps and bounds.

Apparently I am not alone in this ‘closet dilemma’ …Miss Effie, in this first “terse verse” laments the same thing and ponders the problem.

“Multiplication”

I cleaned my closet today, and found

Forty bare coat-hangers hanging around

There were only twenty a week ago

So here is what I want to know

Someone, please, my query heed

Do hangers in dark closets BREED?

………………….

You “true-blue” blog followers, who have been with me for a few years, will recognize the following Miss Effie taradiddle because it is my favorite for the ages. I can just think about it and start laughing out loud! Hope you enjoy it also.

________________

It happened in a small town in Georgia where the Methodist Church had established the practice of asking all congregational families to take turns inviting their elderly preacher to Sunday dinner.

One Sunday the hostess and her husband excused themselves to finish the dinner preparations…leaving the minister in the parlor with their small son, Wilbur.

“I bet you can’t guess what we’re having for dinner.” said Wilbur.

“Let’s see,” said the preacher. “Is it fried chicken?”

“Nope.”

“Is it smothered chicken?”

“Nope.”

“Is it baked chicken?”

“Nope.”

“Is it-could it be-the preacher looked hopeful-“roast beef?”

“Nope. I’ll tell you. It’s buzzard! I heard Mama say I guess it’s time we had the old buzzard for dinner!”

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This last little “verse” of Miss Effie’s  leads us into one of Archibald Rutledge’s recollections from his Hampton Plantation days….

Genealogy

I surely hate to think that I’m

Descended from primordial slime!

Best, when all is said and done,

To go along with Genesis One.

Adam (with Eve) as first “begetter”

They  weren’t perfect, but it’s better’

Than to think the ocean’s scum

Is where my lineage first came from!

……………………………..

As we can tell from the following Hampton Plantation legend… even before that apple/snake problem in the garden…things weren’t going that well between Adam and Eve…so God stepped into help and a whole new crop of problems were ‘created.’ Have yourself a good chuckle…

“The Legend of the Walk Off People”

It appears that on one occasion Adam, deeply troubled, sought out God in the Garden of Eden.

“God,” he said, “you know how I love to catch fish in the river and to hunt rabbits. But Eve, she’s always complaining. She says that she gets lonesome because I fish and hunt so much. She’s talking of leaving me.”

“That’s easy,” said God, “come down to the creek with me, and we will make a few more people. They will keep Eve company while you are away from her hunting and fishing.”

Arriving at the water’s edge, God shaped some new people out of mud, and then leaned them against a rail fence to dry.

“Adam,” he said, “I will come back before sundown and put some brains in them.”

But God, forgetting that He had some other prior engagements that afternoon, did not return to finish His work until the next morning.

And it was then… to His surprise and dismay, that He discovered the people with no brains had walked off! And (do you know) they have been increasing and multiplying ever since!

You might even have met one!

……………………………………………………………………………………….

So until tomorrow…I hope you liked these examples of humor from the past… which are just as enjoyable today…thank you God for the gift of humor!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

  Thanks to all the prayers that have gone out for Betsy the past several days…she passed all her cardiac tests (echo and stress) yesterday with flying colors…indicating that overall…physically her heart is not damaged.

However, she does have a disorder with her heart rhythm which will either have to be dealt with through increased medication and/or surgery, perhaps, at some point. But we can all take a moment to breathe deeply again….God is good!

Dear Reader:

Haven’t Monday and Tuesday been ‘picture-perfect’ examples of southern winter days? The sun has been out with a bone-marrow warmth to it…a great day for sitting on the deck and/or front porch…depending on the direction of the rays of the sun.

  Lucy followed me around ‘step for step’ or ‘paw for paw’ yesterday… seemingly enjoying my stopping to take photos… while she rolled in the sunshine and warmth.

After taking all the pictures of the garden and yard basking in the sunshine…I took some pictures of the filtered sunlight brightening up the “Happy Room.”

 Then I decided to take my new garden magazine out on the front porch and read in the sunshine. (I felt like Lucy….stretching and yawning as the sun’s rays poured down on me)

“Big Red’ has a new red bloom…so pretty…my “Old Faithful” geranium never ceases to amaze me…hidden in shadows and blooming in sunlight.

In the garden I found beautiful little flowers hiding among the dark coverage of dead leaves…peeking out with a big smile.

I showed you one of my beautiful cabbages earlier but a couple of more patches popped up from their hiding places….

Here it is …the dead of winter with impending “COLD” soon to arrive…yet the garden has found a way to “stay alive” with beautiful bright colors….even my asparagus fern.

When I returned to “my” (on the line/mine) camellia sasanqua bush…it was loaded with blooms and so ‘pretty in pink’. As I shot the photo upward…I could see the gorgeous blue sky in contrast and immediately thanked God for life…to be alive at this very moment to see this amazing gift of beauty from Him.

Add a bright yellow bench with the sun glinting off a white-washed picket fence intertwined with bright red and green leaves of climbing vines and the day is complete…a day filled with warmth and brightness and sunlight. A great day to be alive.

…And it all started, yesterday, with the warmth and sunlight of one special, young, physical therapist named Chrissy who has held my hand (actually massaged it) for the past three months while I underwent treatments for lymphedema..

Yesterday was my last “official” medical appointment which left me with mixed feelings…happy not to have to make the trip over to St. Francis three times a week but also a little sad.

Chrissie reminds me of my own adult children and “Mama” Boo Boo has enjoyed listening to her wonderful adventures with her six year old son Noah. Chrissy is such a good mother!

It was all good news, as far as, the lymphedema went…the swelling is down and the arm, hand, and fingers are good to go!

A big-“shout-out” to Chrissy…the best lymphedema  physical therapist around…I will miss her…but I know our paths will cross again.. maybe lunch one day… sounds good!

So until tomorrow…Let us take time to enjoy the “here and near” with all its warmth and sunlight…leaving cold days ahead to stay right there…ahead. Live for the moment…Lucy does.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 Betsy had another episode but finally  starting to get some explanations on what is happening…here is excerpt from her mother Libby….

...It is basically a problem on the “electrical” part of the heart….signal misfiring and causing rising heart rate and blood pressure….

Her beta-blocker medicine has been greatly increased and she will go in for more tests later this week. So please keep our Betsy in your prayers…

  Dear Reader:

I came across this quote from Henry James and was so happy to “find” it again. I needed to be reminded of the importance of kindness.

Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important.  The first is to be kind.  The second is to be kind.  The third is to be kind.” 

We all like to consider ourselves “kind” people overall…but sometimes, at the end of the day, I see missed opportunities where I could have shown more kindness and didn’t. It is like we do a couple of nice things and figure we are good for the day…but opportunities for kindness are a constant…not a one time deal. For example:

Perhaps it was not stopping to  let a poor car out who was stuck on the wrong side of a busy highway. Normally I would have but I was running late for an appointment and thought that the person behind me could ‘cover it this time’…reassuring myself that I just about ‘always’ let people out …just not today…I was “too busy.”

“Too busy” to be kind. I think there should be some kind of in-grown red flag stitched inside our palms that shoots out when we can’t find time to be kind to our fellowman.

The failure to respond to opportunities of kindness are always my biggest regrets at the end of the day. Reflecting back on some incident during the day…if we start with “I shoulda” we know we missed a kindness opportunity….  After giving it some thought I realize it occurs when I put myself and my needs first over another human being…because of my busyness…putting time over tolerance.

Yet I know what Jesus’ expectations are for kindness. He said it about as plainly and clearly as he could: (The following is an excerpt from David Doane in the form of a response to an article titled (Awakin Reading) “Kindness is Everything.”

Jesus said what you do to the least of people, you do to me.  That’s a powerful and profound statement.  For me, it’s true that kindness includes everything, and it’s based on our being one, which Jesus knew and stated in various ways.  It follows for us to be kind to all things plants, animals, all people, and self.  What we do to any we do to all. 

I looked around the house and chose the three pictures above for the blog because they symbolize three acts of kindness to come. The minute I call Tim and tell him I have the decorations and lights off the tree…the mantle cleared, and a new flag ready to hang on the porch…he will be here.

And quicker than ‘Santa’s wink up the chimney’ Tim will have the tree thrown out, the Christmas flag down with a new one unfurling in the breeze, and the old wreath put away for another Christmas with the mantle restored to normalcy.

As I go to pay him he will shake his head and say he was ‘in the neighborhood anyway and we will catch up ‘later.’  I have never known a time, over the last decade or so, when Tim was too busy to be kind.

Audrey Hepburn, the beautiful (inside and out) actress was once asked about her beauty regime and how she maintained her good looks. Her reply is a “classic” statement that we can all learn from and remember….

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others. 

