I am from...

I spent a wonderful afternoon with family. It included iron skillet fried chicken, hot ginger tea, and great conversation. We had an old-fashion-Sunday- afternoon- porch- sitting kind of day (except it was inside and Tuesday)!

 You never know where days like these will lead. This one led to Mom and me reading some of her writings and inspiring me to sit and write a poem of my own based on one of her poems. I am subjecting you to it so I will have a permanent record and not be afraid to share a piece of my heart. (I also needed something to start back writing after a 11 month break :)!

Here goes my poem entitled "I am from..."

I am from small towns,
   Small courthouses in the town squares,
   Small service stations on the corners,
   Small churches around every block.

I am from Sunday School, VBS, church camp,
   "Jesus Loves Me"
   "Th B-I-B-L-E"
   "This Little Light of Mine"

I am from hymns drifting through the house, the sanctuary, the air outside,
   "How Great Thou Art"
    "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing"
    "Amazing Grace"

I am from a coffee drinking, pulpit preaching, Christ serving dad.

and

I am from a wish making, piano playing, music loving mom!

So, where are you from?

The Sweet Smell of Summer

We start back to school this week. Sigh!

I was feeling a little bit of those back to school blues tonight. I am saying goodbye to lazy days, sleeping late, and watching the Today show. (Matt, Ann, and Al, I will miss you!) I do love my job and the fun of a new beginning each August, but leaving behind the carefree days is hard.

As I walked through the house tonight after my bath (tubby :), all was quiet, everyone was in bed, and I was hit by a sweet smell. It was the perfect smell of summer...fresh cut watermelon!
My favorite fruit is that of red ripe watermelon. I have always loved it. We do not let a week go by in the summer without watermelon in the house. John had cut open a new melon tonight as an after youth group snack for Emma Grace and the smell was still lingering hours later. It made me smile and lose a little of those end of summer blues.

They say that smell is the strongest memory trigger. I believe it. I have wonderful summer memories, past and present. So instead of being sad, I am remembering some of this year's memories (some happy, some sad)...

New wood floors in the house.
Emma Grace making a SES cut time in swimming.
Going to the beach with many old friends and family.
Losing my 91 year old grandmother.
Reading trashy books while floating in the pool.
Laughing with Emma Grace.
Celebrating 17 years of marriage to John.
And of course eating watermelon!

Thank you, God, for all these memories and the start of new ones yet to be made.

I Have Lost Contact(s)!

My phone broke. Smashed on the concrete by the pool. All contacts, apps, photos, and games gone in a split second while I reached for a trashy gossip magazine! (No judgement please, I will return to my normal adult reading as soon as summer break is over or until JLo is happy in love again. Whichever comes first!)

I did not realize at the time that I had not backed up the phone (who knew!) and so had lost all content. Even "Andre" from apple support after an hour of working with techno-dumb me could not help "sync" old and new phones. Oh the shame of not having backed up!!

So now I am without all the contacts I have collected over the years. My sweet techno-naive mom suggested I look in my address book?! She, of course, keeps every number she has even been given in a good old fashioned, write it in yourself, address book. I was with her when bought her current one at the National Gallery in DC ---14 YEARS AGO!! It is well used and worn with lots of names and numbers written in it. When a number changes, she just scratches through it and writes the new one below. I am sure she has dropped it thousands of times and no contact has been lost! But that is another blog for another day!

I am now slowly reentering all the contacts I know by heart (sadly there are not many). And as people call or text, I am adding them back also. I guess it will show me who really calls me! It also shows me which contacts where the most important ones.

I am using it as a sort of cleanse for my phone. Only adding back the numbers that are most needed (like family, friends, and local Chinese restaurants) will be a way to find out which contacts are truly the ones I should have. Plus I don't have to wonder who "Dave"( no last name) was in my old contacts!

What contacts would you be upset to lose? Who would you truly need to call and be unable to if your "address book" was dropped?

That is the bigger lesson I learned in this whole frustrating episode. I need to get my contact priorities in order and learn to back up the the important ones!

So, dear friends, if you would like to be added back to my new phone, give me a call, text, email, or hand-written note with your information and I will make you a priority just because you cared enough to let me know that you are out there and I promise to have back up support this time. (I just hope "Andre" can help me do this!)

Dive on In!

I never really learned to dive properly. I am a hold the nose kinda of gal! Oh, the shame! (However, I can pass the required summer camp swim test! Yeah!) I did not want my daughter to have the same fear or water up the nose issues as me. Mission accomplished.

Above is a picture taken of Emma Grace at Auburn University ready to dive into her first race of the day. (She is the one closest to the camera in lane 1)

I am daily amazed at her willingness to continue this new sport despite the fact that she is competing with girls who have been doing this for 5 or more years compared to her 7 months. I love her commitment to going daily (even in freezing weather) and swimming lap after lap (after lap). Her hard work is paying off with lower times and new found muscles, but she still must work just to catch up with the others. And she does. Where can I get the bottle of magic dust that keeps her motivated?!?

