God's Word for Today

Friday, June 18, 2010

Flashback Friday ~ Friendship


We've talked about families, so it seems only natural that we should talk about the friends we had when we were growing up!

Who was your first friend?

One of the first friends I can remember was a girl named Donna. She and her mom and brother lived in the apartment below us. They were in a very similar situation to ours. Donna and I were the same age and we both had younger siblings. We were both growing up in homes with no fathers present. Our rooms were directly under each other and in the summer time we would leave our windows open, we had an elaborate system of passing notes and other thing back and forth. We had constructed a small basket made out of popsicle sticks and tied a string to the handle. We would lowered this basket back and forth between the windows.

We would lay in our beds and carry one long dreamy handwritten conversation long after the lights were turned off over what our wedding would be like. What our apartments would one day look like. What happen at school or who we thought was cute and weather or not they thought I was cute.

Did you have lots of friends when you were growing up or just one or two close friends?

I don't recall having boat-loads of friend. I did have good friends but I was more in to quality rather than quantity!

For women, were "mean girls" an issue when you were growing up? Or were you a "mean girl"?!

I have one memory of a ‘mean girl” moment. We moved around quite a bit when I was growing up. My mom had a very small going away party for me on the occasion of one of our various moves. I was in high school and I remember having a huge crush on a boy. One of my so called friends had promised that she would invite him to my party and had actually said that he was coming and i was so excited. I spent the whole party eagerly waiting for him to arrive only to find out that the invitation was never extended. I was devastated and spent the rest of the party weeping over my lost love! Teenage angst at it’s height!

 

Do you still keep up with your childhood friends today?

Sadly Donna and I have lost touch. It was a very upsetting situation for me and I remember being totally deviated when it happen. Donna had a steady boyfriend who was a good bit older than she was. Regrettably she found herself pregnant and decisions were made and she had her boyfriend got married. I think she may have finished high school but I am not sure. My family had moved a good bit way from her by this time and we tried to keep in touch over the phone and we tried to see each other as often as we could but me being a high school student, and Donna being a young mother our lives very quickly grew apart.

On a sad note I did extend an invitation to her to attend my wedding and in all the hustle and bustle of the day it was several house after the ceremony was conclude and the hubs and I were on our way to the honey moon when the thought struck me that I had not seen her in attendance. Life moves on, but it is a bit sad. I have no idea what happen to her and her family!

 

As I was sitting here typing I thought of this box I have. It is jam packed with notes and letters. Some from old boyfriends and some letters I received at summer camp or on the various vacation I spent with my grandparents. But in digging through this box I did find a few child hood treasures.

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Remember those notes we passed back and forth. Well here is one of those notes as well as a letter that Donna wrote me while I was a girl scout camp.

 

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Never underestimate the power behind the written word. I am not sure why I saved all of these notes and letters, but I got such a wonderful feeling as I gave them a re-visit!

So my unsolicited advice for today. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write someone a note today. Not an email, not a text message but a real letter with an envelope and a stamp.

Blessings

R

Well that’s it for my Flashback Friday, for more flashback Fun head over to Mocha with Linda for more!

And be sure to check out Linda’s Super Sweet Summer Giveaway celebrating her 1000th post!

 

On a final note I will be out of pocket for a while busy with various activities and other summer pursuits.

See ya in a bit!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Then and Now…

Sometimes when a moment happens it just hits you right out of the blue.

You know those moments that will be a part of your memories forever more.

It was simple enough, we were sitting at the table eating dinner Saturday night. If you visited here on Sunday and read my 365 post you will see further pictures about the Birthday dinner.

The birthday celebration was memorable, but I think what I will remember most is this.

I was watching my granddaughter exuberantly enjoying her corn and this memory flashed into my mind of 20 odd years ago. A nearly carbon copy of the exact same moment was being played out before me.

We were camping and there was a sweet blue eyed, blonde haired corn covers baby perched at the end of the table. The high chairs were even nearly identical! I watch my granddaughter and remembered my son and enjoyed my little trip down memory lane in a mothers heart!