……………………………….

So until tomorrow…Father, show us that we can never be too busy not to stop and show kindness to our fellowman. After all… we have never had to worry about YOU picking a convenient time to show kindness to us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Joan sent me this link about a new computer bracelet that blew my mind! I emailed her back and told her that the “tatooed” people of the world might be “screwed” with this new device.

> https://www.youtube.com/embed/9J7GpVQCfms

 I love Beethoven’s  “Ode to Joy” in any form or fashion…but accompanied with these beautiful pictures…It took my breath away …a great way to celebrate 2015 – Thank you Joan so much for sharing: It proves once again that God’s World is beyond description and music must be God’s breath upon the world!

 * Thanks for all the prayers for Betsy…didn’t hear anything yesterday so thinking no news is good news right now

* Mandy called to say she thinks everyone had a good start back yesterday…it will take some adjusting but they are off and running!

* Master Rutledge is just getting “too cool” these days.. (a scarf and tie) soon to be “too cold”…like the rest of us Thursday! Our precious boy! Quite dapper!

I do think he should try out for the part of George, Mary’s son on Downton Abbey….I think Rutledge would be making more appearances on the series than the “invisible” child now!

Dear Reader:

Have you ever considered that what “we seek to become, we already are?”

When I read that line in a recent blog (Dancing with Monsters/Kate Wolfe- Jenson) I literally stopped reading, breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and sat back. Could it possibly be…that I am already “me?”

We have all grown up in a culture that promotes ambition and knowledge, at its highest level, always pushing us to become the very best we can be… so that we don’t “waste” our lives.

This “follow the course” “walk the straight and narrow” and “don’t get distracted along the way” approach fuels competitiveness and an on-going worry that, somehow (no matter how hard we try) we aren’t “performing” at our physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual best.

It leads to a continuous sense of ‘falling behind’ in the race of life.

But what if…the real goal in life is simply revealing who we are as we travel along our diverse paths?…  It could be almost like removing layers of onion skin or cabbage leaves? Could it possibly be that it is in our responses to all of life’s beauties, personal passions, and challenges… that we show the world our “real core”… hidden under layers of secrecy?

When I went out, yesterday, on the back patio to feed Lucy…I noticed a couple of plants (still in pots) had blown over and several Christmas ornaments were still dangling from hanging plants that I had missed removing from the garden the other day.

Overall the garden is quite dormant (from the surface perspective)… and even though there are more black and brown colors throughout the landscape of the garden ….occasionally a beautiful color will emerge from the darkening surroundings. For example: The cabbage plant.

I just happened to glance down and saw what looked like a dark stick, which turned out to a  stem, rising up out of the ground. Attached to the stem were the most beautiful purple, lavender, greenish blooms….cabbage blooms… their curious little “heads” emerging in the dead of winter to see what life looks like above ground.

I stopped, ran back in the house, grabbed my iphone and hurried back out….As I “closed in” on one bloom…enlarging it a little more each time…the beauty of this plant grew in proportion. I was starting to see this exquisite plant for what it was…a beautiful creation from God’s garden…revealing its true identity.

It made me so happy! What a wonderful surprise… such joy from a sleeping garden!

Kate Wolfe-Jenson, defines these moments best, when she says:

As you respond to what you find beautiful, what nurtures your soul, what makes your heart sing, you express and celebrate your greatness…your uniqueness which defines you…as you.

Suddenly the whole ‘tiresome’ idea of endlessly searching for who I am evaporated into a beautiful state called ATARAXIA. (Don’t you love this new word?) At least for me, it is a new word.

It means: a state of freedom from emotional disturbances and anxiety;  a state of tranquility.

It was at this moment the “ping” went off in my head. The connection!

When a blogger shares his/her private thoughts and ideas “out there in cyberspace” for anyone to read…it is definitely a leap of faith. In fact…in the middle of typing some days…my mind is simultaneously questioning or second-guessing whether I should be revealing this or that about myself or my “take” on a situation.

Am I coming across as a major dork, ingrate, simpleton, too preachy/goodie/goodie or (a blogger’s greatest fear) a really downright boring individual? Am I pushing the perimeters too much or not enough?

In other words…how would I be “seen” as an person by those reading the blog collectively and/or individually?

Remember those games growing up at camps or even sleep-overs where we had to write down what we liked about everyone at the gathering and later  swap off the individual responses?

Even then, as a young adolescent, I recall being surprised at how others saw me…it never matched how I saw myself. Traits, that I wasn’t even aware of possessing, would pop up again and again from different participants playing the game.

Which brings us to the big question…the  enigma of life…are we who we think we are based on our own personal observations or do we come closer to being the “real us” as identified by others? Perhaps, somewhere in the middle?

Now back to the ping! On November 25, when I started over with Chapel of Hope Stories, still shell-shocked from a loss of innocence over a cyberspace “intrusion,”  I remember Honey tried to explain to me…that the loss of a sense of of freedom in using visuals off the internet meant nothing to the readers of the blog. It was the personal “stuff” they were most interested in. My identity was seen through my thoughts…not internet pictures…

My heart has ached all night . I just am so sad that someone has tried to steal your joy and the joy you give away each day. I don’t understand but there must be a reason. Keep your spirit!

We all have pictures we can share and I know they add to your creative flair. But Becky, it is really all about the message you give us of hope and love. The wonderful pictures of you and your garden and wonderful family are what I always look forward to and enjoy.

Later Jackson called and said the same thing…her favorite blogs were my observations walking around the neighborhood or exploring a new location in the lowcountry. She loved to accompany me vicariously on these little escapades. None of these required anything but me, my thoughts, and my imagination…plus any photos or pictures, as such, that could be taken myself.

I now believe that “being me” is not a sustainable goal if I think of “me” as a final condition, state, or ending (a feeling more like turning in a last term paper…for better or worse it is over.)

Instead I see “me” as fluid… a process rather then a product…it is my responses to all life’s gifts, surprises, and obstacles that continuously re-define me as a growing and changing child of God. That defines all of us.

So until tomorrow…Let us be kind to ourselves and concentrate on the precious moments in life we have been given… and our responses to them… rather than striving to become something or someone so elusive… we can not even define it to ourselves.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 Several of you have emailed me to ask about Betsy…Betsy got through Sunday without a return visit to the ER! Hallelujah!

Saturday the medical staff changed her medicine… after studying the initial results from her monitor showings. It appears this was a good decision. Now we just have to wait for her cardiac doctor’s visit, including more tests, to see what the final diagnosis will be.

I truly believe it has been the additional blog readers’ prayers that staved off another visit to the ER…so please keep remembering our sweet (“It’s all good”) Betsy in your prayers!

  * A “shout-out” to Mandy…she returns to Buist Academy today after her maternity leave. A tough day of transition that many of us can certainly relate to….I send a prayer, dear Mandy, that all goes well and that soon the routine of returning to work will ease the initial sadness of leaving behind the special time you and Jakie have had these past twelve weeks.

Both of you have bonded together…. for a wonderful life with your wonderful family!

Since ECDC doesn’t start back this week at the College of Charleston…Eva Cate is going to be at the same school as Jake this week…in fact in the next building.

She told me last Friday she was going to check on Jake and make sure he was not sad…she would listen out for him (to make sure he wasn’t crying) if her class walked past his classroom. Have no fear Mandy you have got Little “momma” looking out for Jakie!

Dear Reader:

One of my students gave me this eyeglass holder years ago. It sits by my computer to ‘supposedly’ hold one of umpteen pairs of reading glasses that I own…or it is supposed to…but each morning when I reach for a pair of reading glasses…it is empty.

I honestly drive myself ‘nutty’ over things like finding one pair of reading glasses everyday before I start work on the blog.

Here I have this nice eyeglass holder completely empty…some days I feel like it actually taunts me …mocking me with its emptiness.  My ‘lame-brained’ mind appears to amuse the eye- glass-holder endlessly…since I am ‘endlessly’ searching for one pair of glasses when I own at least half a dozen at any one time.

My problem? I am a “take it with you” walking disaster. For some unknown reason I never leave a pair of reading glasses in the holder or even  somewhere else…like in close proximity to the computer….’Oh No’ …that would be way too easy and  too logical for me. I can’t make my life easier with something as simple as putting down my reading glasses before departing.

For example…if I have to stop and use the restroom…instead of leaving my glasses on the computer desk…I will find them, much later, by the side of the tub or by the sink where I dropped them. Or let’s say I get hungry…off go my eyeglasses to the kitchen to appear minutes, hours, or days later on the dining room table under bills or on the dishwasher cabinet shelf.

