Sunday Stories - The Gathering

 

The Gathering

One by one, they come in the door.

Greetings and hugs, hellos and welcomes… 

“I’ll take that dish and put your coat there”, echo into the entryway.

Old friends reunite and new ones shake hands - 

it’s the gathering of the old and new - 

all together, under one roof.

Some sit quietly, taking in the sounds.  

Others chatter away endlessly, 

like they still have thousands of words to use up 

before night’s end.

The blessing is asked, 

plates passed and the bravest one goes first.

Homemade dishes, festive treats - 

it’s the holiday of all holidays 

and all diets are off limits this night.

Some at tables and some in chairs - 

plates are full and conversations flowing.

“Who wants coffee?” says the host, 

and mugs are filled with yummy, hot comfort.

Sugar and cream, plain and black - 

all the differences in their cups.

The gathering is the same - 

all the differences in each face.

Retired, still working, homemaker and boss.

But tonight, just friends, 

laughing and swapping stories.

“How many years have y’all been married?”  

Forty-two?  Oh, they have you beat by one year!”

“Come see this picture!”  

“Look at those shoes!”

And just like that - the house is filled with people 

sharing life and it’s a beautiful event.

The gathering was made for people 

and the people were made to gather.

And all went home, and life felt good.

🏡

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my book

Notes from a Writer's Heart

You can find this book and others

on the sidebar of the blog.

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

I Need a Favor!

 Happy Friday, my friends!

Today I'm coming to you with a favor. I'm not one to campaign for myself or advertise my blog or anything that would make me seem like a salesperson. 

But there is one thing here that's driving me crazy and I need your help😅

It's the darn FOLLOW button on the sidebar! I have it there for people who want to show up here weekly and read my words and stories. But for the longest time, it continues to vacillate between 68-69- back to 68 (who left?) and back again and it's driving me nuts! 

If you are a regular reader here and you plan on coming back, would you PLEASE click the follow button and hopefully get me over the 68/69 hump? Call it an obsession or whatever, but I need to move past this number for some reason 😂

Thank you in the biggest way!

And to the one who keeps leaving...sorry you weren't feeling it here. But hopefully you'll come back 😀

Have a great Friday, everyone!

And may you never get stuck on a number that never moves (especially in an elevator!). 

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

Just Some Ramblings For This Week

 Happy Thursday, my friends!

I hope you've had a great week and are staying cool in this scorching heat (at least here in Texas). 

I have been here and there this week, but mostly here.

Monday I worked on my To-Do list, trying to knock some things out. I did manage to order David's Father's Day gift, and I made this funky flower pot for a friend of mine.

My friend just moved into a new house and she asked me to come give her some decorating advice. So I painted this flower pot, added some goodies to it and two CFA cards for her 16 year old twins and took it to her yesterday. We went shopping for a new couch, then did our favorite thing...ate Mexican food together and talked until we just had to go. 

Last week when the girls were here, I made this for myself. I used a napkin and ModPodge for the outside, some fabric for the inside and glued the pompoms on. Very simple, but it added a bit of patriotism to the table. 

Every time I get out the paints - even just the watercolors - I'm reminded of how much I enjoy painting. I should do it more often. 

Yesterday I took pictures of my plants on the front porch. Let's just say...they're thriving! This is a welcomed surprise for me, as I'm not usually known for growing plants successfully. I don't have a green thumb, at all. 

Now, complete honesty - they were healthy when we bought them, so I can't take all the credit, but I haven't killed them yet, so there's that 😅🌿

🏡

This week has been an interesting one, as I have had lots on my mind, but haven't felt like writing about any of it until today, I guess. 

Things I've had on my mind this week...

How to live a slower life, when there are so many things to constantly take care of. 

It's made me think of all the "slow living" scenes you see on social media and how those people leave out the real life facts that bills still have to be paid, the toilets cleaned, dinner cooked, fires to put out with insurance or the cable company. You know...real life, not Instagram life. 

Then I think that there are seasons of life that are more conducive to living slower, such as...well...who knows? 

And then I guess it depends on your definition of slow living and what your expectations are of it. 

And then maybe it comes down to personality type. 

So many things to wonder about.

I've also been thinking about...

Plans and dreams for the future.

When I turned 60, it turned a page in my mind about life and how many years are out front now, as opposed to what I left behind. I have dreams and visions about what I want those future years to look like. I admire people who dream it and then go make it happen. I want to be those people 😊

But my dreams and visions would take God-sized miracles, so I'm praying and asking and believing and that's where I'm at right now. 

