Category: babies

I sure hope everyone had a beautiful weekend, preferably getting some much needed rest, and spending quality time with loved ones.

My husband started back to college last week, so we spent the weekend relaxing amidst his studying and trying to adjust to the new daily schedule. His hope is to finally complete a degree that has been a goal of his for some time. My hope is to see him get up, dust himself off, and rise above all the curve balls that life’s been throwing him. Thanks be, to our Veterans Programs, he has been given such an amazing opportunity for success!

While I could list a myriad of unfortunate things that have gone wrong, are still going on, and/or may occur in the future… I would rather share all the good that I am seeing. I am so eternally grateful for the VA and all they have and are currently doing to help us. To see my husband finally get the care and support that he so desperately needed, has been such a blessing to witness. Though we are nowhere near out of the woods yet, I have seen God work through others in so many wonderful ways, I’ve never felt more carried within the palm of His hands!

Circumstances occur, no matter who you are, often leaving a mess behind that can often feel too hopeless for one to bear… let alone, try to clean up and make right!

All it takes is someone lending a helping hand, heart, or prayer, to facilitate recovery of something lost. There have been so many unwitting ambassadors for God’s purposes, I’m not fully able to thank each and every one of them, but that won’t stop me from asking God to bless their socks off!

So much of how we see and cope with a circumstance, is based on our perspective… our attitude about a thing, or an emotional state brought about during the experiencing of said circumstance. As I have been learning, keeping a Godly perspective, as a whole, helps immeasurably! Believing in Him and trusting in His plan for my life has forever changed my perspective, and for the better! Choosing to look for the good in others, instead of expecting the worse, has radically altered my mental and emotional perspective.

If I can give any words of encouragement for the week ahead, it will be to remind folks to focus on how important all the little things you do for others can be, and remember that it will return to you 100 fold. Love, and generosity of heart, are only valuable when you give them away. Something as small as holding a door for another, or saying thank you to the checker at the grocery store holds great value! How do you know if that person has been struggling with a circumstance, so close to just giving up? Your kind words can have an incredible effect of comfort and reassurance that you never even realized. Pay that love forward folks, because it will most likely pay you right back in ways you never dreamed!

Have a blessed week… hugs

Walls…

Since we last spent time talking about the Israelites journey, much has changed. From one side of the Jordan, Moses spent his last days trying to ensure the people would remember what God had commanded them, by repeatedly going back over everything they’d learned so far. Once that was completed, God sent him up the mountain, in order to show Moses the land that they were about to inherit.

Remember, Moses knew that he was not to cross the Jordan, due to his earlier disobedience to God. Moses also knew, before he ever headed up the hill, he’d be dying up on that mountain. I was left pondering what it must have been like when God spoke to Moses about the climb. He was to view the land he would not set foot in, and then be called home to his people (God told Moses of his own death). After reading of all the journey thus far, I am left thinking that Moses was probably relieved. He was quite old by this time, so my belief is that he was very tired, and looking quite forward to God taking him home.

As you may or may not already know, this is the place where Joshua, son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim, became the leader of the Israelites. Joshua, remember, was one of the 12 spies that had scouted out the land earlier on. He and Caleb were the only two that brought back favorable news to the people, about the land they were about to inherit. This is what I found on my search engine, from Newworldencyclopedia.org, when looking for Caleb’s lineage:

Caleb, the son of Hezron (I Chron. 2:18-20), is identified with Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (Num. 13:6), the epithet “Jephunneh” having been given to him because he “turned away” from the sinful intention of the other spies who advised the people against going into the Holy Land.

While you may or may not be interested in that bit, I find reading about lineage fascinating sometimes. In this case, it’s more about what is in ones heart, than what’s in ones blood!

Anyways, back to the journey of our village, who were now planning to cross the Jordan into the promise land. I’ve only read as far as the beginning of chapter 6 in the book of Joshua, and I’ve already had to stop and chew on some things… three, in fact!

The first thing that I found myself wondering about, was the sheer number of those crossing. Even with three tribes of woman and children staying behind in the place they’d chosen as their portion, their fighting men were still required to cross over the Jordan along with all the rest of the Israelites! To put a realistic picture in your heads, of the actual size of this village… just the fighting men from the three tribes remaining on the other side of the river, numbered approximately 40,000. This should give us an idea, about the amount of people that crossed the Jordan at this point. Obviously, the woman and children of the other tribes wouldn’t be battling it out with the warriors, but they still had to cross and camp somewhere along the path, so you can imagine the sheer number of the people crossing that river.