If I could retrieve my eyeglasses through memory recall (which I can never do) it would be like solving a maze. I would watch myself take off with one pair of reading glasses, locate another pair, while losing another and so on and so on and so on. I am mental mush when it comes to keeping up with… and then retrieving… daily articles and objects in life.

So on my self-analysis evaluation PRO and CON list….I would have to put “Losing Things” under Con. But to be kind to myself I would have to put “Connecting Things” under Pro.

If given enough time I feel fairly certain that I can connect anything to anything or anyone to anything. I love connections!

My number one personal conviction (that I will take with me when I pass on)….my strongest belief is that everything and everyone are connected. It is only when we pass through the next world’s portal that I believe it will all unveil itself in grand majesty before us. The world’s connection, between all life forms, and then, especially, between us and God.

While reading through a PBS email showing dates and times for upcoming programs  (I am too excited that season 5 of Downtown Abby starts tonight at 9:00!) I came across a program title that intrigued me. It contained a short video clip by the author of the book (upon which the program exists) and some information on the author.

I was immediately intrigued…. I had to order the book! (Now do you see why my bookshelves refuse to stay void and empty…even diminished?)

 Steven Johnson has a six-episode documentary airing on Wednesday evenings on PBS which addresses the history of the creations which got us to “Now.” They are episodes on 1) clean 2) cold 3) glass 4) light 5) sound and 6) time.

Steven Johnson narrates this documentary and is such a wonderful storyteller that he makes us all realize that we, unknowingly, by sharing a thought or idea with another…could have started a chain reaction to the development of an “invention” that could change the world.

The vast majority of gigantic change-makers over the past several centuries have been invented by ordinary people, that most of us have never heard of…who had extraordinary and diversified interests that allowed them to see connections where other did not.

They didn’t have to be geniuses to do it…the people who started and/or continued chain reactions from one idea to another were people with lots of different interests or hobbies that provided the innovative opportunities to see connections and how they could be used to improve the world!

If you are wondering where all of this is leading….well, the “connection” leads us right back to my reading glasses…but through an indirect route…the invention of the printing press. Gotcha!

The history of ideas and innovation unfolds the same way. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press created a surge in demand for spectacles, as the new practice of reading made Europeans across the continent suddenly realize that they were farsighted; the market demand for spectacles encouraged a growing number of people to produce and experiment with lenses, which led to the invention of the microscope, which shortly thereafter enabled us to perceive that our bodies were made up of microscopic cells.

You wouldn’t think that printing technology would have anything to do with the expansion of our vision down to the cellular scale, just as you wouldn’t have thought that the evolution of pollen would alter the design of a hummingbird’s wing. But that is the way change happens.

(Excerpt from Steven Johnson’s How We Got to Now)

When we “connect the dots in life”…two differing ideas that come together, don’t we all get goose bumps…It is like we just got a “hint of something bigger” than us floating around in the universe and we got a sense or even perhaps a glimpse of it for a microsecond.

Personally I think this is what our God’s Winks are….God is showing us a “hint of something bigger” for just a moment in our lives. A “hint” to encourage us to think bigger and be more accepting of ideas beyond our imagination.

So until tomorrow….Let us be open to these spiritual “hints”, these God’s Winks of a world outside our own that will one day show us how we are all one and all connected.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

* As sad as it has been taking down Christmas decorations…I must admit that it has given me a chance to switch around some decor and even bring something new to the mix.

  As you start down the steps to my “Happy Room” I have a painting of a bottle tree that Mollie gave me several Christmases ago. (love it!) There is a vacant spot by it so I added one of the extra Ernest Lee (a.k.a.) “Chicken Man’s” painting…this one of our palmetto tree. It makes me smile….. I love my Chicken Man.

 And then because we saw a few glimmers of sun yesterday afternoon…my overloaded four- blossom amaryllis got the strength to start looking up…maybe tomorrow all four blooms will have a “pretty in pink smile” !

I got these beautiful green hydrangeas for Christmas…there is something so peaceful about their color…the blooms seem to set the tone for the new year.

Finally…a bush that sits right on the property line between me and my neighbor is filling up with camellia sasanquas….since I can reach the blooms from my side…I made up a new ordinance yesterday…”If it is on the line…it’s mine.”

I cut three beautiful blooms and put them is Kaitlyn’s “magical vase” that can tilt every which way without spilling any water.

All this beauty and change assure me the new year brings much joy from God’s garden. A “hint of something bigger” that is to come!

Dear Reader:

I started thinking, the other day, how quickly the depth of gratefulness for life shallows, if we don’t consciously dedicate our awareness to it. If we don’t let the first thought each morning be one of gratitude for life.

What brought about this revelation was the realization that I had stopped saying a “scriptured mantra” each morning and now for the life of me I couldn’t remember why or even when I stopped doing it.

The passage of scripture was:

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

I do, however, remember when I first started the ritual of shouting this passage out each morning. It would have been in early June of 2008. I had just started my first round of chemo.

Having seen too many Hollywood movies and listened to too many second-hand accounts of horror stories concerning the terrible effects of chemo….the first night after my treatment, I got a trash can out of the bathroom, placed it next to the bed, threw in some kleenex tissues for good measure and a damp wash cloth.

I then spent most of the rest of the night staring bug-eyed at the ceiling… waiting for “waves of agonizing nausea” to start assaulting my body.

Nothing happened.

I finally fell sound asleep….woke up and was starving. I called a friend and we met for breakfast. I ate like a horse.

I found myself smiling from ear to ear. Friends and family started calling , anxious to hear how the first treatment went and I was still munching away…while reassuring them it was “all good.”

When I woke up to beautiful sunny skies the next day… immediately I heard myself shouting:

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Where had that come from? I had found my “voice” …God’s reassurance, through His Word, that He was with me throughout this health challenge.

Obviously more difficult days would follow with subsequent radiation treatments, more chemo, and surgeries…but I continued waking up to the sheer joy of being able to wake up. To be alive. I was so grateful for life itself…in any fashion!

I don’t remember the specific day when I didn’t say it. Perhaps I was running late or hadn’t slept well and simply forgot. My grateful shout-out to the world each morning became intermittent at best…and then gone and forgotten.

It was a subtle change…but an important one. I was starting to take life for granted again. After fighting so hard for it…I was letting the joy of simply being alive slip through my fingers.

It was actually this Christmas’s bronchitis/laryngitis episode that made me stop and re-evaluate my personal health and spiritual journey.

I felt somewhat depressed (which honestly doesn’t happen that often to me) and finally understood that it really wasn’t the virus, even with its “totally” annoying symptoms, that had me down. I was depressed because I was becoming an “ingrate” for life.

Where was my joy? I wanted it back. Finally the light bulb came on and a few days ago…I woke up and screamed out to no one, but myself:

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

I was back! My joy was back! My “being” had felt disconnected from God and my ability to rejoice in life through Him. I had forgotten to say “Thank you”… to thank Him for His presence and guidance in my life.

As my physical voice returns, so does my spiritual one.

I see now, more clearly, that we can’t separate our emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual parts into separate components. We are all one “being” and as such must learn to fill each part of our needs through grateful acknowledgment to our Creator.

And not timidly or quietly,….but with a loud voice:

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

So until tomorrow…Help me Father never take your most precious gift to us, life, itself, for granted ever again. Fill me with a joy that will last a lifetime, while acknowledging Your Existence gratefully, every single day of my life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Grandmother Boo Boo is back in action! I kept Jake and Eva Cate for John and Mandy to get out of the house together before Mandy starts back to work Monday and the reality of two small children being dropped off at pre-schools and two adults working… commences.

Poor little Jake is feeling a little under the weather…you hate it when they are so little and can’t tell you what the problem is…but he is so sweet.

I love the following two pictures….Eva Cate adores her new little brother but in her zeal to express it…Jake gets put in a strangle hold more times than not. He was on the sofa with me babbling and cooing when Eva Cate asked me to take a picture with him and hopped on the sofa with us.

One moment Jake was looking at me with big blue eyes… but the second Eva Cate started closing in (while I took the picture) I swear I think the kid played “dead” or at least pretended to be asleep. Survival tactics start early in life with siblings.

Before going to John and Mandy’s I stopped off  to see my grandson, Rutledge whom I haven’t seen since December 18. He came running to me….loved it!!!

I am so impressed with Rutledge’s vocabulary…at 18 months he is putting three or more words together. He loves playing the picture card game and can identify everyone of them clearly enough for me to understand he has it right. (Of course I am sure it helps having  mom as a speech therapist!)

Speaking of Walsh and family…if you know of anyone who needs a one bedroom place to live…Walsh’s condo on Daniel Island has just become available. It is in a perfect location…within walking distance of town, close to the water, situated by the walkways through the marsh and loaded with amenities to boot.