I was going to write about the idea of "Just keep swimming" from Disney's Finding Nemo, but looking at this photo I snapped to send to my husband (who was very sad not to be there), the idea of her willingness to dive in seemed more profound.

Keeping your head above water is one thing. Being willing to dive into it is the FIRST thing.

I would love to be the one to dive in head first and just go for it (what ever "it" may be). Instead I ease in one toe at a time, sometimes not even willing to get my face in the water. But here is my own flesh and blood diving in head first not caring what the others do. She is doing what she wants and giving it her all. Wow. Again, I need that bottle of magic dust she must have hidden in the mess she calls a room!

God wants us to have the faith of a child. I say we need the faith, the courage, the hope, the love, and the pure heart that allows them to try new things, love new adventures, and see the world as something special given just for them. It was. God gave us all these things. The question is ... Are we using what is given without question?

Are we willing to dive in and see what is there for us? What might could happen? How can our lives change?

From her first very awkward dive in June, Emma Grace has had a new world opened up to her. She is learning more than just proper kicks and strokes. She is learning that it is better to dive in than just sit on the edge worrying about what might happen. I love that kind of faith!

Do you have the faith to dive right in? I am working on mine. See you in the water!

What I Learn at Disney

Please forgive me. It has been 6 months since my last blog. (Can't wait to hear my confessions now, huh!)

Wow, I am sorry it has taken this long to write. When I started this blog school was winding down and summer was giving me more time to think and act on those thoughts. The last blog was the end of July. We started back to school the first of August. See the connection?

I have written many blogs in my head, late at night while lying in the bed. I just couldn't seem to get them onto the computer. I am trying to get back to it.

I have wanted to share a story with you for a while that really struck a chord with me. Last spring (yes, it has take this long to write it down!), I was with friends at Disney World. I love Disney and can get a bit "park Nazi" on trips there. Just ask John!! So of course I was leading the pack in the park for that day's adventure. As our group walked along, my friend Lydia was walking beside me in the lead of the others. Not wanting to be a complete dictator on where we were heading, I turned to her and asked her opinion as to the direction we should take.

Her reply: "I might be walking beside you, but I am following you."

Wow!! That statement hit me so hard. Do you see where this should be in our lives?

God so wants us to follow him, but that needs to be done while walking with him. We need the connection as well as the willingness to go where he leads.

I may know the quickest path to Space Mountain, but I still need lots of guidance for the direction to take in my own amusement park we call life! And I don't always walk as if I have someone beside me (even though he is there, ready to be acknowledged).

My prayer is that I will walk each day with him knowing that he will not lead me wrong. I am trying but sometimes I take a wrong turn and end up in Toon Town instead of Tomorrow Land (If you get my drift!).

Plant Killer Strikes Again!

I said I would keep you posted on my new plants. The news is not good. Captain Brown Thumb should be my new superhero name! I appear to be a normal, child-nurturing, law-abiding citizen by day, but when no one is watching, I can kill a plant in 2 months or less!

My latest victim is the peace lily by my door. I had been able to keep one alive for almost 4 years (my only plant success story) so I purchased a new one with high hopes and good intentions. It died in about 8 weeks. What happened? I did the same things as last time. Same amount of watering, etc. What was the difference?

Then it hit me...John is not here! He is working out of town this summer with the oil spill. We know all the great things he does for Emma Grace and me (cooking, laundry, cleaning), but we realized that he was also my plant fairy. He was watering my plants behind my back! Now that he is not home all the time, I guess the plants are just giving up!

Thank you God for all the unseen and unsung "fairies" (angels if you prefer!) you provide to all of us. I forget that we can not do it alone and SHOULD NOT even try!

Hope for the Future for just $20!

In my last post I told you about the $20 solution for blindness. In this one I will reveal how $20 has helped me once more and renewed my hope for the future! Are you curious yet?

Think about what you can get these days for $20 bucks...
*1 large popcorn and drink at the movies
*Lunch for 2 at Chick-fil-A
*2 Sham-Wows (if you call in the next 20 minutes!!)

I got desperate the other day over my yard that was getting higher and higher. With John working so many hours this summer ( and knowing that I am not a yard person), something had to be done. I saw my solution in the form of a teenage neighbor out cutting his grass! I approached him with a small smile (so as not to frighten him) and asked in my sweetest kindergarten teacher voice if he was willing to come over and just mow my front yard for cash!

He "yes ma'am ed" me and we struck a deal! He came right over and went to work. Afterwards I had to force him to take the money when he kept saying that it was His Pleasure to help me out! Awe! Turns out he is an Eagle Scout (of course!) with the sweetest manners! He will be starting college in the fall (I swear he looked 15!) and I know that he will do well as long as he keeps that wonderful sense of helping others.

WE are so quick to say that kids today don't have the same values or work ethic as we did. I don't believe this is true. Good parents (today and in the future) raise good kids (usually!). So I will continue to teach my daughter about serving others and always look for the good in this next generation. I hope she will give someone else a reason to have hope just like my Boy Scout next door!