Then ~ 1990

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Now ~ 2010

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Blessings Y’all

R

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Project 365 ~ Week 24

 

The Hubs and DD just headed out the door to church. I however have made the ultimate sacrifice and have decided to keep my blossoming cold and all the nasty germs that go with it to myself. I am always willing to share, except for a very few things… a cold being at the top of my list. It’s hard not to share things when you sleep in the same bed, decades of programmed kissed on the cheek and loving pecks as you head out the door, we try to switch to foreheads during colds but sometime without thinking one gets by us and BLAM, it’s my turn for the sore throat, sniffles and generally feeling yucky!

I have been faithfully taking my Zycam since about 6:30 this morning when I woke to a scratchy throat and a stopped up nose, yea for me! I sent the hubs off with instructions to bring me a new bottle of Zicam home after church and hopefully I can head this one off at the pass. 

Moving on to more pleasant topics, as I am still able to sit upright and my fingers still work I present to you with much sniffling and coughing my week in pictures.

Sunday, June 6

I think just the essence of Sundays, the restful flavor of the day, refueling and connecting with the Lord in worship and connecting with my sofa in the afternoon are just to wonderfully overwhelming to allow room for picture taking….it’s sufficient to say I took full advantage of both my worship experience and my nap! 

Monday, June 7

More from the backyard garden!

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Tuesday, June 8

OOOOPPPPSSSS!

Wednesday, June 9

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Hummingbirds! They love the Canna Lilies! 

 

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Thursday, June 10

I got to see my sweetie on Thursday. We met at the McDonalds for lunch and then went to a local indoor playground called Monkey Joe’s to play for a bit.

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I’m not sure which got more the floor or her tummy!

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She had a blast on all the bouncy inflatable's!

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A Flash-forward in about 15 years!!!!!

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Friday, June 11

It’s time to pick to squash at the Co-Op Garden!

Look at the difference a few weeks makes….This  first picture was taken on May 9th….

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Look at it now! IMG_2250 IMG_2251 IMG_2252IMG_2253IMG_2254 

My friend dropped off almost 15 pounds of fresh yellow squash at the Co-Op!

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These amazing orange flowers are growing wild all around the perimeter of the garden. They were very popular with the bee’s that morning! 

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Tucked under all the orange was this tiny show of white morning glories hiding under the brush!

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Saturday, June 12

A  “New Blossom” arrived in my garden!

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With the hubs back from his extended business trip we took the opportunity to celebrate my DS belated birthday. We through some ribs and chicken on the grill and I picked a small mess of green beans from the garden as well as a fresh salad made for home grow romaine lettuce, we had corn on the cob (quite possible my favorite veggie in all the world, but as my DD corrects me “It’s not a veggie mom, it’s a starch!” my reply “Yes! I know it’s a starch, Hush up!”  as the fake butter and salt and sweet kernels envelop me in a moment of summer wonderfulness. It was GOOD!

The Grandbaby enjoyed the corn as well. A Girl after my own heart! Gotta love that corn!

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The mess above necessitated the customary after dinner dip in the tub!

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We had celebratory chocolate cup cakes and my traditional Campmeeting Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream, a long time favorite of my son’s. My Beloved, “Mr. Goober” was so impatient and with his penchant even now as a nearly grown adult to still play with fire had the candles light and then had them blown out before I could get my camera even powered up. I quickly asserted my maternal right and we re-light the candles and I made him do it over for posterity.

Please note the perfect “I’m blowing out my candles” face for the camera!

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Everyone enjoyed the Ice Cream and Cup Cakes.

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This chocolaty conclusion of course lead to bath number two!

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All in all it was a wonderful time of family, laughter, good food, lots of sweet baby kisses and hugs and fun playing on the Wii.

And YES! I won at Frisbee Golf!

It was GOOD!

For more 365 y’all head over to Sara’s and join in on the fun!

 

Blessings

R

Friday, June 11, 2010

Flashback Friday ~ More Family

We all had so much fun talking or talking trash about siblings that Linda wants to take it a step further this week!

Tell about any grandparents, cousins, or other extended family that was special to you growing up.

This picture, probably one of the last one I have of her that really capture her before she went to that place all elderly people go in that slow journey home, it was taken the year before she died!