If you hear of anyone that might need a place….have them email Walsh at : [email protected]

For any more information.. Don’t hesitate to contact me (rebecca_dingle@hotmail. com) and I can  link you up!

 Betsy, Libby’s daughter, had another scare yesterday afternoon/evening and ended up at the ER again. Thank goodness she still was wearing the monitor so hopefully the doctors are getting information to help diagnose this puzzling problem from seemingly out of  nowhere. Prayers are still very much appreciated!

Dear Reader:

***Let me make this insertion on Friday, January 2….something just happened that I have been waiting for a long time….I woke up (8:00 a.m.) to 500 followers!!!!!!!!!!

I have come close the last few days but it just didn’t happen….and now, this morning.I woke up and there it was.

A private calling/mission complete! Thank you God! Thank you readers for making this personal goal a reality!

As I have been returning to the “Land of the Living” from this stubborn virus I had over the holidays …the reality of lost time has set in. Where did the month go?

Yesterday was (rather frantically) spent writing checks, paying bills, and sadly ‘thinking” about taking down Christmas decorations. The last three weeks are a distant blur of hacking and croaking… but I am finally climbing back in the saddle.

Losing time is scary, isn’t it? It leaves one completely discombobulated.

So I decided to charge the enemy of ‘lost time’ with some good old organization. Besides paying bills and starting to take down a couple of decorations, I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom…let some fresh air in and spray-sanitized every germ still brave enough to remain in the house…including me.

I attacked the ‘overstocked’ computer files…even the dreaded “Documents” folder. This folder contain years of old lesson plans, workshop activities, etc./ etc. I sharpened up my “delete” finger and charged in.

Unfortunately cleaning out documents is like cleaning out old photo albums…you never finish because you stop to relish (with delight) in the old-familiar faces from yesteryear.

I would re-read a lesson plan or activity and enjoy it just as much, in the present,  as I did while teaching it. And every now and then a story would pop up that seemed out-of-place in these particular files…but still containing a life lesson worth remembering.

That is how today’s story evolved. The title caught my attention and when I “opened” it I knew this was the perfect story for a new year. A story about marbles…

 * As I went scavenging the house looking for any marbles left abandoned in old bedroom drawers (talking about “losing one’s marbles”) for the title picture… I, instead, opened a desk drawer and fell over laughing.

I stared down at dozens of pink “Seeds of Happiness” clay smiley faces… smiling back at me. (I figured they were close enough to being in the marbles family to count.)

When (almost two years ago) Walsh and Mollie had the cake “revealing” celebration to find out if baby number one would be a boy or girl….Honey made dozens of blue clay seeds of happiness and pink clay seeds of happiness to give out, to family and friends,  as mementos of the happy occasion.

When the cake was cut and it was  revealed “blue” (our adorable Mr. Rutledge) …everyone made a mad dash for the blue bowl….leaving the pink bowl alone and sad.

(Will it be sad much longer or is baby two going to have the last “pinkalicious” laugh?..Only time will tell…but I am ready with the mementos if a little girl arrives on the scene. If it is another little boy….I’ll call you Honey! Back to the kiln!!)

“One Thousand Marbles”

(Author Unknown)

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, of maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen, with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it. I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.

He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom.” I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say…

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.

” He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.” “Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

“Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part. “It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. “I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. “I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for  breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones……

“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.

I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.” “What brought this on?” she asked with a smile. “Oh, nothing special,” I said. ” It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow….this quote is worth a moment of reflection of two…

“If every year is a marble, how many marbles do you have left? How many sunrises, how many opportunities to rise to the full stature of your being?”  

– Joy Page

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 * Sometimes you do get rewarded for cleaning up….like, yesterday, when I disassembled the “Apple Tree” centerpiece Honey made for me…Under it all was a beautiful plate she had molded in clay by hand. A hidden treasure…just like Honey!

  It’s hard to tell from this picture but “middle amaryllis” has four blooms and is so heavy laden/ top heavy…it can’t raise its head. It had toppled over in the night spilling dirt everywhere…

…so I began searching for some kind of prop…and decided on a crooked walking stick cane someone gave me as a joke (hopefully) when I retired…I then got some twine and somehow the walking stick is now tied to the blinds which are then tied to the stem. A little confusing but it is working.

Did you have your “Hoppin’ Johns yesterday?” I did…but only because my “luck” comes in having friends who make it and and then bring it! The luck of the Irish…my friend Anne Peterson! With friends, like Anne, I am now stocked in ‘good luck’ ready for the new year….bring it on!

If you are an Auburn fan…the bowl game was a real heart-breaker….anything more “heart-melting” came in the form of Rutledge and Eva Cate singing with their flashlight “microphones”…..imagination at its best.

* Let me try and see if I can get the video to play….all 10 seconds of it…Thanks Kaitlyn for recording this….obviously the “song” was dedicated to Dad (Walsh/aka Woo Woo)…With such obvious ‘talent’ …surely a tune can’t be far behind.

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Endings and Beginnings…

Posted on January 1, 2015by Becky Dingle

Dear Reader:

Happy New Year! And look who surprised me this morning in all her glory? “Middle Amaryllis” greeted 2015 with two beautiful blooms… back-to-back!

It reminded me of the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks to the past with one face and to the future with another. (Though I will have to say the two “faces” of my amaryllis are much prettier than the sculptured faces of Janus…don’t you agree?)

 

 

What a way to start the day…much less the year! I took time to do some reflecting last night and realized that three weeks of feeling crummy (and missing out on holidaybirthday activities) had distorted my overall remembrances of 2014.

The last three months of this past year have certainly been challenging…all the trips back and forth to St. Francis for physical therapy while adjusting to “Python” constricting wrappings on my left hand and arm several weeks in succession. (Though I do love my physical therapist….adorable and so sweet!)

And then coming right on top of all of that…an (initially) innocent sounding cough that  decided to settle in my larynx and not leave. (It didn’t even have the decency to pay rent!)

Christmas was definitely “dampened” by my laryngitis and bronchitis. (How I have any lungs left is quite miraculous…I feelt like I have coughed them up several times a day for weeks.)

Isn’t it wonderful that nothing stays the same in life? Whether good or not so good….change will happen. When one has been going through a ‘not-so-good’ time…this knowledge is quite gratifying.

To add even more hope and joy to my mental health…the  sun came out so beautifully yesterday…and after two doses of antibiotics I am already feeling stronger physically and my voice is beginning to return. Life is reassuring me (through my amaryllis blooms) that it continues to go on…and something beautiful can “pop” at any moment.

Besides…how can I ‘poo poo’ 2014 when I went to Ireland for goodness sake? Those memories will last me a lifetime!

In fact WordPress sent me two annual reports this year….one showing that the pictures from Ireland Anne and I sent- (which John put on the blog) drew the largest number of views from 2014!)

The first annual report covers the time period from Jan 1 to the fateful November 19 time period. The second annual report covers stats from  November 25 until December 31. I want to share these reports with you and I will also provide a link to both reports, if interested.

But… just in case you can’t open the link (for some reason)….let me share some of the major stats with you.

First Annual Report (January 1-November 19- 2014)

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about79,000times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

The busiest day of the year was June 25th with 982 views. The most popular post that day was Photos of Becky and Anne in Ireland.

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. web.mail.comcast.net
3. reddit.com
4. semalt.com
5. pinterest.com

Where did they come from?

+ From all over the world

− 168 countries in all!

Most visitors came from The United States. U.K. & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was Stop and “Remark” about God’s “Remarkable” World

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1 Gin-gEdwards 116 COMMENTS
• 2 Ambika Murthy 56 COMMENTS
• 3 Sis Kinney 46 COMMENTS
• 4 Jo Dufford 41 COMMENTS
• 5 Honey Burrell 33 COMMENTS

(* Thank you girls for commenting and letting me know your thoughts…it helps me tremendously.)

Here is the link for this report: http://archivechapelofhopestories.wordpress.com/2014/annual-report/

The Second Report only included the blogs from November 25, 2014 to until December 31. It is interesting to see the change in dynamics in this short a period, however.

Crunchy numbers

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,600 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 60 trips to carry that many people.

There were 426 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 58 MB. That’s about a picture per day.

The busiest day of the year was November 25th with 166 views. The most popular post that day was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head.

 

 

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. buttons-for-website.com
3. make-money-online.7makemoneyonline.com
4. pinterest.com
5. urlm.co

 Where Did They Come From?

 51 countries in all!
Most visitors came from The United States. Brazil & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1Gin-g Edwards – 11 COMMENTS
• 2Johnny Johnson – 8 COMMENTS
• 3ambikasur – 6 COMMENTS
• 4Jo Dufford – 5 COMMENTS
• 5Brooke- 4 COMMENTS

* Once again gals and guy (Johnny) I appreciate you taking the time to make a comment….I look so forward to getting comments back on any blog reading. Means the world to me!

