A Well Built House,

(Image from Google)

Poetry Jam a great place for writers that blog.

"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to." 

 ~John Ed Pearce

It has been well over 30 years since I set foot in that old house. 

It was torn down years ago, but in my memories it still stands proud.

I step inside it's walls and walk up the creeky stairs to my old room.

I wander through the contents and look out the window at the view.
I can't go back and hear the voices that echo through the halls,
but I can carry the memories with me and never let them fall.

Words of Hope Still Speak

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." ~Martin Luther King, Jr

I wanted to take the time to give tribute to a great man in history on this special day. One of the things that I love about Martin Luther King, Jr is the fact that he was full of so much hope and bravery.  There are few other people that have had such an impact on society.  His words are still being spoken, and will continue throughout the ages.  He certainly is a hero of the past,present, and the future....his many speeches know no time limit.  His dream lives on inspiring us all forward. 

A Horse of Another Color,

My maternal grandmother was quite the colorful lady....from blue hair to amazing tales...she always captivated me with her childhood stories and interesting views on life.  I have never met anyone since that time who was even half as eccentric as my dear grandma was.  I have all the colorful memories of her tucked away swaddled in beautiful cloth....every once in a while I set them free like a wonderful pony out of it's fence.  Now the memories of my Mom ,well...that is a horse of another color.

Linking with Poetry Jam.

The Grandma Has Grey Hair...

This post is for Brandee at Smooth Stones.

Brandee is a wonderfully uplifting and talented friend here in the blogosphere, and she asked a couple of questions on my last post that I wanted to answer in this one... just for her. :-)

Yes Brandee I am a 48 year old grandmother of 10.  The fact that you thought I was so much younger just made my day....you are a jewel!!  Sometimes I feel like I am 80 and others I feel like I am 25, but at the end of the day I am still a creeky kneed 48 year old.

The awkward soul is easy to know if I am standing before you....not so much on the other side of a computer screen...you see I have hidious posture and I am not the most coordinated person in the world....so that is why I put that I am an awkward soul. 

The photo above I took today so that the blogosphere could see my grey hair that I righfully earned over the years. :-)

Thank you Brandee for being such an amazing friend...you writing is inspiring and your support is a blessing!

"If I had to sum up Friendship in one word, it would be Comfort." ~Terri Guillemets

Definitions of Me

Thursday Think Tank...."Who I am"

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart.  I am.  I am.  I am." 

~Sylvia Plath

"I do not define myself I have found this to be true.  It is all the experiences and the people I love that do."

~Me

I am a chaser of words

I am a daughter

I am a hardworker

I am a sister

I am a singer of songs

I am a mother

I am a people pleaser

I am a grandmother

I am a searcher of meaning

I am a cousin

I am a classic enabler

I am an aunt

I am an awkward soul

I am a friend for life.



Building A Life (For My Son)

"Life is the sum of all your choices."  ~Albert Camus

Gifts come into our lives from the time we are born.  We cry for our first breath, and our first one is granted.  From that moment on we receive them perpetually.  A bounty presents themselves, not just booties, tricycles, and car keys, but traits as well.  A father’s smile, mothers eyes, and an uncle’s humor are all part of the package of trophies you are awarded along the way.

For an inheritance is not a set of papers nor an estate with a large bank account that can be squandered or lost.  It is an accumulation of gifts, some tarnished with the hard lessons of foolish ways.  While others are brilliant with the wisdom of time.  These offerings cannot be bought, nor wrapped.   They are the attributes that make us who we are.  The principles and the struggles we face are all part of a legacy of choices of all our ancestors before us.  The traits trickle down like raindrops on a window pane, collecting at the sill for us to soak up with a cloth.  They are the offerings and tools we can utilize to build our lives, or to consume them.   All the talents, mistakes, lessons, triumphs, and experiences mold the clay of the ceramics of another generation.  We are truly products of the past, be it strong, or be it weak.  God gives us life, an opportunity to be, and through His grace, He gives us the power to choose how we will use that gift.

This year my birthday gift to you is a simple crafted wooden box.  It was built by a young man that grew up to be your grandfather  Parkes Van Horn.  He was born February 15, 1922, and grew up enduring the struggles of the great depression.  He was a man whose hardships throughout his childhood out-weighed the carefree times children usually experience.  When all was said and done, the difficult times he faced molded him into a stronger man, and made him a wonderful example of the power of overcoming the adversity we may face in our lives.  As a young man, he built this box with the same integrity that built his life.  All the admirable qualities, and every lesson learned both through wisdom, and foolish mistakes, are instruments that shaped the legacy that he has left behind.  This simple wooden box is just one part of many gifts that he has given me, and also passed down to you.  These are truly a genuine and valuable inheritance that is yours to embrace.

