Thursday Thoughts…

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When the sun shines, in all it’s brilliance, I place my trust in Him

When the rain falls so heavily that I cannot see the path, I place my trust in Him

As I hold my granddaughter in my arms, I place her in His loving arms

As doors before me slam shut, I place myself in His loving arms

He is with me in the good…

and, with me in the bad…

Whether sun, rain, good, or bad

We are never alone… even when it feels that way.

How do I know these things? Why the bible, of course.

Look at what Jesus did for us, just to make a way to his Father

How must Jesus have felt as he hung upon that cross?

Alone

Betrayed

Abandoned

Rejected

Ridiculed

Despised

… and yet…

He stayed!

He could have called the angel’s down to assist… but he didn’t.

Hanging there, between two other criminals, both guilty.

How must He have felt?

Did he hurl insults and curses toward those who rejected him? No…

What must it have been like to discover at the moment the temple veil was torn, that you’d made a grievous error in your judgement of Him?

Whatever happened to those whom He’d healed while walking this earth? Where did they go? What did they do with the rest of their lives, in all that came after that Sunday Morning?

The stone removed…

The angel in the tomb…

The encounter on the road…

Where did all the people go that saw Jesus after the resurrection?

I find myself pondering these and other questions, at the approach of Easter Sunday. So much happened in Jesus earthly life, during his ministry. I can’t help but wonder what happened to those most impacted by their encounter with the Son of God.

It wasn’t as if there were only a handful of followers, with a lot of nasty government officials. It was quite the opposite, in fact. There were numerous believers, with only a handful of hateful leaders. It always amazed me what fear will cause people to do to each other. Jesus walked 30 years with humans, and He still walked all the way to that cross, willingly allowing himself to be impaled upon that post. He did it all out of love for us, His people. I’m always in awe of God’s willingness to sacrifice his own son’s life, just to save us from ourselves. We’re our own worst enemy, at times.

Whenever I write out my own struggles, and then compare them with His… I think I’m getting off rather lightly, compared to the path He walked. It really is a beautiful thing to accept a gift that you know you’ll never be able to repay… a sacrifice you can’t match!

Tomorrow’s Friday… but Sunday’s coming!

Hugs

Born to survive…

WiwohkaLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
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Looking back over the last several years of answers to this prompt, I saw two sides of my own experience. Both sides were a bit painful to read through, but I did it as an exercise in being thorough. Don’t get me wrong. They were on point, in fact!

But, for the sake of my peace and tranquility, let’s opt for a fresh and uplifting answer to today’s question.

I made it!

We are still moving forward, and we’re nowhere near where we were this time last year. That’s progress!

As many of my readers and fellow bloggers already know, Covid-19 did quite a number on us. This time around, I choose to take back all that Covid has stolen from us. No, I don’t plan on reclaiming a bunch of lost junk and paper memories. I mean that I’ve no desire to let Covid take ownership over my emotions, my life, nor my journey’s direction.

Get off my lawn Covid!

Well, I don’t actually have a lawn, as of yet. But I will. You just wait and see…

Cookie time!!!

Wednesday Words…

Wiwohka2 Comments

I know it’s just a blogging site, Eustace, but I still believe that if we can imagine a thing that is good, healthy, and full of wonder, someone will believe in it!

If I believe in something wonderful, and you believe in it too, Eustace, then it will grow strong like a tree. It’s roots will spread powerfully beneath the soil. With the Son’s warmth, and the Father’s fertile ground, all we’ve left to do is water it with our faith.

If you’ve never watched The NeverEnding Story, you really should. That scene where the princess and Atrayu sit in the darkness together, holding onto the last spark of imagination left in the world, was my favorite part of the whole movie.

If we lose our childlike wonder and imagination, where would all those fantastical dreams and stories go? I’ll tell you where… gone! They would simply disappear, leaving us in a world that lacks all beauty… a world devoid of creativity.

I know today we’ve left you with some deep things to consider. Well, Eustace is a very deep thinking camel, you know, so it shouldn’t surprise you that we often have deep philosophical conversations. Just sayin…

All the right stuff…

Wiwohka1 Comment
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
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Tea time, time in the word time, and prayer time. If I haven’t done these three things before my day gets started, my whole day is off, simply put.

I apologize for things being so short and simple these last several days. Yesterday was time with Maisie, and today I’ve an appointment in less than an hour.

But never fear, the cookies are here…

Like salt to pepper…

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Daily writing prompt
Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?
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There are no two people alike! Not even twins are identical, even though they call them identical twins.

Cloning won’t even work, due to a unique thing residing within each body… that would be the soul, if you hadn’t already guessed.

I was just talking to my husband about this today, in the car, on the way home from seeing our grandbaby. If you cookie stamped out a hundred identical bodies, and then placed a hundred different souls into those bodies, you’d end up with a hundred unique creatures. Each would have individual somethings that render them different than all the others.