Just as in the parting of the Red Sea, once again, God parted the Jordan for another safe crossing. The bible says that the cities were very fearful of this mobile city, and with good reason! Can you imagine watching the procession from your kitchen window, of probably, over a million people in one large group, as they moved along. You might as well invite your in-laws over, because you were going to be watching for a good long while.

Here comes the second thing I pondered, while following the story of this village. The bible says that the people celebrated the Passover, once they’d reached the other side of the river, on the 14th day of that month. When it said that the very next day was the first day they’d begun eating food from this new land, I was a bit surprised. I’d completely forgotten about the fact that they’d been eating manna for this entire trip… 40 years of basically eating oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, aside from the holy celebrations.

Not only that, but all of the circumcised fighting men that left Egypt had died along the way to the river… as they’d disobeyed God and forfeited the right to enter the promised land; hence, the 40 years of wandering in the desert! Now that the people had crossed into the promised land, it was quite a change for them, as they experienced both the return of normal food and the return of an act of obedience and cleanliness… circumcision! I’m trying to wrap my mind around the logistics of how many actual Israelites of fighting age, lay recovering for a week from this procedure… not babies, but full grown men down for the count!

The third thought, which I’m still chewing on, arose from reading about the city of Jericho! This city was surrounded by massive walls that kept enemies out and the citizens within its walls safe. While this seems to be the perfect place to feel safe, we know that those dwelling in the city were scared witless! I don’t think it would be fun having to watch an enormous army march around my city for a week, blowing trumpets in my direction.

Though there is much discussion as to how many warriors were in that army, I guarantee you would be able to feel the ground vibrate with their repeated pass by’s! Even if I can logically assume this vibration aided in the collapse of those walls, riddle me this… how did that one tiny wall piece, with Rahab and her family tucked inside, manage to remain fully intact? One teensie weensie red scarf, that’s how!

Belief, obedience, and just a little tiny grain of faith, was all that Rahab held onto. Yep, folks, a prostitute! I’m left with such gratitude that God always seems to work with the broken, discarded and unworthy. The beauty of the truth is, God knows we aren’t perfect, nor are we capable of serving and/or obeying Him by our own merit!

The truth is the same, from all the way back then, to the here and now… believe in Him, obey His direction, and hold onto our faith in Him, no matter how little our faith might be… down to the tiniest grain! Even when we feel as if we’ve lost our faith in Him, God will faithfully continue a good work in us! Just sayin…

Never look a gift horse in the mouth!

Do you ever wonder where on earth I get some of the sayings I come up with, as I tell you things from day to day? Until recently, I’d never given it any real thought, as no one has ever questioned me about it. When I’m talking or writing about stuff, it just sort of comes out of my brain. It baffles me, as to how we humans can remember certain things flawlessly, while other memories can just wash off in the shower.

Not too long ago, my Chica and I were driving somewhere, while I babbled on about one thing or another… I don’t get out much! Anyway, amidst whatever story I was entertaining her with, I uttered the phrase, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” to which she said something to the effect of, “how do you even know that saying means what you’re using it for?” I answered her honestly, that I wasn’t actually sure.

After thinking about it a moment, I realized that it just sort of made sense. I decided to give her my best guess, as to what I assumed it meant. That particular saying isn’t too hard for me to figure out, since I was born and raised around horses. From what I understand about the old days of horse drawn carriages and work horses, there was much value placed on ones horse. I am aware that the best way to determine the age and health of a horse, is to look at the teeth.

When you are looking to purchase a new horse, you do things like check teeth, hooves and muscle tone to look for any flaws or weaknesses. Horses were purchases, as well as, traded for goods and services. We all know there are times when someone is struggling financially and someone else steps in to generously help them recover. I assume that it would be very disrespectful, if when being offered a horse as a gift, you turn around and inspect the horses mouth to determine the value of the gift. It would be rude, I think!

Now, this is just a guess! On my honor, I attest that I’ve not yet looked up the saying, in an effort to determine how far off I am. I shall do this right now… give me a moment……..

First of all, Google refers to the saying as an Idiom, so ok.

The first definition I read says this: to advise someone not to refuse something good that is being offered. This was from Cambridge.org. So far, so good!

