List of "LOVES"

January has come and gone in such a hurry! It's hard to believe we are already into the second month of the year.

February... probably best known for the holiday in it... Valentine's Day!

I have been thinking about the "loves" in my life, both large and small. Sort of another way of "counting my blessings", I guess... so I'm starting a list (not in order of importance).

I LOVE...

feeling known by God in intensely personal ways...

the smell of Lily of the Valley blossoms...

Abe, of course...

the way God brought us together and also the way He has kept us together...

Hadassah with her chocolate eyes and her creativity...

Damaris and the way she cradles my hand to her heart when I pray with her at bedtime...

my Dad and all he has given me...

watching seeds sprout...

the memory of Abe's first most original, non-traditional gift to me... a fingernail brush!

to smell my hair! :)

the special dogwood tree in our yard...

Chloe and her 100 watt smile...

Abi and the way she says "axlydent" for "accidentally"...

Abe's gift to me of a huge wind chime hung in the dogwood tree...

chocolate covered raisins...

our "marble" walk-in shower...

my freshly plumped feather pillow...

the colors green and blue and any variation of the two...

my sister Monica and all we share together, from conniptions - to in-laws, - to passion for loving the truth and being who God made us to be...

books that make me laugh and cry and also that strike a chord in my own heart experience...

the way my brother Dalen enjoys my girls, being daddy to two of his own...

canning jars full of good food on my cellar shelves...

that there is so much to be discovered yet, about God and this world He's put us in...

the smell of fresh roasted ground cornmeal...

Abe's love for our girls and the way he plays with them...

zest...both lemon, and for life...

secondhand shopping... otherwise known as treasure hunting...

hot chai...

my friend Charity's example to me of loving God and having an open heart, trusting Him with her life!

spending the day checking our vending machines with my Mom, the talking...and sharing a Heath Mocha Frap...

that the ways of God are "past finding out"...

words fitly spoken...

our home and all the miraculous details that God worked in building it to it's present state...

my sister Paula and all she adds to my life by daring to follow where God leads her...

neighbors/friends... both past and present... whose lives have contributed to mine in countless ways that make me treasure them all the more...

my niece LaCaysha and her cheerful help when I need her and, of course, dueling it out with her at the ping pong table...

memories! Of people, places, and things we've done with them, in them!

our local library. :)

the tender mercy of God!

Carolie, every memory of her and the anticipation of seeing her again...

my dictionary, a gift from my favorite grade school teacher...

my brother Justin who will somehow always be my little bunny, as hard as that might be to imagine...:)

words, poor vehicles though they be sometimes, to convey meaning...

knowing that God has a plan, that if we only knew the extent of it, it would take our breath away...

my nieces and nephews, big and small, and how each one contributes to our family just by being themselves... especially Little LuLu as the baby!...

that we have no say in the date of our birth or death, but that we are given the choice of how we spend each one in between...

that by starting this list, I am amazed to realize the sheer volume of the goodness of God to me!

Winter Wonders

TIME... it has a way of slipping by, and yet sometimes we go through things where we feel "stuck" in time... I have been thinking quite a bit about "time" recently. One of Michael Card's songs has a line..."who belong to eternity, stranded in time". This is not our home. We are only "stranded" here for a time, like being marrooned on a desert island. Our survival is not entirely up to us, but our will to "LIVE" has a profound effect on the quality of our "time" here. I have been savoring a song these days by Annie Herring called "Just One Thing". It says this:
"Just one thing, all I need... Put Your arms around me.
Draw me close to Your side till our hearts are one in stride...
STOPPING TIME in it's place, as I hide in Your embrace."
His love is timeless, as He is.
Obviously time has been going by without me posting anything on here. It is not because of lack of anything worth writing about, but rather because of too much.
I just read something that helps explain a little... "Ones destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." - Henry Miller
I find that my journey is filled with continually finding new ways of looking at things, therefore, new views of who God is. There is a lot of joy in the journey, some growing pains as well. But it is oh, so worth it! It is most difficult to condense into words, this oftentimes wordless something that happens in the heart. I also keep being impressed with the idea that my journey is my own, and not essential to yours. God has His building blocks in place in your life as well as mine, otherwise He would not be Just, and He loves justice! He is intensely and personally interested in you and I. I feel an ever increasing need to decrease, that He might increase.
I have taken basicly no pictures in the last while. I have been seeing and savoring. I encourage you to do the same. You have no need of seeing through my eyes, just open your own to all that God is surrounding you with.

