As I Mature... (a cute funny)

This was posted in my email and thought it was too cute to not share.

Puzzles

Last night, I became lost in my thoughts and this thought came to me... just because you find a missing piece to a puzzle doesn't mean the puzzle is complete.  Was it an epiphany or was it something God wanted me to know.

Sometimes life can be compared to a puzzle.  Our lives begin in a box, the womb. When we are born our pieces are dumped out... so begins our journey of putting the pieces together to form our lives. Each new adventure... each new event... each new day is another piece of the puzzle.

As we get older and experience the events of growing up, getting married, having children and living our lives, we may think or feel our puzzle is complete. Life is good, we are happy, what more could possibly be added to our puzzle? Grandchildren possibly?

Then there are the times when something happens and our puzzles become torn apart and some pieces are removed, scattered and/or lost. We begin to rebuild our puzzles, adding the new pieces as they come. Sometimes the pieces fit, sometimes they don't. We try again. Eventually all the pieces come together once again.  We even find surprise pieces we didn't know were missing. Life is once again good and complete.

Someone asked me if we really do find all the pieces to the puzzle and my response was... I do believe some people are lucky enough to find all the pieces. It just depends on how many pieces you choose for your puzzle to have.

May your puzzle have all the pieces it needs to make to become a masterpiece... worthy of hanging on the wall for all to see.  



Epiphany - a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

God's gentle reminders

There are just some emails that keep popping up in our email accounts over and over and over ... for years. They are sent by the sender either because they are just now seeing it or because there is a paragraph at the end of it that says it will bring you back luck or the ole shameful... dare to deny Christ... hook.

Lately, I have had one that has been popping in a lot. I admit, I have been deleting it, because I have already read it at least 20 times. For some reason this morning, I opened it. I read it. I even prayed and thanked the good Lord for my lesson learned. I even said a little pray for the person who sent it. If I had brushed this one off again, I would have missed the gentle reminder that I needed to know... I'm not alone in this thing called everyday life.

Sometimes I tend to bite off more than I can chew and before I know it, I feel so burdened. I sometimes wonder, what have I gotten myself into? I lose focus at times and I try to remind myself this was something I felt I had to do at the time and I need to carry it to the end.

But God, in his infinite grace and love, will send me reminders that I'm not alone. That he is there, walking along side of me. He offers strength and courage when needed. He reminds me, He still loves me... even when I mess up and get in over my head.

I am thankful for having been blessed with a patient Mother and a forgiving God. For without them, I may have never made it this far in life.

I have posted the email here. May you find what you need from it and may it bless you like it has blessed me.

May the good Lord shower you in blessings this day.

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The Ant and the Contact Lens

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go

Rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she

Went with her group to a tremendous granite

Cliff... In spite of her fear, she put on the

Gear, took hold of the rope, and started up

The face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a

Breather. As she was hanging on there, the

Safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and

Knocked out her contact lens.

Well, here she is, on a rock ledge, with

Hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet

Above her. Of course, she looked and looked

And looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge,

But it just wasn't there.

Here she was, far from home, her sight now

Blurry. She was desperate and began to get

Upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to

Find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her

Eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was

No contact lens to be found. She sat down,

Despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting

For the rest of them to make it up the face of

The cliff..

She looked out across range after range of

Mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The

Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the

Whole earth..." She thought, "Lord, You can see

All these mountains. You know every stone and

Leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is.

Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the

Bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of

Climbers just starting up the face of the cliff.

One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys!

Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you

Know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving

Slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it

On it's back.

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist.

When she told him the incredible story of the

Ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew

a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens

With the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want

Me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and

it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You

Want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would probably do some of us good to

Occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you

Want me to carry this load. I can see no good

In it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want

Me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the

Called. Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of

Existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning

Each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing,

But with Him...I can do all things through

Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona

Kathy... The Mother Hen

Someone asked me tonight, "Why do you have to go to Mississippi?" "Why do you take care of people who are not your responsibility?"

