• "It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving." mother teresa
There is so much more I want to be... If I have hurt you this year I pray that you will forgive me... If I have been insensitive to your needs this year I pray you forgive me.. If I have spoken words that hurt I pray you will forgive me... I want to be filled with Him..with His love.. so that I may not miss this once again...
Anticipation....it exciting to anticipate and then the time comes and goes and you have to say goodbye to the subject of your anticipation...and that leaves you feeling a bit empty...
Just missing my good friend..just not enough time..
Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714–1789) Mountain Landscape with Approaching Storm, 1775
Just got back from Dallas. I met a friend there who not only put me up in a nice hotel but bought my meals, paid my way into the art museum and gassed my car up. I was so touched by it all.Somehow this friend knew exactly what I needed...
Road the trolley to the Dallas Museum of Art where I sat on a bench and stared at my favorite painting. Approaching Storm is so beautiful you can almost hear the thunder rumbling.
So here's to a great friend who took care of me for a day and 1/2...thank you!
So..I went to my combat class this morning. There were four people there including me. The teachers have been telling us that alot of people will be in class after new years because of their new years resolutions. She said its crowded for a few weeks then it dwindles down. Hmm..What will my new years resolutions be? I mean, I've been going to exercise class and I haven't lost 10 pounds this last week but I have lost 5. I'm feeling pretty strong in that way. Oh yeah, I just thought of one. Katie told me she would teach me to knit. I think that will be one. Yes, I will learn how to knit. I think I want to write more letters. Email has robbed us of the experience of sitting down and writing letters. I love getting letters. So, I will write letters. Well, that's two so I'll keep thinking...
How do you feel about new years resolutions and if you're into it, what are yours?
Had a bit of a lonely time filling the stockings last night but woke up this morning to find that my daughter had filled mine... I was making cinnamon rolls and she said, "Mom, let's open our stockings." I came into the living room and she handed me mine filled. I sat down and had a good cry in her arms. I am truly blessed today and these are the moments I will ponder.. I had told a few that I was expecting a Christmas miracle for my kids but had no idea I would be the recipient.
To all the troops and their families and those who have lost loved ones in this insane war...Merry Christmas...We are all thinking and praying for you
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. JIMMY CARTER, Nobel Lecture, Dec. 10, 2002
So, I look down and see my dog getting um..."romantic" with my cat. Now, is that normal..I mean is this a problem?...will I soon have little Cogs or Dats running around? So, I yell to Jett (my dog) "Hey, Jett, stop that. We don't roll that way here!" He stopped but I can't help but feel different about him. Is that wrong? I just guess I need to accept that the world is changing....
A friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature...Ralph Waldo Emerson
Imagine me taught by tragedy Release is peace I heard a little girl And what she said Was something beautiful To give... your love No matter what ......* *From "My Friends"....Red Hot Chili Peppers
ummm...guys...I'm a bit emotional today...I'm thinking of this year and this blog and these people who are attached to it and how much you have all meant to me. Its been really rough but its helped so much to come to this blog sometimes in the middle of the night to write what was on my heart and to read your encouraging comments and then to read your posts. You have all, each one of you, meant so much to me this year.
Would you stick with me through this next year?...I sure would appreciate it..
While he lay in the hay shower him with love love love*
Its storytime and I explain to my students that many believe that Christmastime is the time of year when Jesus was born. I hold up the book I am going to read to them. We begin talking about the picture on the front. The front of the book shows baby Jesus, in the hay, surrounded by the animals. We like to predict what a story is about by looking at the picture on the cover. I ask the children, "Why do you think baby Jesus is in this stable surrounded by these animals?" Many have good ideas and I can't help but smile.
"Because Jesus likes cows!"
"Jesus likes horses!"
"He is from a farm!"
"Jesus likes cows and is going to the library."
As the story unfolds their eyes light up. I look out and Sabrina looks at me and points to heaven. She can't wipe the smile off her face...and neither can I.
new addition to my favorite movie list..Little Miss Sunshine...Loved it!!!
Olive: Grandpa, am I pretty? Grandpa: You are the most beautiful girl in the world. Olive: You're just saying that. Grandpa: No! I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality.