Lazy snowflakes, sifting down,
Landing soft upon the ground,
Is there something you would say
To my heart this winter day?

"I would ask you, Do you know
Who it is that loves you so?
That creates in quantity
Such delights for you to see?

All in intricate detail
Each of us unique will fail
To transmit to you the love
He pours out from up above.

So much grander than you know,
Much more bounteous than the snow,
Is His care and sweet regard
Swept out deep from Heaven's yard."

Pretty snowflake, you present
A sweet message, heaven-sent.
Lovely snowflake, ne'er will I
Miss your whispered lullabye.

May each of your days be filled with wonder!

A Little of This and That...

The other day, I was getting out a cookbook and in that moment, I realized something. The cupboard where my cookbooks are kept is right above the countertop where I usually lay it open. It's to the left of my stove and no bigger than my cookbook, laid open. It is handy, about one step from where I mix things up, but out of the way of splatters, etc. It just "sunk in" how nice that is, and how much I like it. It never occurred to me before.
Next thing I knew, I was wondering how many other simple things there are, like that, that I enjoy without stopping to really savor. Daily, ordinary things, that due to their regularity, I do without thinking... So...I started thinking it over.
I love the smell when I roast corn and grind it. Especially this time of year when it's fresh from the earth...

I love the feel of my teeth, freshly brushed or after you've just eaten an apple...
Of course, clean crisp sheets are delicious to a tired body at the end of a full day!
A hot shower (especially in our huge walk-in-shower)...
I love evening lighting...

I love to eavesdrop on my girls... usually entertaining and sometimes quite informative! :)
Watching my girls savor... (def.: to give oneself to the enjoyment of; to savor the best in life)
Children do a lot of savoring!

There are lots of "littles" that come to mind, and once you are aware, it's like your whole day is stitched together with pleasure...
"We have this moment, to hold in our hands, and to touch, as it slips thru' our fingers like sand..."
Or like water under a bridge.
I want to at least savor the feel, scent and look of it all! No day is ever exactly the same.

I'm so glad of what is sure...
His mercies are new every morning!
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits!

Harvest Time!

The corn is finally ready to harvest, if a bit on the damp side yet.The girls like to have a turn at riding in the combine...

...but the real fun is playing in the corn!!!

When I was a kid, my Dad raised wheat and we played in truckloads of wheat. Did you know if you chew a handful of wheat, it makes wheat gum? Anyway, these girls of ours think this is great fun! I'm so glad they get to do it... it's the closest thing to my memories of playing in wheat..

Interesting fact that I didn't learn till this year:
You know the corn silk on an ear of corn? Each silk is like an umbilical cord for a kernel of corn. If "a" silk does not get pollinated it does not make a kernel. That's why sometimes there are what looks to me like "missing teeth" (kernels) on some ears of corn! Isn't that amazing! It's hard to believe all the perfect ears when you think of it that way... (the pollen comes from the tassels on top). I am in awe!

Stirred Thoughts...