I feel like peas in a pod whenever I spend time with either of my two closest friends, and yet there isn’t a drop of blood shared between us. Most of my flesh and blood are nothing like me, nor my daughter’s, for that matter.

My oldest daughter and I look nearly identical, and couldn’t be more different… or perhaps we’re too much alike, and we drive each other batty.

My point is, ladies and gents, that out of all the 8.3 billion plus humans on the planet, each is unique… individual.

That is the way God sees us, as well.

No two are alike to him, nor can one’s behavior and character effect another’s ability to walk through the pearly gates! If God created my inmost being, knitting me together in my mother’s womb, he did it for each and every one of you. God loves you, cherishes your uniqueness, and jealously protects his relationship with you… you, just as you are and not like anyone else.

Cookies?

Monday Messages…

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Shhhhhhh… we’re about to enter the silent letter section of the library. There’s a number of hidden letters out there, just hoping to be found. I know this because I’ve been searching them out.

Why would be the first operative question!

When it comes to sneaky letters hiding in plain sight, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to understand the reasoning for this odd addition to the English language. If you wanted to be hidden, fine, but then why keep peeking out of words that didn’t need you there, in the first place?

Here we come Mr. McGoogle, so make us proud…

Silent letters are letters in English words that are written but not pronounced, appearing in roughly 60% of English words. They exist due to historical pronunciation changes, etymology, or to differentiate homophones. Common silent letters include b (climb), k (knee), w (write), h (hour), and t (listen), occurring at the beginning, middle, or end of words.

Wow!

Ok Mr. McGoogle, you didn’t have to do us that proud, really!

Oddly, I didn’t actually know that these silent letter words made up 60% of all English words. It’s rather embarrassing, if you think about it. Here we are, thinking we are so smart, but we still use silent letters like a salt shaker. Now my brain hurts.

So, if these letters aren’t needed, I wanted to know what the purpose was for adding them, so long ago.

Come on… let’s ask!

AI Overview

Silent letters exist primarily because English spelling was standardized before pronunciation changed, and because of efforts to reflect words’ original Latin, Greek, or French roots. They help distinguish homophones (e.g., knights vs. nights), indicate long vowels (e.g., rate vs. rat), and remain as remnants of older, fully pronounced words. 

Key reasons for silent letters: Etymology & History: Many letters were originally pronounced. For example, knee was pronounced with a hard ‘k’ in Old English, a practice that disappeared over time, but the spelling remained.

  • Renaisance Spelling Changes: Scholars often added letters to words to make them look more like their Latin or Greek origins, such as adding a ‘b’ to debt and doubt to match the Latin debitum and dubitare.
  • French Influence: Following the Norman Conquest, French scribes altered English spelling, which brought in silent letters.
  • Homophones: Silent letters help differentiate words that sound the same, such as “in” and “inn,” or “so” and “sew”.
  • Print Standardization: Early printing presses froze spellings, which meant older, non-phonetic spellings were locked in even as pronunciation continued to evolve. 

These seemingly useless letters often provide clues to the history and meaning of a word, even if they no longer correspond to a sound in modern English. 

Well, I guess if you want to give such a smart answer, Mr. McGoogle, fine! But you could have led with this explanation, in the first place. Maybe it’s my fault, as I should have asked this question first.

So, I’m going to give this rule a free ride, due to the answer given.

I can’t really argue with logic like this, so we’ll accept it as a valid answer to my queries, just this once. I don’t even have a snappy retort, or witty statement that might undermine such reasonings.

However, I will say that we already knew about Homophones from last week, so there’s that!

(2024) Let’s Dance…

Wiwohka3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
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I think it would be absolutely fantastic if we could come up with a dance move called “The Wiwohka!”

Basically, it’d be the name you can give to people when they question your style of dance. The stranger, the better! Preferably, you can form your style into that of an inebriated surfer, riding the waves of the music, as if you’re being stalked by a great white!

Try it! It’ll be fun for the whole family!

Here, have a boogie cookie…

(2025) When I was five???

Wiwohka10 Comments

Daily writing prompt
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
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Quite honestly, I’m not sure I was thinking in terms of my future career when I was five years old. Baby dolls, kittens, puppies, candy apples at the fair, and how much I hated liver and onions are mostly all that I was thinking about at that age.

Being born and raised on a farm, my early days were spent on the back of a horse or eating all of the strawberries that my mother was trying to pick for making jam.

Though I may not have thought of my future career when I was five, it’s funny that I ended up doing one or more of my childhood activities for adult pursuits, i.e. raising babies, baking, gardening, camping, hunting, fishing, breeding dogs, homeschooling my children, and now, becoming a writer.