On a lighter note...

Today is Millie Day and I'm sure there will be libraries involved 😅📚 Other than that, I've decided to wing it today - for activities, lunch, everything. We're just going to hang out and see what we can get into. Believe me, these girls don't lack ideas, so they will have me tied up in something by this afternoon, I'm sure. 😅

Well, that's all the rambling I'm going to do for today. See? This is why I was reluctant to write this week. Lots to think about, but not always explainable. 

I hope today is full of whatever kind of living you enjoy - slow, busy, productive or not - enjoy it anyway. It's the one God gave you 😌

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

Sunday Stories - How to Enjoy Silence

How to Enjoy Silence

To turn off the noise, 

we must be ok with our own thoughts.

To be ok with our own thoughts, 

we must think on things worthy of our time.

To think on things worthy of our time, 

we must be in active pursuit of good things.

To be in active pursuit of good things, 

we must crave good and not evil.

To crave good and not evil, 

we must know Jesus as a friend.

To know Jesus as a friend, 

we must believe that he gave his life 

to give us eternity with Him.

To believe that Jesus gave his life so that we could live, 

is to acknowledge that we need a savior.

To acknowledge that we need a savior, 

is to admit we can’t get to Heaven on our own.

To admit we can’t get there on our own, 

is to admit that we are not in control.

To admit we’re not in control, 

is to admit we need God to come alongside us 

and take the wheel.

To let God take the wheel in our lives 

is to trust Him.

To trust Him 

is to love Him.

To love Him 

is the first step to loving others.

To love others 

is to pursue good things.

To pursue good things 

is surely the way to having good thoughts, and….

having good thoughts 

is the only way to enjoy silence.

💛

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my book

Notes from a Writer's Heart

You can find this and my other books on the

sidebar of the blog.

📚

Thank you for coming by today.

I hope you have a great Sunday!

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

Make the Memories; Be in the Pictures

 Good Wednesday Morning, my friends!

I hope you're having a great week so far. I've been keeping busy around the house and having trouble keeping up with what day it is for some reason. I guess the holiday last week through me off track. 

Yesterday David and I attended the funeral for our friend Judy who passed away suddenly. True to how funerals go, we saw so many old friends, and we all agreed...we have to stop meeting like this. If there's one good thing about Facebook, at least we can keep up with those we don't see very often. 

But while watching the slideshow the family put together in memory of Judy, I was impressed with how many photos there were of Judy and her family and it got me thinking about how many times I duck out of the way and don't want to be in the picture.

Over the years, as age has settled in, along with weight, gray hair, skin sagging and all the other things we see when we look in the mirror, the more I shy away from ever being in pictures. And I know I'm not the only woman to feel this way. 

But as I sat watching the slideshow of Judy, I thought to myself, what would it be like if my family had to go looking for a stack of photos of me? Would they find many? Probably not. And how sad that would be to let insecurities be the reason that memories weren't documented at family gatherings.  

As I shared this thought with my daughter-in-loves last night at our family dinner, Morgan took out her phone and snapped this picture of Ella and I. 

We had just been playing with this scarf in my hair; figuring out how to wear it with my curls and so I had no idea what my hair would look like in the picture, but it didn't matter. I needed to be in the picture with my sweet granddaughter and capture the moment and the memory, without worrying about the details. 

And so it begins. Not being afraid to look imperfect. Not hiding away from family photos because I wore my sweatpants that night. Not missing a chance to document this amazing family I have and the fun we have together. 

I know it sounds heavy, but the pastor said yesterday, that we write our own funeral by how we live our life. And I've heard that before. But every time I hear it, it is such a great reminder that how we live, is how we are remembered. And I want to be remembered for being present. Being in the picture. Having the fun and not caring about the picture, but about the people. 

So in case you have been the one ducking out of the pictures, in case you're the one who's always behind the camera and never in front of...this post is for you. 

Your people love you and they want to see you. Pictures are memories captured for the future. Make sure you're in them. 

Have a beautiful day, my friends.

Until Next Time...

Blessings 💛

The Making of a Lemon Cake

It's Monday. My favorite day of the week. I love the return of the routine, the rhythm of setting the house right, after an active weekend. David goes to work and I return to my job of running the household, cleaning things, washing things, dealing with garbage that didn't get picked up due to the holiday last Monday. Making sure the bills are up to date, the bug people get called, dinner plans planned and taking time to touch base with people too. 