Here is the link to this report: http://chapelofhopestories.com/2014/annual-report/

So until tomorrow I share with you this blessing for the New Year… that I love from Irish poet John O’Donohue.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

My hope for all of us as we travel this next year’s time period along our journey is that we are brave enough to accept change and use it to help us grow in the light of God. To be the person God always wanted us to be. To reach our full potential…using the gifts God gave us.

And now John O’Donohue’s Poem for a New Year…..

“For a New Beginning”

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

—John O’Donohue

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Ya Alert….my good friend Libby texted last evening to let the Ya’s know that her darling daughter, Betsy, had quite a health scare yesterday at work. An ambulance was called and Betsy was taken to the hospital to check  her light-headedness, extreme rapid heartbeat and accelerating blood pressure.

Over time it eventually dropped down low enough to release her with a monitor to get more information on what is going on. Hopefully then there will be some much wanted answers to this puzzling episode. Please keep Libby’s and Betsy’s families in your prayers this week. Thank you.

 * Betsy is our “It’s All Good” mantra gal…she is the epitome of optimism and love…so Betsy I say to you now “It’s all good” because you are in God’s hands.” And as Auntie/Mama Boo would say…” Don’t worry…It will be alright”!

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“Canning” Memories… for the New Year

Posted on December 31, 2014by Becky Dingle

Dear Reader:

As I sat on the sofa yesterday deciding on what story would end 2014…a child’s name kept trying to break through the cobwebs of my memory. A story that really touched me but had been pushed aside for another story a few weeks ago. I remember thinking (at the time) to “bookmark” the pages.

Not only did I not do that…I didn’t even write down which book the story came from. I knew the overall gist of the story (loved it) and that it involved a little girl with a different name….but nothing else would come.

I started looking through the nearest books around my computer… but with no luck. I finally gave up and went to get something out of the guest bedroom and there was a book lying on the bed that I knew intuitively was the book.

  It didn’t take five minutes to find the story: “Iva Mae’s Birthday” written by Nita Waxelman in Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul.

The story is told by the author….as she remembers a little girl in grade school with a special birthday that taught her classmates important lessons in life… that would come much later.. only with maturity and reflective hindsight.

Before we start the story… Take a minute and think back to the one adult in your life who was there for you during the tough times and the bad times growing up….yet never judged you while the crisis was at hand. (Later perhaps… but not during the crisis)

Dee Dee and Poppy were these two caring adult mentors for their grandchildren. It was mainly the granddaughters,( though also the grandsons occasionally) who sought Dee Dee’s wisdom with problems at school, dating issues, and “Mom doesn’t understand me” conflicts.

Poor Poppy got the midnight calls once the boys started driving…they were broken down, or in a fender-bumper…what to do when the police came, and even more serious car wrecks. Poor Poppy, at this period of his grandchildren’s adolescent lives… always seemed to be missing his truck or car which he had loaned a grandchild with car problems.

It is very important in child development that there is a grandparent or relative to assist in the awkward growing up antics of adolescence skirting the first line of offense…the parents. ( Now that I am a grandparent I understand this new position even clearer.)

However, (in our story today)  it is Iva Mae’s mother who emerges as the real hero and birthday saver… while teaching one of the most important lessons in life to twelve first graders.

“Iva Mae’s Birthday”

The year is 1936 and Iva Mae Maples has never had a birthday…but this year, in the first grade, she is determined to do so. She has walked around and invited all her classmates (orally) to her birthday party which would fall on the third Friday of September.

It is deep in the Great Depression, all the children are wearing scraps on pants legs and dresses as they would grow taller throughout the year… but at least they all had shoes. Not so with Iva Mae…very quickly the children understood that she was the poorest girl in the first grade class.

Her feet could be seen through the holes in her mother’s shoes. They were too big and kept falling off her feet. She even wore her mother’s cardigan sweater as a coat…even though the sleeves fell down to her knees.

But no matter…Iva Mae was the most popular girl in the first grade…she was funny and giggled all the time tucking zinnias into her pigtails. She would belch and then glare at the poor student sitting next to her saying, “Well. I never, I sure hope you feel better now.”

Iva Mae brought the most wonderful lunches to school. Her mother canned day and night to keep food on the table and the results were wonderful to the other classmates who watched her eat homemade vegetable soup with a big square of buttered cornbread…as their mouths watered…staring down at their peanut butter sandwich.

Finally Iva Mae’s birthday arrived. The teacher had all the children put their presents in the coat closets until after school when they would follow Iva Mae home for the party. Everyone was so excited…ice cream and cake…WOW! Iva Mae’s eyes were as big as saucers as she stared at all the presents in the closet.

When the bell rang at three everyone grabbed his/her present and began to follow Iva Mae. But she was suddenly acting strangely….the closer we got to her home…the quieter she became and now her eyes looked bigger than saucers….filled with terror.

Everyone soon discovered why. When the dozen students trouped into Mrs. Maple’s two room house…she looked confused and dazed. Bewildered she stared down at Iva Mae… waiting for an explanation.

In the quietest voice we had ever heard  …while twitching this way and that…we listened to her say: “I just decided to have me a birthday party, and I didn’t think you’d mind. I plumb forgot to tell you and …” She was now staring down at her feet sticking out of her mama’s shoes.

You could have heard a pin drop. Poor Mrs. Maples didn’t know about the party…oh no…no ice cream, no cake!

Mrs. Maples clutched at her throat saying repetitively…”Oh my…oh my.”

We could all feel the indecision as she looked down into Iva Mae’s pleading eyes. Then, suddenly, she started to laugh while tears flowed down her face. She went over and hugged Iva Mae. “You’re right…it’s party time.”

For the first time the whole class began looking around at all the shelves in both rooms of the house. Every shelf was jammed with home-canned produce from her garden. It actually was a beautiful sight of plenty…the different colored jars were catching the mid-afternoon’s sun rays and sparkling like they knew they should be decorative for the party.

Mrs. Maples grabbed four quarts of soup from one shelf and began to warm it up. She then told the girls to go pick fourteen pears from the garden and a bunch of zinnias to decorate the table.

Out in the garden one girl asked Iva Mae why her mother gave so much room to the zinnias when she could grow more produce if she made it smaller. Iva replied that her mother said: “Oh the zinnias are the food for our souls.”

The zinnias were beautiful…every color imaginable!

While snacking on soup and crackers…we soon forgot all about the ice cream and cake. Mrs. Maples arranged the 14 pears on a big platter and right in the middle placed a candle which she lit and we sang Happy Birthday to Iva Mae.

Everyone munched on his/her delicious pear… as Iva Mae opened all twelve presents: paper doll books, coloring books, hair ribbons, lotion, scarves, Old Maid cards, puzzles, yo yo’s and even a kaleidoscope. Iva Mae’s face was pink with delirious happiness.

And Mrs. Maples? She glowed also to see the happiness on her daughter’s face.

Before everyone left mother and daughter gathered zinnia seeds and gave them as a thank you gift…placing them in each child’s palm. Mrs. Maples said, ” Plant these next spring, and remember me when you see them bloom.”

The author concludes it has been 65 years since she was in that little first grade class with Iva Mae and she still remembers the courage of that poor mother surprised with twelve children… expecting a birthday party.

“I remember her good humor, her sweetness, her creativity, her courage in making do during a hard period in their lives. I remember her showing me that you don’t need ice cream and cake to have a great party, and that no gardener is ever too poor not to have something to share with others.”

“Perhaps most of all, I remember how I no longer felt that Iva Mae was the poorest girl in our first grade class.”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow…Let us end 2014 remembering the brave and kind individuals who helped us grow along our journey….and let us begin 2015 by stopping to look back and lend a hand to those behind us who need a boost at this point in their lives.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* The photo of these two canned tomato jars (title) came from gifts from Honey at Christmas. Getting ready to make some more vegetable soup.

Eva Cate got an easel for Christmas and she has the ‘art bug’ going around now… which makes her mom (art teacher) very happy…Mandy told me she painted three “Masterpieces” yesterday and shared one with us.

I can hardly wait to see you, blog readers, next year (tomorrow) and share together what the New Year brings….Thank you for your loyalty to the blog! I will share some information WordPress sent about the old and new blog stats. Quite interesting.

A Big Shout-Out to my oncologist, Dr. Silgals, who ordered me antibiotics to help me get rid of this never-ending bronchitis/larynigitis yesterday. I finally see hope where it was fading for me after three weeks of “muteness.”