Just went over to watch this with Whitney, Laura Beth and Corey...oh my goodness...A MUST SEE!!! I laughed and cried my heart out...
" Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says ...I'll try again tomorrow."
One of my favorite scenes in The Passion of the Christ
Pontius Pilate: What is truth? Pontius Pilate: What is truth, Claudia? Do you hear it,recognize it when it is spoken? Claudia Procles: Yes, I do. Don't you? Pontius Pilate: How? Can you tell me? Claudia Procles: If you will not hear the truth, no one can tell you.
Quit acting so friendly. Don't nod don't laugh all nicely. Don't think you'll up-end me. Don't sigh, don't sip your iced-tea. And don't say, "It's been a while..." And don't flash that stupid smile.
Don't ask me how I've been.
Don't think I've forgotten, you never liked that necklace. So cordial, so rotten... Kiss, kiss, let's meet for breakfast. Don't show up so on-time and don't act like you're so kind
Don't ask me how I've been.
Don't sit there and play just so frank, so straight, so candid, so thoughtful, so gracious, so sound, so even-handed. Don't be so d*&^ benign and don't waste my *&^%(*& time.
" When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice,solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate now knowing, notcuring, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." ------ Henri Nouwen ----
Heaven bend to take my hand I've nowhere left to turn..*
This day was hard. I sometimes grow tired of providing others with the smile they seem to want me to have. Today the smile faded a bit and I felt the pain a little more. Reality sometimes hits me like I've run into a brick wall. A fog hung over my heart today.
A woman came up to me in church on Sunday and asked me how I was..I mean she went out of her way like she didn't have to do it. I feel others are walking by me looking at me not knowing what to say or are just intimidated by the struggles in my life and maybe feel its just too big. But this woman talked to me. I didn't go to her..she came to me and hugged me. I was so touched. She didn't even know all of what had been going on and she touched me.
Also, Cole...I was standing at the back of the church looking for a place to sit and you got out of your seat and came to me and hugged me...that brother, was precious and I will always cherish that act...thanks.
Anyways...don't wait to go over to someone...especially after an intimate time of worship. Believe me they will cherish it. I will be looking for that opportunity to reach out to someone not just in worship, but everywhere in my life.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoc of belief, it was the epoc of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
I'm standing in Target looking for a cheap artificial tree and I find a 6 footer for $16.99. I have never had an artificial tree but somehow this year it makes sense. Filled with emotion, but my sanity kept in check by a good friend on my phone telling me its going to be a great christmas, I found the tree I needed. You know who you are and I will never forget you sticking with me as I shopped for my new christmas tree. I was telling Blondie today about our family Christmas party last night. I stood and watched all that was going on around me. There were two college guys in my kitchen stirring queso and putting my dishes in the dishwasher. Whitney, Sam and others in the living room playing a game. We all took pics which I'll post later of all of us in front of our new tree! We kept cracking up because the tree is so small that its behind us but you can't see it. As I watched all this I thought about this living room a few weeks ago littered by evil and now filled with love, christmas music, wonderful people and yes, a beautiful tree and my baies...safe. It was good to fill that living room with some good vibes.
"Isn't there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about? " Charlie Brown
Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. Lights, please.
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'". That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie brown.
so...if there are two children suffering and say one person prays for one of them does that mean that God will heal the one the person prayed for and He leaves the other one suffering?...does God wait on me to call on Him to help this child or does He decide on His own..? Some have alluded to the fact that my home was protected because of prayer and that is why Sam and I weren't hurt..just got me to thinking..does it mean that if there's a single mom out there who isn't so lucky to have others praying for her that she and her son would be hurt..this I ponder lately..what do you think?
hmm... I'm Beverly, I love my kids and my dog...I love the ocean because it screams to me the awesome power of God....I am really afraid of heights, but I did go climbing and rappelling once...I love for people to make me laugh and I love to make others laugh...I love really scary movies but when the lights go out and I go to bed I find myself checking under the bed, and kicking myself for watching them..I love rain hitting the windows of the car..I absolutely love thunderstorms..I love children and how Jesus took snotty, loud, little kids on His lap, even at the protest of His followers...I sometimes jump in too quickly and that gets me in trouble...In my life, I had to actually touch the stove to believe it was hot..