Yes, inheritance is more than a set of papers and big estates that can be squandered or lost.   It is the values and purpose that build our lives.  These ideals are the true gifts that our heart learns to carry along the way, and no storm, nor thief can take these prized possessions away.  We can either choose to accept them whole heartedly embracing the lessons that come from them, or let them lie stagnant in waste never progressing or moving forward.   For all these choices are the legacy that we not only leave behind for the ones we love, but we also take with us when we pass away.  My hope for you my son is that you choose the ones that not only build a better life for you, but also for your children and your grandchildren to come.

What we are is God's gift to us.  What we become is our gift to God.  ~Eleanor Powell

Linking with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose

Under His Umbrella

When I was an adolescent I walked to the end of the street to catch the bus every day.  When it was raining, my Dad would urge me to take an umbrella.   Sometimes he would just hand me one and send me on my way.  Well, he might has well have given me rain boots and a yellow rain coat as far as I was concerned.  There was no way I was going to really use it.  So when I would get to the corner I would run up to the last house and place it on the front porch to leave while I went to school.   Then I would pick it up on my way home in the afternoon.  He never realized I did not follow his advice, and I never told him. 

Many years have gone by since I walked to catch the bus at the corner of our street, but I still find myself doing the same thing in a different kind of way.  God provides everything I need in life to prosper, and grow in Him, like an umbrella of hope and protection, and yet I find myself at times still disregarding His direction. I am still leaving the umbrella at the corner house.  I choose to weather the rain on my own, holding my foolish pride in hand.

Now that I am getting older, and have weathered  many a storm in life, I have learned the hard way enough times with scars to prove the lesson, that life's journey to the corner is much more pleasant and rewarding when taken under His umbrella of protection and guidance.  I may stray from time to time, but I never lay His umbrella down for long when I know the rain is heading in.

Magpie #60

Also sharing with lovely Emily at Imperfect Prose



The Great Golden Bowl

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."

~Mother Teresa

There is so much hunger in this world, but I am not speaking of the hunger for bread and gravy, I am of the need for spiritual growth, and the fulfillment, and nurturing of the human heart.  In the past, there have been many times that I have felt much like the grand canyon.  I felt a great emptiness hidden deep within. On the outside I had all the things necessary to survive. I had food,a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in, and a job to keep it that way, but there were things missing...holes to be repaired, and canyons to be filled.  I tried to fill that place with chocolate.  I burried it with things.  I ignored it with needless distractions.  Going about my way burdened with worries I could not fix, and the loss of something greater and meaningful in my life and heart that I had not yet grasped.  For God is the only one that can fill that deep void, and He is the only one that can bear the burden of our worries, and fix the hurts.  Having found God in my early adulthood, I learned early the freedom of letting go, and letting God.  I no longer had a void to attempt to fill nor a grief that I could not lay down.  There is such a wonderful peace and freedom in having a relationship with God.  It is like our heart is a great golden bowl, that waits to be filled by Him.  There are so many people in this world that are still trying to fill that bowl with something else....food,possessions,distractions,whatever they can get their hands on...but it will not satisfy no matter how plentiful the serving it may be.  This Thanksgiving, I pray that those that are hungry in every way will be given plenty.  That their great golden bowl will be filled with the eternal blessings of God, not just food, drink, and things.  I realize more and more as I get older, how much I have to be thankful for.  There are so many people that have so many needs unmet.  I want to take this time to acknoledge the plenty that matters in our lives...Peace, Hope,Love, and God.  May your heart be fulfilled with these blessings this Holiday season. 

Linking with Emily and Imperfect Prose

In The Piggy Banks of My Mind

Monday's Child #20

When my kids were young, there are certain funny things that they would say that always linger in my memory banks.  One of the funniest things that my son ever said to me was at a water park in Spring, Tx.  We had been climbing many stairs to go down slides of fun all day.  Later that afternoon, we were once again heading up another set of steps, when I slipped...my son was about 6 or so, and immediately commented, "Mommy be careful...you could slip, and you could fall, and you could get hurt, and YOU COULD DIE, and how would i get home?"....I laughed all the way down the slide!

They are all grown up now...

....but they never stop making me laugh and smile!

Soup For The Soul?!

Magpie #39

With a mind light like feathers yet hard to penetrate like stone

no recipe book could ever prepare ole' Gurdie

for the thoughts of being de-boned!

To read more chicken delights check out beautiful Willow's Magpie Tales.