Great Blogspot for Austenites

For all of us who love Jane Austen, this blog is worth checking out:

http://gazette94.blogspot.com/

There are free designs at this site and so many that I couldn't imagine working them all but this one today with the Jane Austen heroines was pretty cool. I will add it to my repetoire of designs to complete. Thought I would share today.

LibriVox » Art and Heart, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

LibriVox » Art and Heart, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Find a Ray of Sunshine

Thomas says to find a ray a sunshine somewhere in the day and soak in it!

Today I------

• ate lunch with the Bodyguard at the IHOP today
• heard from Meghan at college
• saw a man and woman hold hands and pray before they ate at the IHOP
• finalized plans today to get a new car tomorrow
• realized pain is much better in my neck and arms
• talked and giggled with my wise friend, Dot, on the phone for over an hour
• didn't cook supper, had a simple can of soup
• watched Larry King
• wished there were more hours in a day
• realized Ren can't hardly hear anymore. Still hold him and love him though and he recognizes me by touch.......or a heated up biscuit in the oven drafting over the door.
• tried to get current news on the conditions in Afghanistan
• realized this is hump day and we're on the downside of the workweek tomorrow
• prayed to see Brandon at least one time before he leaves

Reading The Shack

Today was a busy day off. I went out of town on a long trip and had to take care of some personal business but the trip was quite long and I'm very tired. I wanted to say that I read the first chapter of The Shack this past week, put it down, and knew instantly this would be a good book but had other stuff I had to busy myself with.

While my hubbie drove, I picked it back up and read half the book today and I want to finish it tonight but at midnight, I know I should be getting to bed because 6am will come soon enough! This book has really touched me and I highly recommend it. Without telling the whole story here, just want to say it's definitely a book for anyone who has been through some really challenging times, and those especially who think God is not a part of their life or a punative God.

I don't know if it is by chance that I finally came to read this book right now during Mother's Day week but it is very ironic that I can relate to Mack, the main character, in the book. Even though the book is fiction, I find it very inspiring and comforting to read. There are metaphors in the book that stimulate alot of deep thinking, and when you lose a child, just like Mack in the book, there are many times of deep thinking, soul searching and reasoning with "why".

Sometimes we may never know why, but the important thing to keep thinking is that God is not punative and this may contradict many traditional strict religious church-goers. This book really emphasizes that we do not have to go to church to have a relationship with God. Just different kind of thinking here, especially for those of us Baptists-raised folks.

off to bed............

Monday Finish

The evening is late again but I did finish The Bent Creek, Herowz and personalized it a bit. I really like the colors. I used the star fabric I got last week in Dahlonega at the quilt shop.
Hope you had a good Monday!

You have to see this........cat playing piano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0zgQAp7EYw

Just click on this Utube and watch this cat playing a piano.

Mothers Day Reflections

Got this on my 40th birthday..........

some messy times~~~Meghan loved spinach!

One of my good friend's house.............what a handful!

Birthday parties

Worn out times

Christmas at our old house

Birthday parties again........

Near drowning accidents! Oh, gosh, I remember how scary that was.

Back yard pool fun~~~~She loved those goggles

First bicycle~~~~

Grown up

It's officially Mother's Day now.........late night up

I hope everyone is going to have a great one today. I thought I would pull out a few of pics from my kids. They are all grown up now and have their own lives so Mother's Day for me is different.

It's one of the most challenging choices in life I ever made. I'm glad I chose to have children. This reflection is in no way to say I was the perfect parent, I don't even think that is possible. But I can tell you this, I did the very best at the time I thought was possible given the circumstances life sent me.

My goals changed over the years just as they grew and changed from one stage to another. But the constant that never changed was for these things:

1. To make home a safe place

2. To protect them from people or places that were not safe

3. To teach them gradually to become independent, functioning adults

4. To learn basic core values that they could take with them into their own adult life.

Of course, looking back, it's easiest to remember the funny, good times rather than some of the deepest challenging, sometimes sad or disappointing times.

I think as adults now, they will choose their own way in life. I feel pretty confident that many things they will see more clearly when they have their own children.

I once had a friend who told me long ago that the measure of success is not how far you go in life but it's how much you had to go through to get there. And without going into detail, I can tell you that I had some huge hurdles to go through, some I did share and some I kept tucked away inside.

I have learned many things in this process of having adult children. One, is to be a friend when asked and not to give unwanted information, no matter how much we want to protect them from uncomfortable situations. Two, pray every day for their safety and happiness and guidance for the choices they make in life.

Everybody is different but for me this is the crux of my experience of mothering. For those who have not had children reach the stage of teenagers, I'll have to say, this is the most challenging. It's not the diaper changing, entertaining, getting them back and forth to baseball or gymnastics but the real challenge occurs later when hormones are fluctuating plus peer pressure and they even go through stages of "I hate you". This really hurts to the core but I realized later that they really didn't. But, you see, there is something about being a mother that easily forgives and forgets these times and they must realize that even when they express negative attitudes, you still loved them the same. Nothing could stop the love I feel for both my children.

On Mothers Day especially I think of little Aaron. If I believed like my mother wanted me to that God is a punative God and that's the reason he didn't live and all that hokey stuff, I would still sit and cry about it because that is probably the most hurtful thing I have heard before. But, again, forgiveness is there. I know different inside and that's how I make from day to day.

Here's hoping you find deep meaning on your day and enjoy the time you have with your little ones because they grow up quick.