I sat and thought for a long time what my answer would be. How would I answer these questions in such a way that they made sense. I had to really ask myself... why do I do what I do?

All my life it seems I have been taking care of people and things. I think it was instilled in me from a very early age. My mother was a nurse, so I watched her take care of people. I watched her take care of her mother. I watched my aunt take care of children who weren't hers long before she had one of her own. My aunt mowed the yard of an elderly lady for years. I watched these two women take care of things, people, and each other. Often times there was never any money involved. It seemed they did it because they wanted to.

I have seen both these women cry because the people who should have been caring for the ones they were caring for said mean things to them or showed them disrespect. But they never stopped caring for the ones who needed them.

You can say I learned by example. When I was little, all I ever wanted to be was a mom. Nothing else. It's what I do. It's all I know how to do. I take care of people. I mother people. Everyone I have ever worked for or with will tell you the same thing. I even help the elderly in stores and sometimes have long conversations with them. I often think what if I'm the only person who talked to them that day.

I don't do it for a pat on the back. I don't do it for money. I don't do it for the recognition. I don't do it expecting anything in return. I do it because something inside tells me to do it. I guess that is why I actually like cleaning houses for people. Yeah the money is good, but deep inside I know I am helping someone out. I'm taking care of something for them.

I have often wondered if this was my purpose in life. Is this the talent God gave me? I don't really know, but just in case it is, I hope I make Him proud. Because this is who I am and a small part of what makes me ... me.

The lesson dust bunnies taught me

While doing fall cleaning on my bedroom today, which had been horribly neglected lately, I became very aggravated, and just down right irritated. It seemed nothing was going right and I didn't feel I was making any headway.

The new vacuum, I received last Christmas, just didn't seem to be doing the job it should have been doing. I discovered it was jammed packed with dust, dirt, and debris. David and I took it outside where we cleaned, wiped, and washed everything. We put it all back together, and it looked brand new again. Plugged it in, turned it on, and it still didn't perform like I thought it should. I was ready to throw in the towel, give up. Ready to fix a mixed drink and call it a day.

Decided I would have a glass of water and cool down. Silently talking to myself, giving a little pep talk. I clean for a living, why should I have such hard time with mine?? It was then it hit me, my bedroom and I had a lot in common today.

This room and I are dirty, dusty, disorganized, and in need of a good deep cleaning. As I fought with the dust bunnies and cat hair, I found myself becoming overwhelmed. It seemed that I wasn't making any head way. The equipment and supplies I used just didn't seem to be helping. The yelling and fussing didn't help either. As I sat there cooling off with the water, I also realized that I am the same way with myself.

Seems no matter what I do to change the things I feel are wrong with me and to fix the things I feel are wrong in my life, I am met with the same obstacles. The things I use, the supplies, the equipment, nothing seems to work at times. I feel just as overwhelmed at times as I do today. I can yell, scream, fuss, cuss, and throw a damn hissy fit and still feel like I'm not making any headway.

When the water was gone, I walked back into my room and realized the half that was done really did look good, clean, and pretty once more.

Maybe that's what my self needs, a break from me. Give the self criticizing a rest. May be the next time I walk back in front of a mirror I will look good, clean, and pretty once more.

Crying wolf

We all know the fable of the little boy who cried wolf, but what if the fable were real life? How would you handle it?

What if someone constantly cried out about how bad their life was and how sick they were? Would you take it to heart each time? What if their complaint seemed trivial compared to your own ailments or life? Would you still feel compassion for them?

It can truly be hard to give sympathy and have compassion for someone who constantly complains over things we find trivial and minor. We want to shake them and say, "Hey get a life!" or "Get off your duff and do something about it!" For some of us, that is easy to do. For others, its not so easy. We sit and listen. We offer words of encouragement and advise. Sometimes its accepted, sometimes it falls on deaf ears and other times its met with anger.