Thanks Dr. Silgals for stepping up to plate for me on this medication. A homerun!

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

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The “Book Marks” in our Lives…

Posted on December 30, 2014by Becky Dingle

  Dear Reader:

I heard back from several of you yesterday remembering Christmases past and special people who have gone ahead but who still live within you…guiding you along your life’s journey. I will share one at the end of the blog. Thank you for commenting!

But before we do that…there was one other idea mentioned in yesterday’s story that I forgot to mention. It, however, started me thinking in a new direction.

In one passage of the book Theodora is trying to remember her favorite Christmas….at 93 the task isn’t easy.

She finally settles on a Christmas from the 20’s when she was around six. She describes how everyone would help wet long strands of rope, hanging it on the front porch. While it was drying the family would begin inserting all types of greenery …interweaving it in the rope…so that by the time the rope dried the garland was secured for the holidays.

Then they would all bake cookies and cook favorite recipes together…followed by each child decorating his/her own room in any Christmas fashion they wished for the holidays…always surprising the family with  “tea party” drop-in delivered with home-made invitations.

Theodora commented that the fun of the holidays was never in the presents, even as a child she realized that, but in the preparation for Christmas. Theodora lived for that glorious moment when everything else stopped and all the family came together to create Christmas memories ….the best present of all! Being together…sharing one goal.

Still…the children wanted to make their parents and grandparents a gift and they did…the same gift every year. And every year the family would make much “fuss” over the present being the best or the prettiest yet.

You see…back then…people read…a lot! It was not unusual for the average reader to have three or more books “going” at the same time. So the children worked on  homemade “bookmarks.”

Theodora and her brother Gordie would construct bookmarks for the family members who loved to read…which turned out to be everyone in their family. Their home’s library was well stocked with every kind of book imaginable…there was no censorship of reading materials. Simply to read took importance over what one read.

Theodora and Gordie would work together….drawing a bird or flower on a “skinny piece of tall, stiff paper.” They would then color their pictures carefully and finish off the gift… making a fringe using manicuring scissors. They would sign their name…always including the important date… like Christmas 1923.

While waiting for the Christmas tree to go up…Theodora and Gordie made homemade envelopes for their bookmarks and then hid them under their beds.

Parents and grandparents, alike, would act completely surprised at their new bookmarks… as if they had never even seen one before…each Christmas this or that bookmark was considered the best one yet!

The bookmarks only had to hold up a year until replaced with a new one….but, one day, Theodora happened across several years’ worth of bookmarks in her grandmother’s bed table drawer… after her death. They looked like they had all been handled many times, with affection, by her grandmother. The large envelope that held them all…read “Comfort and Joy.”

……………………………

   This Christmas gift of old…got me thinking about all the different bookmarks I have accumulated over the years. But for some reason the only one I seem to be able to hold onto is a miniature wooden cross given to one of my children when they were baptized….long ago.

If we look at our own life journeys as stories…haven’t we all experienced “bookmark”people in our lives who appear (seemingly out of nowhere) to help us through a rough passage in our lives and then disappear as quickly as they came?

Perhaps the “book marker” helps us close a chapter in our lives that has been dangling for too long. Or perhaps the “book marker” reminds us where we’ve ‘strayed too far from our story’ and helps us return to the central focus of our narrative.

I believe God sends our own personal “bookmarkers” to us to keep our story flowing in the right direction… all the while not losing our place in it.

So until tomorrow…Let us use these special “bookmark” people who come into our lives to keep us moving forward steadily…not losing time trying to figure out where we left off  our journey.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

  * Our “Darling from Dubai” (Ambika) could relate to yesterday’s story about the loved ones who have gone ahead…another God’s Wink.

Hi Becky!

This blog title actually happened with me today in the morning… Not in reality though, and not exactly a thought also… After a long time, I had a dream about my Grandmother who had passed away few years ago…And it’s like I’m walking up to her and asking her if she wants to have some tea with me… She replied yes with a really sweet heavenly smile… That’s all the dream was about.. Lol… I’m not sure whether I thought about her, she just suddenly appeared in my dream…
And what a coincidence… You too came up with a similar title.. Wow!

And by the way, congrats about the number goal that your blog has reached in just 1 month… Hopefully, you should achieve number 500 by the year end… Have a blessed New Year 2015…

Ambika

 

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“A Thought Away”…

Posted on December 29, 2014by Becky Dingle

Dear Reader:

When people ask me how I come up with ideas to write a daily blog year ’round…I reply that it only takes one quote or saying that I hear on television, or in a conversation, or perhaps even  read in a book that stirs my imagination….and I am off and running.

This is what happened yesterday. As you know I am trying to “weather” out this viral bronchitis/laryngitis by not talking and doing a lot of reading.  So I decided to catch up on some of the books friends gave me at Christmas.

When Toni handed me the book (The Christmas Pearl) last week…she told me that she was sure I would enjoy it…it covered southern Christmases in Charleston from the 1920’s up to the present, including lots of old Charleston recipes, and best of all…it had powerful life lessons in it for all of us.

She was right.

Without being a “spoiler alert”… the title of the book is somewhat misleading…purposefully. When I saw the title I “assumed” it had something to do with a special piece of jewelry…perhaps passed down from generation to generation and the story would center around the different people who wore it. Wrong!

It does has to do with a “jewel”…. but that “jewel” falls into the human category. Nope…that isn’t even right…Pearl once was human but she has been dead for several decades as the story opens….returning as one of the most loveable “ghosts” you would ever want to meet.

Pearl had once been the Gullah housekeeper, confidante of all the matriarchs in the family, and mother to all the children growing up in the old ancestral home in downtown Charleston. She was the anchor for all the family’s trials and tribulations for many years leading up to her death.

Two generations later…the house and family are both falling apart…. Pearl is sent back down to earth to fix it for a special family Christmas gathering. All the funny and poignant antics that provide the “cure” for Christmas and this family’s problems keep the reader quite entertained.

Give yourself a couple of hours…and you will finish this reading easily…chuckling to yourself along the way. It is near the end of the story…that the life lesson that most touched me appeared.

After Pearl returns home to the hereafter- the main character (Theodora) sees Pearl’s face materalize one last time in a dream. When Theodora expresses how much she will miss Pearl…Pearl (with all her pearls of wisdom tidbits) proclaims:

“Don’t you understand Theodora?  “I’m always just a thought away…just a thought away.”

Isn’t that a powerful statement? I remember hearing someone once state that none of us are really gone or “dead” on earth until the last one who remembers us has departed. How true!

As long as we are still in at least one person’s thoughts we are still remembered and alive through them.

After hearing Pearl’s wise advice…Theodora drifted to sleep blissfully “thinking how wonderful it was that everyone I loved was only a thought away. I could live with that. I could live for it, too.”

So until tomorrow…Remind us to take time to remember the loved ones who have goneahead…and who also have left behind a part of themselves in each of us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* A Big Happy Birthday to my “Baby Boy”  Tommy Dingle…now Esquire. Tommy will always remember this birthday for being special because he starts his new job today. Brooks Styles, Attorney at Law (real estate) has hired Tommy to assist him with closings and other required criteria associated with the job. This is one happy mom!

* Yesterday we talked about everyday miracles… well, one could be forming for the blog before this roller coaster year ends.

Remember when we had to close Chapel of Hope Stories November 19 (Gettysburg Address Day) and save almost four years of stories in a private folder?….On that fateful day I had been at almost 300,000 views and at 499 (so close to 500) subscribers which I thought solved the mystery of…my license plate: Was the blog the avenue for “aiding” or helping 500 (people)? So close but yet so far.

But now since starting over on November 25…just a little over a month ago…I am once again closing in on 500….491. Will 2014’s blog end on a happy note with the 500 becoming reality? We have three days to see if I can pick up nine more subscribers. Stay tuned.

* And talking about being close….Look now at “Middle Amaryllis” …. It has two pink blooms that are just about to pop open….since they didn’t make it for Christmas… I sure hope they will bring in the New Year with all their pink heavenly beauty! We will see!

This first picture was taken around 8:00 Sunday evening….

The picture below was taken around 9:00 this (Mon) morning…looks like the buds are pulling away to give them room to bloom…and there are two more smaller buds on top…four blooms in all eventually…this is getting so exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Remembering the Past With Bubble Lights and Founding Fathers

Posted on December 28, 2014by Becky Dingle

  Dear Reader:

When I received this “Bubble Light” for Christmas,  a week ago, I was thrilled….Christmas memories from the past came rushing back!

Growing up… my siblings and I always had three of these original “bubble lights” on our tree…one for each of us. (They first arrived on the scene in the fifties-remaining  popular until the seventies when miniature “fairy” lights removed them from the commercial scene.)