Where it came from sort of surprised me, as you would think I would have seen this coming. Apparently it was mentioned by St. Jerome, while commenting on something the Apostle Paul said in the bible. Well, duh… they used horses quite a lot back in that time. Sayings like, long in the tooth, also came from this era. Many horse phrases have been heard in much of the racing and showing world, so this has to be where I learned most of my horsey “As They Say” phrases, or to be correct… Idioms.

I have to say that this one was rather easy to guess and explain, so I’ll give myself some extra credit on this one. From here on out, however, it isn’t going to be so easy for me to come up with ideas on old sayings, as I’d like you to offer up the phrases.

I want to get some shout outs from all of you, as to what phrases you want me to take a swing at defining. If no one offers up a fresh one for me to work with, I shall simply pull one out of my brain and work with that, but I give you my word that I shall not cheat for my answers. Each Saturday morning I will give you a phrase, then my own definition, and from there I’ll let Google either confirm or refute my answer. Sound fair?

Well, it will have to be fair enough!

P.S. You’ve no idea how hard it was to get a photo of a horse, either in or around a gift. I won’t even try to explain how hilarious the pics turned out, when I asked the AI to give me a photo of a woman brushing a horses teeth… instead I’ll just show you!

Based on their horrific teeth, not to mention their malformed nostrils and severe underbites, I don’t think either of these horses would be very good gifts!

The barnyard was rather quiet when I arrived early this morning. No babes anywhere! While you might be concerned, I simply took it as an opportunity to get some work done, without a passel of fuzzballs climbing around in my office. Brutus and Tilly are usually corralling them somewhere or other, plying them with granola squares or other treats.

There was already a cup of steaming coffee, with my favorite creamer, resting beside my computer. That would be Squagon, as that tiny fella has enough energy and enthusiasm for the lot of us! He’s always the first one up in the mornings, and the toughest nut to get to sleep at night! I think he makes my coffee for me, just so that he can drink some of it while he’s preparing mine!

I sat down at my desk and picked up my cup to savor it’s aroma for a few moments. I’d barely begun to drink my coffee, when I heard a small disturbance, outside the window behind my desk. I lazily swiveled my chair around, to peek through the glass toward the direction of the sound. I could only see the tops of what looked like Tilly’s velvety ears. As I stood up and peered closer through the window, I could see her there, sitting on a bale of hay, quietly crying!

I immediately forgot about any sort of work I’d been planning to do, hastily setting my coffee down and headed for the back of the barn, where Tilly sat beneath my window. At first, as I knelt down in front of her, the mouse tried to put on a brave face. She weakly smiled, hiccupping through a tiny sob, and then completely fell apart! I picked her up in my arms and sat down on the hay with my tiny friend. Quietly, I waited for her sobs to subside, as there would be no point in asking questions amidst snuffles, blubbering and tears.

When Tilly gets upset, the best thing to do for her is to blow gently on the fur behind her ears; for some reason, it always calms the little mouse. So, for nearly five minutes I softly blew upon my little sensitive one… Tilly, like myself, tends to have a very gentle and emotional side. I know that when I’m upset or hurting, it takes me a bit of time to talk about how I’m feeling. I supposed that if she were like me at all, she simply needed a few moments to collect herself.

Finally, when the tears subsided, Tilly began to share the reason for her tears. You see, the reason it was so quiet in the barnyard this morning, was because all the babes were out in the back field building a fort. Tilly, being the big sister of things, had tried to guide them with ideas that would be fun but safe. But, being the babes of such adventurous renown, they’d not only rejected all her ideas but apparently, they kicked her out of the fort! Tilly was devastated!

Oh Boy! Ummm… how was I going to mend such a big ouchie? As I held my sad little friend, I chose my words carefully. The first thing I did was encourage Tilly, that I realized how much she tries to care for us all, here in the barn. I reassured her of the need for her wisdom and concern for our safety, requesting that she never quite trying to be who she was inside. This part was easy, as Tilly is sort of like a nanny to the babes, wanting nothing more than to be a mom herself one day. The encouragement was already beginning to work it’s magic!

Trying to undo harsh words, on the other hand, was going to take some effort! Rather than trying to defend something someone else did or said, I could only offer Tilly words of encouragement and advice on how to respond. I knew she felt sad at being left out, hurt by their words of rejection, and a bit angry that no one listened to her ideas. How was I supposed to undo all that?