No, we don't always know how bad things are for a person, how bad they really hurt or just how sick they really may be. Only they and God know.

So for now, we listen - we encourage - we hold our tongues - we pray for those who cry wolf. Because as we have learned from the fable, one day it could be the real thing.

The power of 13

Do you believe in the power of numbers?

Seems like the number 13 has become my sisters lucky number. This number keeps popping up in different ways for her. For example:

There will be 13 yrs between her two children.
There will be 13 yrs between her boyfriends oldest child and this baby.
It took 13 years for sister and her boyfriend to get back together.
There is 13 years between my sister and I.
There is 13 yrs between her and her oldest brother.
Her mom was 31 when she had her (13 backwards)
She will be 31 when she has this baby.
She saw the baby in the 13th week. (ultrasound)
Baby is due March 13th (3-13-10) 3+10=13

Any one wanna take bets that the weight will somehow be tied to the number 13 too? I will keep you posted!!

Reflection

Have you ever been in the middle of a mundane chore and gotten so far into your own thoughts that you become oblivious to the things around you? I have on many occasions. Its when I seem to do my best thinking, planning, plotting and self discovery.

Today, as I was standing outside staining the boards that will soon become my new pergola, I began reflecting back on my morning and some of the things I had read on my face book page. On there is a quiz about me. Ten little simple questions with multiple choice answers. Well it seems no one, not even my son, has gotten the questions right. The last question is the one everyone misses. The question asked if I was at a party what would I most likely be doing. Everyone choose dancing. The answer I choose was cleaning. This got me to thinking... am I truly the person everyone seems to think I am?

Many years ago, I was quite the little social butterfly. My weeks were filled with work and friends. My weekends also revolved around work, dances and get-togethers with family or friends. Seems every weekend there was a benefit dance or someone would have a big blow out at their home with live music. I would dance enough in one weekend to burn a weeks worth of calories and managed to stay skinny.

Nowadays, I no longer see myself as the social butterfly. I see myself as a mom, wife and business owner. I see myself as a tired old lady. Work doesn't require nice groomed hair, make up and nice clothes... no no. You will usually find me in baggy t-shirts, shorts, flip flops and hair twisted up. (even in winter) If I should happen to wear make up one day it often brings on the third degree. No, the men in my life aren't happy with the simple answer of "I wanted to feel pretty today."

So I while I was doing my staining and self discovery today I got to thinking... why should I not want to feel pretty everyday? Why not put on mascara and lipstick everyday? Why not wear my best perfume everyday? Why not wear my pretty little CZ stud earrings everyday? Why should I always sit at home and become the old woman with the old man? Why not rekindle some old friendships and have a girls night out once or twice a month? Why not meet some girlfriends at the movies to watch sappy ole chick flicks?

Would this make me any less of a mother or wife? NO
Could I do this without feeling guilty? Maybe

We will find out this coming Tuesday... going to my first girls night out. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing an old friend and meeting new ones. Will I dance? Probably not but for a couple of hours I not be the tired old lady. I will not be the cleaning lady. I will be happy, alive and looking pretty!!

Exits stage left... singing Reflection (Mulan)

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight
Back at me?
Why is my reflection someone
I don't know?
Somehow I cannot hide
Who I am
Though I've tried
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

False accusations

I learned a long time ago to never pray for patience. You pray for understanding, tolerance or anything else but never patience. Recently my patience and tolerance has been tested like no other time in my life. It seems that no matter how far I try to distance myself from the situation it finds a way to come back. Leaving a deeper more painful gash on my heart mind and soul. It has left me wanting to scream ... "Enough already!!"