I remember at night mother would get my two brothers and I ready for bed by baiting us  “If you hurry and take your baths and get ready for bed…you can watch the “bubble lights” for fifteen minutes before going to bed. That’s all it took…

It worked beautifully. We each had our own”bubble light” that we ran to under the Christmas Tree…lying on our bathrobes we simply stared at the water “bubble” over and over in the clear, liquid-filled vial, as the red and green base reflected off the tree. (Of course each of us thought our “bubble light” was the best…with the fastest water bubbles…mine really was the fastest!)

Isn’t it strange how one simple ornament from Christmases past can bring back so many family memories, long forgotten?

As  an ‘ole history teacher’ that is how I always viewed history. I felt it was my job to tell stories so memorable….that a quote or artifact or picture would bring the time period and event rushing back to them like my old “water bubble” Christmas Tree ornament.

  My brother was reading this book over the holidays concerning the Founding Fathers’ shared sense of awareness that they were not alone in setting the principles of democracy and freedom in a country where the people were the government. God was leading them in this endeavor.

Not every elected representative shared the same name for God..but they all knew Something/Somebody, bigger than them, was with them.

Jefferson, who called himself a Deist, believed in a “Supreme Being” and Franklin and Washington referred to God as “Providence.” But no matter the title…the elected representatives to the Declaration of Independence and later Constitution believed that God was leading them.

And the other central core idea among both assemblies: The belief that everything that came to pass (winning the war against one of the greatest military powers at the time and then proclaiming a government for and by the people) was nothing short of a miracle. This was a widely accepted belief among the representatives.

Ben showed me three examples from the book (quotes from representative sharing their personal views in God’s role in creating this country we call home) which I will share with you.

Benjamin Franklin: “I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance (as the framing of the Constitution)…should be suffered to pass without being some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and move and having their being.”

George Washington: “The adoption of the Constitution will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.”

Benjamin Rush: (Physician and representative from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

“Doctor Rush then proceeded to consider the origin of the proposed Constitution, and fairly deduced it was from heaven, asserting that he as much believed the hand of God was employed in this work as that God had divided the Red Sea to give a passage to the children of Israel, or had fulminated the “Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.”

…………………………….

We have talked many times in this blog about the everyday miracles taking place around us constantly. But to be aware of these miracles we have to stop and leave the framework of our busyness, our ordinary lives to see all the extraordinary things happening right under our noses.

There are certain times, in our lives, benchmark moments, however, that are so miraculous that the “one from many”  and “many from one” sense individually and collectively that they have witnessed a miracle from their Creator. The Declaration and Constitution are examples of this that we can appreciate today as much as they did over two hundred years ago.

So until tomorrow…Let us keep our eyes open to past, present, and future possibilities of miracles as individuals and as collective bodies of possibilitarians seeking miracles in our midst. They are there.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 

 

 

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God’s “Take” on E Pluribus Unum

Posted on December 27, 2014by Becky Dingle

  Dear Reader:

After, admittedly, a few tears and a little  disappointment that my voice didn’t return in time to tell the annual Christmas story…I dug down deep to get my priorities and attitude straight….(through a special piece of advice that my Ya friend, Libby, told me after the shock of re-starting the blog.)

I have had some people who didn’t make the service (due to the weather or illness) ask me to share what was on the cards I gave to Dorothy (Associate Pastor) to read and hold up. Here they are:

1) I THINK A SMILE IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT

2) …BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK TO GIVE IT!  (I was smiling my biggest smile)

3) I CAN’T TALK!  ( Sad expression)

4) IT IS VIRAL LARYNGITIS (WHICH MEANS YOU DON’T GET ANY OF THE “GOOD STUFF” TO KNOCK IT OUT!)  (I gave a disgusted shake of my head)

5) “LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW WE HANDLE “PLAN B”

6) WELL, GUESS WHAT?  (I was getting all excited)

7) “I’VE GOT THE BESTEST PLAN B AROUND”  (Holding two thumbs up)

8) CARRIE SIMPSON WILL TELL THE STORY TONIGHT…( We all started clapping)

9) *** AND AS FOR ME…

10) *** (Libby, remember your advice) “I REFUSE TO LET ANYONE OR ANYTHING STEAL MY JOY FROM ME!”  (Hands crossed over my chest)

11)*** EVEN THIS FROG STUCK IN MY THROAT! ( I made a few ribbit motions.)

Then I joyfully introduced my wonderful niece Carrie Simpson! And it was pure joy to watch her sweet face and enthusiastic expressions throughout the readings.

………………………..

E Pluribus Unum (found on the United States Great Seal) is a Latin phrase that we, Americans, translate into meaning “One out of many” or “One from many.” 

Since we are the ‘land of immigrants’ this phrase is felt to have special meaning for a novel concept emphasizing the importance of diversity over only one tolerated acceptance of a people or ideas. Or as Malcolm Forbes once quoted:

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.”

I started thinking about the importance of diversity while recognizing and accepting individual differences yesterday afternoon. What prompted this train of thought was the movie Ben and I went to see- The Imitation Game– Based on the true story of the life of Alan Turin, the  brilliant English mathematician, who created the first footwork for the modern day computer, and in doing so broke the Secret Nazi Enigma Code …which saved millions of lives and sped up the conclusion of World War II.

Alan Turin, played incredibly by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes/ actor on BBS…really cute) is an enigma in himself….Bullied unmercifully as a child at boarding school, a mathematical genius with few social graces… he is clueless to reading “people”…only machines. He spends much of his life feeling friend-less and alone. He is also gay in a time when England considers it a criminal offense and subject to prosecution and job loss.

Yet it is this complicated, brilliant, vulnerable individual who changes history and saves millions of lives. The personal price for him is high, however, when given (court order) harmone treatments to make him “right” again when the legal system learns of his “condition.” * Bring kleenex.

Just another example of man’s inhumanity to man. People who are considered “different,” in any facet of the definition, still have a tough “go” of it today. But, think about it,  if John Turin had not been different, with all the complexities of his genius and abandoned upbringing, we might be speaking German right now. A hero among heroes. Remember “God don’t make no mistakes.” He has a purpose for each one of His children.

Speaking of God…our God is the God of diversity. We only have to re-read the creation story to see that His own plan, His design, for the world was based on diversity and providing global bio-domes, different environments, throughout the world for thousands of different species to live.

God just didn’t want zebras wandering around and nothing else…just like He doesn’t want all of us humans the same skin color, gender, or sharing the same interest and talent, height, weight, etc.

Here is a short excerpt from an article I found and liked on God and diversity.

God Fitted Habitats for Biodiversity

James J.S. Johnson, J. D., Th. D.

God chose to fill the earth with different kinds of life. All over the world, we see His providence demonstrated in ecological systems. Different creatures live in a variety of habitats, interacting with one another and a mix of geophysical factors—like rain, rocks, soil, wind, and sunlight. But why does this happen? And how does it happen? These two questions are at the heart of ecology science—the empirical study of creatures interactively living in diverse “homes” all over the world.

Why did God design earth’s biodiversity the way that He did?

Two words summarize the answer: life and variety.

God loves life. God is the essence and ultimate origin of all forms and levels of life.

God loves variety. God’s nature is plural, yet one, and He is the Creator of all biological diversity anywhere and everywhere on earth.

……….

I started out with the inscription on the Great Seal of the United States- E Pluribus Unum- and our translation of it…”One out of many.”

However the original Latin meaning is slightly different…but importantly “different.” It reads: “Out of many, one.”

I think God’s idea of diversity is the original Latin one…Though mankind is many…God looks upon us each as unique individuals, we are all “one” to Him because like any good parent…He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses in all His children’s diversity yet loves us, unconditionally, for simply who we are…He is accepting of us being “different” because He doesn’t see us as such.

So until tomorrow….Let us help others with differences that make them the societal victims of bullies… by showing them the possibilities to change others with their gift of uniqueness and “different” from God.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* My favorite quote from the movie:

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of… who do the things that no one can imagine.”

 

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I have come close the last few days but it just didn’t happen….and now, this morning.I woke up and there it was.

A private calling/mission complete! Thank you God!

As I have been returning to the “Land of the Living” from this stubborn virus I had over the holidays …the reality of lost time has set in. Where did the month go?

Yesterday was (rather frantically) spent writing checks, paying bills, and sadly ‘thinking” about taking down Christmas decorations. The last three weeks are a distant blur of hacking and croaking… but I am finally climbing back in the saddle.

Losing time is scary, isn’t it? It leaves one completely discombobulated.

So I decided to charge the enemy of ‘lost time’ with some good old organization. Besides paying bills and starting to take down a couple of decorations, I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom…let some fresh air in and spray-sanitized every germ still brave enough to remain in the house…including me.