I began to realize that I needed to encourage Tilly to forgive her young friends, and work it out with the ones involved! If I were to walk into the group with a solution, I’d be talking to myself! These were babes, with Tilly not being much older than the rest of them. Sure, I could break up the party and make everyone say the expected “I’m Sorry,” but it would NOT help in mending hurts! If I forced them to apologize, of course they would, but would it be heartfelt? Growing up into an adult mouse can be hard sometimes, and often confusing. All I could do was to share these thoughts with Tilly, in the hopes that she could be brave enough to go back out there and try again! Sometimes the hardest part of being the grown up, is letting others do their own growing up, without doing it for them.

Tilly must have understood enough of what I said, or perhaps she just felt better after I blew on her fur with love, because she began to visibly brighten. Wiping away her tears, the tiny mouse hopped up on my shoulder, kissed the tip of my chin, and was off like a shot toward the back field. All I can do now, is wait for the return of my crew of babes, to learn of how things went out at the fort. I love all the babes and so does Tilly! She’s a bright mouse, being way ahead of her young age. Santa saw this about her and he believed in her loving heart… and so do I!

Though my coffee is now cold, I’ll just reheat it. I’ve got work to do now that I’m back in my office. Whatever comes of things out back, I’ll be sure to update you when I know how things turned out with the babes. I assure you that it’s not the end of the world, as we’re a family, and a family works things out!

As I find myself walking along this river nearly every day, I couldn’t ask for a better landscape to travel through! The sights, sounds, and smells of the forest are such a gift, and I realize that not too many folks have the opportunity to spend this much time enjoying it. Too easily, I can find myself taking a thing for granted! I am often a creature of habit, settling into a thing that brings joy, to the point of just assuming it’ll faithfully be there to service my needs. Often writing about a thing, affords me the opportunity to remember how much value a thing can hold, if that makes any sense.

For some, living a busy life can bring with it the challenge of finding the time to rest, relax and/or play. For those who live more of a solitary existence, whether it be from circumstance or by choice, they face the challenge of keeping themselves busy enough to stay motivated. It is very easy for me to fall into the temptation of complacency; getting too comfortable in my spot, as I call it! I am a creature of habit, burrowing into a safe and comfortable place of existence and losing sight of things outside my view. At times I find myself more concerned with the steady routine of walking, than with the environment that is bringing me such fulfillment. Being a good writer requires that we keep a balance, of sorts, in how much time we spend going deeply inward, to focus on a subject. If one doesn’t come up for air, once in a while, we risk drowning in our own words!

I’ve a renewed desire to pursue and appreciate the world around me, even if it’s only in my local park or along my favorite riverside path. I’d like to take more pictures and videos of the things that bring me so much peace and tranquility, sharing them with the people I love; that’s you, by the way!

I have to say that this last weekend was an incredibly fulfilling experience for me, as I’ve been trying to seek God’s will and purpose in my life. Attempting to edit my book with integrity has been daunting, to say the least! I discovered that I’d been seeking my comfort zone, or my spot, in how I’d been shaping my work. I was asking God to guide me, but would still continue in my own direction of how I thought it should play out. I found myself stuck in only the third chapter, for nearly a month now. It wasn’t until I was walking along the river on Sunday, that I heard God call me out on it! He is so loving when He does so, I must say, and I heard Him loud and clear! Since then, editing has taken off and the book is falling together nicely.

The biggest issue I’ve been having, while editing this story, has been my concern with how much information is too much! I’ve got so many things to put in there, but not all of it belongs. If you get me started, I can talk or write for days on a thing, but that doesn’t mean it will all make sense or hold the value I think it might. When God tells me that a thing doesn’t belong, I’m finally learning to listen and not give Him a childish sales pitch, about what I think is best! Can you believe that I’ve actually been trying to do that? God knows my story better than I do, but I was actually trying to write it the way I wanted, not how it needs to be written. My story is supposed to bring love, healing and encouragement to others, so God is the only one who understands how it needs to be shared. By the time I’m done with the edit, I’m confident that it will be as God directed. Otherwise, it can just sit on the shelf! It wouldn’t be any good to anyone if I simply do it my way, as I’ve no idea what exactly is in my story that God wants to use, nor do I know who it’s intended for… that wasn’t part of the bargain!

My goals are to work the edit, one day at a time, til it’s done! From there, it belongs to God, along with whomever it’s intended to reach. I’m considering just releasing it live, in the lobby, once it’s complete. At this point, only God knows!