As all this drama unfolds, I find myself wondering why I stand so passively by and let it happen. If this was happening to my child, husband or any other family member I would have claws bared and ready to fight to the death. But this is happening to me. I don't fight back. I don't defend myself. I just stand there and let the words thrown at me do their damage. I hold my tongue and say nothing. I stand there like a little child eyes staring at the floor, like I'm guilty of the crimes I am so falsely being accused of. How can I prove my innocense? How can I clear my name? There really is no way, its ones word against anothers. So for now I will consider the source of the drama and continue to broaden the distance from the situation. I am too tired, too busy to waste any time, energy and worry over it.

I know I will get through all this in time. I pray that in the end the one person I care most about will know I was the same person in the end as I was in the beginning.

Questions and Answers

Have you ever had someone ask you a question and then they get pissed when you gave your answer?

I was faced with this recently and found myself trying to explain my answer when I really wanted to asked the person, "Why did you ask the question, if you didn't want my opinion? You didn't offer any multiply choice answers!!" Just because you receive an answer you don't like, it does not give you the right to verbally attack the person. You asked for and got their answer (opinion)... deal with it. Don't ask them to explain it over and over or blame them for speaking their opinion. You may just find yourself alone and/or without a trusted friend. That is what friends are for... to help us keep balance in our lives. To listen and help us deal with life situations as they come. Granted sometimes friends don't always agree with us but that does not mean they don't still love us or they don't care... they may just see things differently. Either way they are still your friend. Remember, they accepted you the way you were, you in turn should accept them the way they are.

So the moral of this story... don't ask the question if you really don't want to know the answer.

Burdens

There comes a time (or times) in life when you are faced with a situation that is or seems out of your control. It seems that no matter what you do you can not make it right or make it better. It is then we are suppose to give it over to a higher power... to one who is in control at all times.

We are taught in the Bible that if you turn your troubles over to God, He will handle them for you. Granted the outcome may not be what you had hoped for but He knows what we need, when and how we need it. Then there are those times when He says ok and life works out the way you had hoped and planned.

I have been faced with the 'handing over' more times than I care to mention. The hardest part with that is when you hand it over, you can not continue to take it back. You have to trust and believe God will handle it and take care of it. Trust me I know how hard that is, but all I need to do is look at my child and know without a doubt that when you hand things over to Him, He does miracles. For you see, I wanted a child, He gave me a child. When my child was born and had to have surgery the very next day, I prayed and told God,"ok You gave me a beautiful child and now I give him back to you to heal him. He is your child too." I was told that he would be in NICU for at least a month. I continued to pray and trust everyday. I was able to bring my baby home in 6 days. So don't tell me that God isn't good and He doesn't hear prayers.

Yesterday and today I am faced yet again with a new struggle in my life. I will again lay my burdens at His feet and surrender it all to Him and say... "ok its in your hands, I cant handle it." My biggest battle will be to not pick that burden back up and worry over it.

No, I'm not the perfect christian, God will tell you I struggle in my faith everyday, but he is a loving and forgiving God. I trust, I believe, I know that with God all things are possible. He is my anchor and my life raft in these stormy troubled days.

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UPDATE

Today is June 9, 2009 and I as I read back over this posting I can't even remember what was troubling me so. Apparently God took care of it and I am no longer struggling with it. Yes God is good!!

Wonderful, glorious Spring!!

Its that time of year again... wonderful, glorious SPRING!

Yes its that time of the year when we come out of hibernation and begin to feel that little spring in our step once again. The time of year when every vehicle is the same color... neon lime!! The time of year when flowers are blooming and trees are putting on new growth and leaves. The time of year men begin pruning and manicuring the lawns and women are planting flowers. The time of year to plant vegetable gardens for summer harvest. Yes spring is truly a magical time of year. It is a renewing of all things. Gone are the dull dreary days of winter. So will someone tell me why we are having low 30 temperatures at night here in the deep south in APRIL???

Spring is the time of year for Easter. When we are reminded of the sacrifice that was made for our sins to be forgiven. For it was Jesus who was crucified and died on the cross for us. It was He that arose from the dead to join His Father in Heaven that gives us hope and continues to renew our faith that we too will join Him in Heaven when our time comes. Oh how beautiful Heaven will be (compared to times we are living in now.)