I attacked the ‘overstocked’ computer files…even the dreaded “Documents” folder. This folder contain years of old lesson plans, workshop activities, etc./ etc. I sharpened up my “delete” finger and charged in.

Unfortunately cleaning out documents is like cleaning out old photo albums…you never finish because you stop to relish (with delight) in the old-familiar faces from yesteryear.

I would re-read a lesson plan or activity and enjoy it just as much, in the present,  as I did while teaching it. And every now and then a story would pop up that seemed out-of-place in these particular files…but still containing a life lesson worth remembering.

That is how today’s story evolved. The title caught my attention and when I “opened” it I knew this was the perfect story for a new year. A story about marbles…

 * As I went scavenging the house looking for any marbles left abandoned in old bedroom drawers (talking about “losing one’s marbles”) for the title picture… I, instead, opened a desk drawer and fell over laughing.

I stared down at dozens of pink “Seeds of Happiness” clay smiley faces… smiling back at me. (I figured they were close enough to being in the marbles family to count.)

When (almost two years ago) Walsh and Mollie had the cake “revealing” celebration to find out if baby number one would be a boy or girl….Honey made dozens of blue clay seeds of happiness and pink clay seeds of happiness to give out, to family and friends,  as mementos of the happy occasion.

When the cake was cut and it was  revealed “blue” (our adorable Mr. Rutledge) …everyone made a mad dash for the blue bowl….leaving the pink bowl alone and sad.

(Will it be sad much longer or is baby two going to have the last “pinkalicious” laugh?..Only time will tell…but I am ready with the mementos if a little girl arrives on the scene. If it is another little boy….I’ll call you Honey! Back to the kiln!!)

“One Thousand Marbles”

(Author Unknown)

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, of maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen, with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it. I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.

He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom.” I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say…

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.

” He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.” “Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

“Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part. “It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. “I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. “I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for  breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones……

“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.

I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.” “What brought this on?” she asked with a smile. “Oh, nothing special,” I said. ” It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow….this quote is worth a moment of reflection of two…

“If every year is a marble, how many marbles do you have left? How many sunrises, how many opportunities to rise to the full stature of your being?”  

– Joy Page

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 * Sometimes you do get rewarded for cleaning up….like, yesterday, when I disassembled the “Apple Tree” centerpiece Honey made for me…Under it all was a beautiful plate she had molded in clay by hand. A hidden treasure…just like Honey!

  It’s hard to tell from this picture but “middle amaryllis” has four blooms and is so heavy laden/ top heavy…it can’t raise its head. It had toppled over in the night spilling dirt everywhere…

…so I began searching for some kind of prop…and decided on a crooked walking stick cane someone gave me as a joke (hopefully) when I retired…I then got some twine and somehow the walking stick is now tied to the blinds which are then tied to the stem. A little confusing but it is working.

Did you have your “Hoppin’ Johns yesterday?” I did…but only because my “luck” comes in having friends who make it and and then bring it! The luck of the Irish…my friend Anne Peterson! With friends, like Anne, I am now stocked in ‘good luck’ ready for the new year….bring it on!

If you are an Auburn fan…the bowl game was a real heart-breaker….anything more “heart-melting” came in the form of Rutledge and Eva Cate singing with their flashlight “microphones”…..imagination at its best.

* Let me try and see if I can get the video to play….all 10 seconds of it…Thanks Kaitlyn for recording this….obviously the “song” was dedicated to Dad (Walsh/aka Woo Woo)…With such obvious ‘talent’ …surely a tune can’t be far behind.

Dear Reader:

Happy New Year! And look who surprised me this morning in all her glory? “Middle Amaryllis” greeted 2015 with two beautiful blooms… back-to-back!

It reminded me of the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks to the past with one face and to the future with another. (Though I will have to say the two “faces” of my amaryllis are much prettier than the sculptured faces of Janus…don’t you agree?)

What a way to start the day…much less the year! I took time to do some reflecting last night and realized that three weeks of feeling crummy (and missing out on holidaybirthday activities) had distorted my overall remembrances of 2014.

The last three months of this past year have certainly been challenging…all the trips back and forth to St. Francis for physical therapy while adjusting to “Python” constricting wrappings on my left hand and arm several weeks in succession. (Though I do love my physical therapist….adorable and so sweet!)

And then coming right on top of all of that…an (initially) innocent sounding cough that  decided to settle in my larynx and not leave. (It didn’t even have the decency to pay rent!)

Christmas was definitely “dampened” by my laryngitis and bronchitis. (How I have any lungs left is quite miraculous…I feelt like I have coughed them up several times a day for weeks.)

Isn’t it wonderful that nothing stays the same in life? Whether good or not so good….change will happen. When one has been going through a ‘not-so-good’ time…this knowledge is quite gratifying.

To add even more hope and joy to my mental health…the  sun came out so beautifully yesterday…and after two doses of antibiotics I am already feeling stronger physically and my voice is beginning to return. Life is reassuring me (through my amaryllis blooms) that it continues to go on…and something beautiful can “pop” at any moment.

Besides…how can I ‘poo poo’ 2014 when I went to Ireland for goodness sake? Those memories will last me a lifetime!

In fact WordPress sent me two annual reports this year….one showing that the pictures from Ireland Anne and I sent- (which John put on the blog) drew the largest number of views from 2014!)

The first annual report covers the time period from Jan 1 to the fateful November 19 time period. The second annual report covers stats from  November 25 until December 31. I want to share these reports with you and I will also provide a link to both reports, if interested.

But… just in case you can’t open the link (for some reason)….let me share some of the major stats with you.

First Annual Report (January 1-November 19- 2014)

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 79,000times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

The busiest day of the year was June 25th with 982 views. The most popular post that day was Photos of Becky and Anne in Ireland.

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. web.mail.comcast.net
3. reddit.com
4. semalt.com
5. pinterest.com

Where did they come from?

+ From all over the world

− 168 countries in all!

Most visitors came from The United States. U.K. & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was Stop and “Remark” about God’s “Remarkable” World

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1 Gin-gEdwards 116 COMMENTS
• 2 Ambika Murthy 56 COMMENTS
• 3 Sis Kinney 46 COMMENTS
• 4 Jo Dufford 41 COMMENTS
• 5 Honey Burrell 33 COMMENTS

(* Thank you girls for commenting and letting me know your thoughts…it helps me tremendously.)

Here is the link for this report: http://archivechapelofhopestories.wordpress.com/2014/annual-report/

The Second Report only included the blogs from November 25, 2014 to until December 31. It is interesting to see the change in dynamics in this short a period, however.

Crunchy numbers

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,600 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 60 trips to carry that many people.

There were 426 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 58 MB. That’s about a picture per day.

The busiest day of the year was November 25th with 166 views. The most popular post that day was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head.

 

 

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. buttons-for-website.com
3. make-money-online.7makemoneyonline.com
4. pinterest.com
5. urlm.co

 Where Did They Come From?

 51 countries in all!
Most visitors came from The United States. Brazil & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1Gin-g Edwards – 11 COMMENTS
• 2Johnny Johnson – 8 COMMENTS
• 3ambikasur – 6 COMMENTS
• 4Jo Dufford – 5 COMMENTS
• 5Brooke- 4 COMMENTS

* Once again gals and guy (Johnny) I appreciate you taking the time to make a comment….I look so forward to getting comments back on any blog reading. Means the world to me!

Here is the link to this report: http://chapelofhopestories.com/2014/annual-report/

So until tomorrow I share with you this blessing for the New Year… that I love from Irish poet John O’Donohue.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

My hope for all of us as we travel this next year’s time period along our journey is that we are brave enough to accept change and use it to help us grow in the light of God. To be the person God always wanted us to be. To reach our full potential…using the gifts God gave us.

And now John O’Donohue’s Poem for a New Year…..

“For a New Beginning”

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

—John O’Donohue

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Ya Alert….my good friend Libby texted last evening to let the Ya’s know that her darling daughter, Betsy, had quite a health scare yesterday at work. An ambulance was called and Betsy was taken to the hospital to check  her light-headedness, extreme rapid heartbeat and accelerating blood pressure.

Over time it eventually dropped down low enough to release her with a monitor to get more information on what is going on. Hopefully then there will be some much wanted answers to this puzzling episode. Please keep Libby’s and Betsy’s families in your prayers this week. Thank you.

 * Betsy is our “It’s All Good” mantra gal…she is the epitome of optimism and love…so Betsy I say to you now “It’s all good” because you are in God’s hands.” And as Auntie/Mama Boo would say…” Don’t worry…It will be alright”!