But first...

I've poured myself a second cup of coffee and I'll be sitting here at the computer for a second, connecting with all of you, because this brings me joy. This sharing of our days, our homes, our families. This matters too. And there's a big old world out there, calling to us, making us rush and feel like we don't have time to invest in the lives of others. All the more reason...we need to sit for a second and do this. 

So here's the lemon cake I just felt like making last night. No special occasion. No party to attend, no fanfare or celebration. Just David and I watching tv after a weekend full of grandkids and big kids and so much blessing from it all. I just wanted a lemon cake...with lots of icing.

And so I made one. In between episodes of our current show. In between eating leftovers from lunch we had with our kids. In between putting on our pj's at 7:00pm because that's who we've become. In between all of that, I baked and I iced and we each enjoyed a piece of cake on a Sunday evening, just because.

 I'm no cake expert. I grew up on box mixes and unless I'm feeling super industrious, it's always a box mix and icing too. Any tips I know about baking cakes, I learned from Ruby, my stepmom. She always had multiple cake mixes in the freezer. Yep. That's where she kept them. I guess so they would always be fresh. 

She would show me how to scrape every bit of mix out of the bowl and into the cake pan, so nothing was  wasted. The house was an old house on piers, so we knew (after lots of reminding) that you never run or slam a door when a cake is in the oven, in an old house on piers. That's a rule that's never left me. Even though I no longer live in an old house on piers. Some rules are just good enough to stick to. 

So today, after all the work has been done, but before time to start dinner, I'll probably make another cup of coffee, grab a good book and have my one piece of cake for the day; savoring every sweet morsel and feeling no guilt. 

Because Mondays are good and so is cake and the two should be mingled together sometimes, don't you think?

I treasure you, my friends 💛

Until Next Time...

Blessings! 

A Family Style Weekend

Happy Saturday, Friends! 

Talk about a short week! It went by so fast. I took a break from homeschooling the girls this week, thinking I would get some things done and relax a bit before kicking the summer off, but that's not exactly the way things turned out. 

Monday was a holiday, which meant David was home and we worked around the house together. Tuesday brought in a pesky dental appointment right tin the middle of the day. Wednesday I spent hours working on my MIL's bills and getting her Medicaid notes all in order. (Working with a nursing home can be a pain). Thursday I went to Sam's and stocked up on many items for the pantry. That took hours of shopping and then unloading all of it by myself while David was working. 

And this is what Friday looked like...😀💙😀💙

Keeping the boys for a few hours while mommy and daddy worked. Morgan was baking for people who put in orders for some of her baked goodies and Collin was working on his studio. So true to how I go, I could not go an entire week without seeing the kids 😅 If they weren't so darn adorable and so much fun, then maybe. 

 We started out playing outside, but a very aggressive bumblebee was determined to ruin the fun and he did. So we opted for the air conditioning and toys instead. Which was fine. Thirty five snacks later and lots of Millie playing with toys that Asa kept handing me, Morgan came to get her babies and I took to the couch with my latest library book. 

Today we will have the other bunch (all 5 of them!) while Ted and Alex go have a kid-free lunch together. I know they'll want to play outside, so I'm taking the fly swatter with me this time! 🐝

Tomorrow the girls are singing in church with Ted, so we will be the proud grandparents in the crowd. I never want to miss seeing them do scary things, like getting on stage. 

So I guess you could say it's all about the kids this weekend. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

In other news...

David and I lost a dear friend this week, to a sudden illness. It was very quick and unexpected and of course, it makes you think about the fragile state of life. There is no way to ever be totally prepared when life takes someone suddenly, but it does make you think a bit about being intentional with those you love. 

Put in the effort to show people you care. Make the call. Say hello. Pray for people. Send the letters. 

When people pass away, there is always guilt, to some degree. Live life in such a way that you have minimal regrets. I am speaking from experience. No one gets it right 100% of the time. But when you can, put in the effort to let people know you love them. 

And so...today I will play with more babies, hug my other big kids, fix snacks, feed lunches, and then collapse on the couch tonight and watch my favorite shows with my husband and then we'll start all over again tomorrow, putting in the effort of loving people and making life about more than just ourselves. 

That's the only true way to ever be fulfilled.

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you next week, right back here. 

Until Next Time...

Blessings!