Easter is also a time for children. With new Easter frocks and bonnets for the girls and new duds or suits for the boys. The Easter baskets filled with lots of goodies and surprises. Families gather together for a huge meal and the egg hunt after wards. Yes Spring is a wonderful, glorious time of year.

I do miss dying eggs each year. My son was never into the dying part, just the hunting part. It was just easier to hide the plastic eggs with goodies inside since we always had to hide them several times. That way there were no smelly smells a week later. I miss the huge jar of pickled eggs we would have for months after. I miss the 6 pack of Barq's root beer bottles and the bag of mini snicker bars we each got when we were teenagers. There was one year instead of baskets we got beer flats filled with goodies. Hey, don't laugh... they held more than baskets did. Oh I miss the good ole days.

I thought I would share with you a secret I discovered not too long ago for perfectly boiled eggs. The yolks will be bright yellow and not have the grey color on the outside of the yolk that occurs when they have been over cooked. The shell will not be cracked. Perfect I tell ya.

May your Spring be filled with lots of color and not sniffles. May your Easter be blessed with love, laughter, hope and renewed faith. Remember.... He arose! He lives!!


Perfect Boiled Eggs
Ingredients:
Eggs and water

Instructions:
Place eggs in stainless steel pot, do not stack.
Cover with cold water to where eggs are just immersed.
Cook to boiling, immediately remove and cover with lid; let stand 20 minutes.
Voila, the perfect boiled egg.
Be sure to plunge in cold water after the 20 minutes is up to stop the cooking process.

Rules of the Clothesline

Yes there are rules to properly hanging clothes on a line. With the way things are going nowadays, you may see more and more clotheslines popping up. My family currently hangs most of ours on hangers and then on the porch in order to conserve as much electricity as we can. I do, however, miss the way clothes, fresh from the line, would smell. Living in the city they don't smell as fresh as they do in the country.

Back in the days of my youth, we didn't own a dryer. Dryers were usually owned by the richer folks. It seemed laundry was always my chore. It was done once a week, weekly. There was no allowance for doing chores. It was just part of your job in the family. You were never reminded what chores needed to be done or when they were to be done... you just knew. If you didn't get your chores done there was consequences to be paid. Basically you got your tail tore up. Rain and/or near death illness was the only excuse(s) you could use for not doing chores. They were there waiting for you when the rain stopped and you were feeling better.

Odd as it may seem, I never minded doing the laundry. Doing the dishes was another story (and still is, hehe). Growing up, we had a huge clothesline with four lines and a post in the middle. Each line was used for certain things and in a certain order. Each person had their own line. Pants first, button up shirts, pull overs, tee shirts, underclothes then socks. Towels were hung longest to the shortest. Sheets were always pre-folded inside before putting on the line so you wouldn't get grass or dirt on them. When you unloaded the washer, you sorted the clothes before putting into the basket and you always "popped" the clothes to shake out as many wrinkles as you could before putting them on the line. I know you may think this all seems like a lot of work, well not really because in the end it saved you a lot of work and made putting clothes away so much easier. If it was done properly you didn't have to iron any clothes!! I always took hangers to the line and hung the hanging clothes right off the line. Oh if for some reason, the clothes got rained on you had to rewash them because they would smell sour if you wore them. Same way if they hung out overnight.

So in case you were lucky to grow up not having to hang clothes on the line, here are the rules you will need to know should you find yourself having to conserve money and electricity.



THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:

1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes - walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail! What would the neighbors think?

4. Wash day on a Monday! Never hang clothes on the weekend, or Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather - clothes would "freeze-dry."

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?! Well, that's a whole other subject!


A poem for those who were raised with a clothesline.

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth
From folks who lived inside -
As brand new infant clothes were hung,
So carefully with pride!

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way . . .

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!