Grandma 2002

My Grandmother has been a familiar topic on my blog from the beginning. She was such a pivotal and important figure in my life. She passed away in 2003, in fact on the 28 of this month she will have been at home with Jesus for seven years.

On of the greatest blessing of my life was having the privilege of being at her side when she drew her last breath. It was just the two of us. She shared so much with me over the course of my life and I feel that it was so appropriate that I got to be there for her at one of the most important moments of her life. Her entry into Heaven. I sat there next to her in my chair and it washed over me that as she let that last breath out Jesus came and ushered her home and I was there! I would not trade that experience for anything in the whole world.

When I was a very little girl, before my parents divorced. We lived in Ohio. My mom worked so my grandmother would take care of me during the day. I don't remember much about that time because I was still a toddler, but I remember sitting at my grandmothers kitchen table watching her peel peaches or apples listening to her tell me stores of when I was little girl. She would tell me of the play vacuum cleaner, you remember the ones with the plastic dome and the wooden popping balls that bounced around when you moved it back and forth, I had one. I would go behind my grandmother as she vacuumed the house and follow in her footsteps cleaning the carper right behind her. She would give me my own dust rage and I followed right behind her. Whatever she did I got to do too! I do have very vivid memories of standing on a step stool at the kitchen sink side by side with my grandmother washing dishes. She would let me wash the spoons, but I wasn't allowed to wash anything sharp, so no knives or forks for me.

I remember my grandma washing my hair in the kitchen sink. She would sit me up on the counter and I would lay down with my head over the sink. She would wash my hair and then use the Breck Cream Rinse. She would take the warm water and fill up a measuring cup and then pour a few cap fulls of the cream rinse in the water and give it a quick stir and then pour it over my head. After she was done she would sit me on a chair by the radiator in the kitchen and prop an umbrella behind my chair. The heat from the radiator rose up and then was directed back down at my head from the umbrella so it was like being in a beauty salon. I remember sitting in that kitchen chair with my feet dangling, towel draped around my shoulder, holding onto the handle of the umbrella waiting for my hair to dry.

Y’all I could go on and on and on…..but that will do for today's trip down grandma lane!

Do you have any particular childhood memories (good OR bad!) of times spent with your grandparents?

How funny is this, I was just telling my husband and daughter the other night of a memory I have of a trip to visit my grandparents. My sister and I were semi seasoned travelers when we were in elementary school. Sometime we would drive up as a family, ten hours in my mom’s orange dodge dart…not fun at all! Other times mom would put us on a plane and wave us off to be met at the airport by my grandparents. We did this a few times that I remember. I have one specific memory of flying to my grandparent for a summer vacation. We were flying by ourselves and there was a layover. If this happen now a days I am sure it would make the national news but back in the dark ages it was not even a blip on the radar. I am sure that who ever was supposed to be watching out for me and by sister dropped the ball. We saw everyone else getting off the plane so we figured we should get off too. We walked off the airplane hand in hand and went out into the terminal to see a completely deserted airport. I remember thinking “Where are Grandma and Grandpa?” well we walked around for a few minutes and then I began to get alarmed. I think I just grabbed my sister and headed back on to the plan and who ever was supposed to be watching us never even knew that we had gotten off the plane. Can you imagine that happening today?

Do you still keep up with cousins, aunts & uncles, etc.?

I have a more than few cousins on both sides of my family. I have just completely given up trying to keep up with all the cousins on my husbands side of the family. He has four siblings who all have had multiple marriages with multiple children from various marriages, so I just don't go there, it is just to hard to keep up with who is who!

My mom has a brother who lives in Ohio and they have three boys. We were sort of close in age but now that we have all grown up we have gone our separate adult ways. I have hooked up with all of them on Facebook so I do get to keep in touch with them in that way. One of my cousins now has his own family so there are a few 2nd cousins thrown in there for good measure. My Uncles family structure was so different from ours, when they would come for a visit or if we would go up to see my grandmother it always seemed like we were walking into a war zone. With three boys and very little parental restraints it was usually a free-for-all!