Getting on Facebook and finding old friends and aquaintances has got me thinking. I wonder how we would feel to get together, would it be awkward. On Facebook you can keep your distance pretty easily. Do we really have much in common... or have we become different enough that we really would have no interest in renewing acquaintance. If we lived next door, or even in the same area, would we be "close"? Sometimes distance helps us preserve a lie. We can hope or pretend we have the same goals, and share a closeness that is based primarily on history. What if that "history" was less than we wish it was?
Being real honest, I guess the feeling that rises in my heart is, "Would I fit in?"
Since that is a question I don’t really have an answer for, my line of thought headed in a different direction...
Where did Jesus fit in?
The "church " of his day plotted to destroy him. He ate and drank with "sinners". Was he careful of the company he kept? He was too liberal for the "conservatives", surely! They wondered why he did "what is not lawful"... He shamed them with his purity, but gave them lots to find fault with.
But He was also too conservative for the "liberals"! He asked for more than the law did! Second mile... love your enemies... your cloak also...etc.
He was discredited by his own people, those who should have known him best. They said he was "out of his mind". Educated folk thought he was possessed.
Those who affirmed him did not rank very high. Crude fishermen, yes, lepers, thieves, and even those who were responsible to carry out his death said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!"
Where did He fit in?...
But even more crucial... today... where does He fit in?
That’s the question I want to concern myself with.

Prism Living

prism (priz’em) n.1. Optics. a transparent solid body, often having triangular bases, used for dispersing light into a spectrum or for reflecting rays of light. Etc.
Th dictionary definition of prism is prosaic, at best. It does not in any way capture the simple delight of vivid rainbows landing on you, or spinning wildly around the room.
I have one hanging in my kitchen window. It has been working it’s magic on me...
I have loved prisms ever since I first knew what they were. Some years ago on my birthday, my sister-in-law gave me a couple. (Thanks again, Mandy!) I’ve had them hanging in the windows ever since, and have been learning some things from them.
Prisms need direct sun shining on them for their true beauty to be seen. They don’t look any different, one way or the other, but the difference in effect is startling! It takes strong sun shining through them to reveal their true purpose.
They are truly "receivers", and "achieve" absolutely nothing. They are "being", not "doing". The more facets they have cut on them, the bigger and more glorious the rainbows that come from them. They do not strive for attention, quietly unassuming, they simply transmit the sun to us in colored form. They have no color of their own...
God, make me like a prism.

Fall is in the air!

It seems that summer is over... fall is here. I can smell it! Today the house is smelling like concord grape juice, a distinct smell, spicy, all it's own, hardly to be described. A friend has a vineyard and last night Abe and the girls brought home a bushel. I have 10 quarts of pure juice cooling on the counter. I was doing pears before that... Somewhere between peaches and pears, summer leaves and fall arrives. Abe said today that he is hungry for chili, a decidedly fall/winter food in my books!
Another tell tale sign is I am finding acorns around the house. No, we don't have a squirrel problem, it's just we have these "squirrely" girls! This summer it was rocks and "fossils". There is one, or a pile, somewhere in almost every room in the house! Now it's acorns... but I love them. The only place we used to find them when I was a kid was in the yard at Grandpa Amoth's house. I pick them up too, but it seems the squirrels are no dummies! They beat you to the nice fat ones!
Abe is in a lull on the farming scene right now... hay is finally D.O.N.E. for the year! Corn harvest is coming... in the meantime this week he is working on putting stones on the house. We are on the "home" stretch now!
We had one short-lived round of minor colds recently, which got me thinking about how to boost the immune systems for the coming season. We do not want a repeat of last year! One thing led to another and I am on the trail of making my own elderberry extract/syrup. Anyone have any suggestions?
I am looking forward to the lazier days of winter. Long evenings... No weeding, picking, snapping, boiling, stirring, cutting, etc. More reading, writing, drinking chai, possibly sewing, etc. Aren't you glad life has it's seasons?! I am. And they rotate frequently enough that you can always look forward to the next one. So much more variety that way! I can't imagine eternal spring, for example. No fall colors would be a deprivation!
The girls had a song playing last night that says, "God is all around us, and He knows best." I have to agree! ( They had a bit of a problem, one loves to go to sleep listening to music, and one loves the quiet. We worked it out that it is quiet one night and music the next. I like that they love music, but I like them to also not be afraid of silence. To many of us run away from things by being always busy or noisy.)
I think I'd better get off here... I will close with this quote I am enjoying recently by a sometimes profound "bear", Winnie the Pooh!
"Never underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and NOT BOTHERING. (Emphasis mine.)