The writer part is the result of the thousands of books I read from the time I was tiny… that and watching Willy Wonka, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Sound of Music, just for starters!

I think that maybe that’s what a five year old should be doing at that age… not dreaming of a career, but dreaming of magic, miracles and adventure, pure and wonderful!

Who knows, though, maybe I was just slow to develop in that regard. Maybe I just watched too many cartoons, and/or read too many silly adventure books. Oh well, I’m still glad I spent my childhood with Gene Wilder, Julie Andrews, Dick Vandyke, and Angela Lansbury, aren’t you? Why? Because, my imagination was born there…

Have a cookie…

We can share!

Live Novel Friday…

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***So, here’s how this works. I want to try for a graphic novel style, but with a twist. Each week, I’ll release a new episode accompanied by several questions for you to answer. These answers will determine the next weeks episode. Some weeks I may give you two alternative outcomes, while at other times, there will be questions that will direct the path of each character involved in the story. Sounds easy, right? I’ll do all the heavy lifting. Each episode will be flagged, so if you come in to the story midway, all you need do is scroll back on the feed to catch up. Let’s do this!***

The Wharf…

Episode I –

Life here can be very tough, for any soul not already hardened by life’s cruel realities!

The taverns and store fronts along the wharf are owned by varying disreputable men and women, both of which would sell you to the sea for the right amount of coin.

If one wants to eat, they must live and work in the midst of pirates, slave traders, treasure seekers, and drunkards. There was no room for anyone with weakness, nor naivety, of any kind. Letting your guard slip, even for a moment, might very well bring about your doom…

Within the Wharf lay a tavern, filled with all manner of vile men, most living and working on the filthy trade ships, arriving here daily. Few of the locals in the nearby farming communities ever come to the Wharf, let alone frequent such a dangerous establishment.

If you were a woman, either you came into the tavern to work, or you were dangerous enough to hold your own in a fight.

The Wharf was no place for kind folk, nor was the tavern safe for anyone carrying a coin purse without a gun or a dagger for company.

Inside the tavern you see a young barmaid, busily sweeping the floor near the doorway. She belongs to the owner of the tavern, purchased off one of the slave ships some years prior, when she was rather young.  

She is quiet, very obedient to the one who feeds her, and always works busily, both in and around the tavern. No one bothers her, nor do they pay her any mind at all! Everyone here knows that she is not to be touched, as the owner of the tavern would kill you for even considering it!

Don’t let her meekness fool you, as she is not what she seems. If you did look into her eyes, you would see danger floating within those dark pools of green, staring right back at you! In her short life, she has seen too much, felt too much and lost too much!

This has molded her into a very hardened and wise soul, for one so young. She is also very smart, both in book knowledge and being street savvy. Her three rules for survival are,

Don’t make the tavern owner mad…

Stay out of folk’s business…

Do not bring attention to yourself…

These three rules were born of painful lessons learned over the years of service to the owner of the tavern… most assuredly, the only reason she was still breathing air, even if it did smell of stale rum and dirty pirates!

*****************************************************************************

Question #1 – Our heroin needs a name. I’ve already a name in mind, but this is for you to choose, not me… not this time. What shall we call our young lass?

Question #2 – What should we call the tavern?

Question #3 – Will the tavern owner be a burly old one-eyed ogre, or should he have a hidden softer side to him?

I went easy on you this week, since this is a whole new thing, and all. Each episode will have harder questions, but you’ll know more about the story as time goes on. My hope is that you’ll become invested in this tale, which will only gain strength with each weeks answers. This should allow the story to expand and gain traction, as time goes on. Who knows where this will lead.

til next Friday…

Hugs

What’s love got to do with it…

Wiwohka1 Comment
Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?
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Probably one of the most misunderstood things on this planet, this feeling we call love!

Everybody wants it

We all think we know how to handle it

We crave it

We steal for it, lie for it, pay for it, and often die for it

But does anyone understand love fully?

I’d bet my considerably small fortune that most humans DON’T have a clue about the depths of love; it’s power, it’s strengths, it’s weaknesses! Not even close…

Love is a gift

Love is sometimes a curse

Often times, love hurts, too

Love makes the wisest of men act out of character, go against everything he knows to be true… for only one moment, one smile, one touch…

Love is free, and yet it costs us everything…

Love is the cost that many will save for, but an expense few are willing to fully pay.

Love is a gift that if not given away only poisons the heart, thereby destroying the one holding on to it. We all have an entire lifetime to practice the art of giving and receiving love, and yes I said receiving it, also.

Just as it is nearly impossible to understand it, grow it, and give it to others… love is even more difficult to receive from others. We struggle with motives, liars, deceivers, and worse yet, our own distrust of what love should be.

We are each born with love in our heart, and only one lifetime to grow it, use it, and receive it from one another. Let’s not waste any more time talking about it…

let’s eat cookies!