My dad has a brother and a sister, but given the lack of involvement we had with him when we were little I had no contact with his parents at all, and even less with his siblings. I do however have regular contact with one of my cousins from his side of the family. Several years ago he came to visit and then decided he wanted to stay and live in the greater Atlanta area. From that point on he was a regular fixture around our family gatherings. He has now moved out west and has started his own family and they have a sweet little dark haired girl that will steal you heart in a second.

 

Well that does it for me, Flashing Back can be such fun!

Y’all head over to Mocha with Linda for more memories!

Blessing and have a great weekend!

R

 

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Or Suppose…

Travel Anxiety, do y’all struggle with it?

Yesterday I was in the thick of vacation planning. We have some big plans over the summer and I was making reservations, printing off confirmations, searching the internet for things to do and basically making myself nuts. Terms like “non-refundable” and “Cancelation Fee’s” were rolling before my eyes.

I felt the anxiety well up with in me almost to the point of tear as I watched my list of available hotels getting smaller and smaller. I had visions of us sleeping on the side of the road in our rental car, with nothing but the contents of our back seat cooler to sustain us for the foreseeable future.

The endless list of things to do are wandering in and out of my brain, get the car adapter for the laptop, make sure we have enough batteries, do I have enough sunscreen in those small 3 ounce bottle to pass the airport security?

Then in the midst of finalizing one last reservation the DD walks into the kitchen and looks at me and my husband and says “Buster’s in the yard next door!” with this look on her face like aren't y’all going to do something about this! She had apparently not gotten the back gate properly closed and he decided to have a little afternoon stroll!

The hubs makes a quick response “Well don’t just stand there, go get him!”

We spent the next 35 minutes driving around the neighborhood with leash in hand as well as all the favorite squeaky toys and a handful of provolone cheese as enticement. I took off in one car the hubs took of in the other direction in his car and we drove around, and around. After combing the entire neighborhood twice we we made one last pass on the street just past ours. 

I passed the Hubs as I was about to round the next corner and we exchanged a brief conversation “Have you been back to the house?”

“No!” So he headed in that direction, we exchanged glances and were preparing ourselves for the worst.

He drove up our street and several minutes later as the tear faced DD and I were standing at the bottom of a hill bellowing into the woods I get a call on my cell phone.

Our sweet little escapee had safely retuned home. THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!

I took the opportunity to lecture my DD on the benefits of obedience training ASAP. Never underestimate the value of “COME” which our sweet little Buster has yet to master!

All in all it was a high stress day for me, not to mention that the hubs is nursing a nasty cold and I have now been scouring the house with my Lysol disinfectant wipes to ensure that the germs stop with him.

Last night as I put the finishing touches on all our vacation plans I had a tentative sense of peace knowing that we will not have to sleep in our car. I take comfort in my need for multiple, numerous, endless, copious, well you get the picture lists and my day by day hour by hour itinerary that I have printed off from my Outlook Calendar. Yes, a bit on the obsessive side but it is what it is! It makes me feel better knowing what the plan is. However all the different variable that will occur over the course of this pending trip are still banging around in my thoughts.

This morning, God with His perfect way of communicating exactly what He wants to say exactly when He wants to say it at precisely the right moment was evident.

This morning in my Streams in the Desert I read the devotional for the day. It was about two Christian women, one was joyful and the other was “quite sullen’” as the devotional described her. She posed a question:

“Suppose, for instance, you experience a time of illness and are unable to work. Or suppose your present employers move away, and you cannot find work elsewhere. Or suppose…”

The woman cries “STOP"! I never suppose. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. And besides,” she added to her gloomy friend “it’s all that supposing that’s making you so miserable….”

Well yesterday I was supposing myself in to a tizzy.

The last quote of the devotional states: “The eagle that soars at great altitudes does not worry about how it will cross a river.”

The scripture for the day was Psalm 37, one of my got to psalms!

  PS 37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

  PS 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

  PS 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD;
    trust in him and he will do this:

Streams in the Desert, June 9 (selected)

“Tomorrows bridge is a dangerous thing;

I dare not cross it now.

I can see it’s timbers sway and swing,

O heart, you must sing and trust and say:

“I’ll bear the sorrow that comes tomorrow,

But I’ll borrow none today.”

Message received Lord, LOUD AND CLEAR!

My travel anxiety reared it’s ugly head yesterday! Making plans is a necessary thing, allowing the process, or the “Suppose…” to become a source of anxiety….well let’s just say that for me it will be a continuous struggle to not borrow any from tomorrow and to remember to look for the blessing of each day!

As I have been sitting here composing this post the sun is shinning, the breeze is making the Canna Lilies gently sway back and forth like a slow rolling red sea of blossoms, I have enjoyed the company of several visits from my neighborhood hummingbirds and the dog has remained safely in the back yard!

Blessings

R

Monday, June 7, 2010

Move slowly, quietly and pray…

It also helps to be sitting at the computer reading a few blogs with your camera in your lap as well!

 

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Here is a closer look!

Is God the coolest or what!

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I think Hummingbirds are simple amazing!

Blessings

R

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Project 365 ~ Week 23

WOW!

Two Sunday’s in a row and I have had the best nap!

My Missionary Girl Child returned home safely. She had a wonderful trip and has been bubbling with conversation all weekend long. Her trip did end on a bit of a disappointment as she left her camera at the airport. Y’all I have the worlds best husband and she has the worlds best dad, as soon as they realized the mistake he drove all the way back to the airport to see if they could find it. We have all been praying that the person who picked up the camera will have an attack of conscious and return it to the airport lost and found. She learned a valuable lesson on personal responsibility and that personal possession are not disposable!

Well here is my week, Blessings in advance y’all!

Sunday, May 30

I guess I completely observed the Sabbath because there were no pictures taken….

Monday, May 31

Dinner, Grilled Lamp Chops, Mashed Potatoes and a tossed Salad!

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Tuesday, June 1

The Cana Lilies are putting on a good show this year. They are a tall wave of frilly red across the back of my house. It is so nice to sit at my desk and look out into my back yard filtered through this hedge of hummingbird attracting blossoms. I get an up-close a personal view of the delicate little fluttering bodes as they come to have a snack!

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Wednesday, June 2

Seafood Quiche!  Lump Crab, Roaster Red & Green Peppers, Roasted Garlic, Broccoli and Fontina Cheese.

It was Good!

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Thursday, June 3

The day lilies are coming up in the backyard. It’s just a very small splash of color now but in a year or two the landscape will be popping with lots of different colors.

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It’s a start! I have to tell ya, after living in this house for five years with this…

September 2009

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I am so happy happy doesn't even seem like a good enough word to describe how I feel when I look out at my backyard now to have something beside the back of my fence to look at now!

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Friday, June 4

It wont’ be long now…

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Mr. and Mrs. Yellow! I think they are golden finches, but I have not looked them up yet!

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On Friday we began day one of the “Garden Shed Project”.  After being stopped by a nasty thunderstorm and tornado watch which thankfully coincided with dinner time we were able to get back at it and we worked diligently until about 9:00 P.M.!

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Saturday, June 5

Bright and early Saturday morning we hit the ground running. It was nice and hot, sticky, humid, and generally perfect weather for a back yard projects if you didn’t mind sweating through every layer of clothing in record time.

Thankfully by 1:30 we had completed the shed. Yea! I was a tired puppy at the end of the day! However as backyard project go this one was a relatively easy, it was very hard work but there was nothing complicated baring the 400 page O.K. maybe it was closer to 50 pages instruction booklet. We managed to work together with very little blood shed. There may have been a few choice words spoke now and then. And I did think a few unkind words directed at my husband over the course of the two day, but as we were moving items out of the garage and into the storage shed in the back yard it was GOOD, REAL GOOD!

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As I had to walk back and forth in front off my veggie patch about a thousand time over the course of the past two days I go to give it a very close inspection.  I have baby cucumbers and lots of Baby Green Beans and            Zucchini Squash Blossoms and the corn is about to start doing something, I think????

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Well that does it for me this week.

For more 365’ers head over to Sara’s to join in, or Y’all remember that this week 365 will be hosting this week so pop over to Blessed in Abundance and join up!

Blessings

R

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