Where I Am From

There is a writing exercise going around that came from the reading of a poem called, Where I'm From.  It's about digging into your roots, from where you came from, using all your senses to bring up memories of what made you who you are today.  I wanted to give it a try and now I share it with you all.  Maybe you would like to give it a try yourself. . .

Where I Am From

I am from tornado alleys and where the wind blows red dirt.

I am from a place full of cowboys

and fields full of cows

and wildflowers and blackberry bushes.

I am from where the buffalo roam

I am from terrain where you'll find treasures of arrowheads.

I am from a land full of mosquitoes and scorpions and junebugs and lightning bugs.


I am from the bible belt, churches, old hymns, organs, and little dresses with bows on the back.

I am from sunday school classes, childrens programs, and youth groups.

I am from old pews and new pews, old ministers and new ones.

I am from pigtails, yarn ribbons in hair, and barretts.  I am from saddle oxfords .

I am from shyness, sitting in back rows, blending into crowds, hiding behind skirts.

I am from hopscotch, red light green light, and tag.

I am from mud pies and clover made necklaces, swings and slides.

I am city

and farm.

I am from tall sky scrapers and acres with ponds. I am from smog and cement pavements and also from clean country air and dirt roads.

I am from purple iris's and orange day lilies, swings, hammocks, and metal bouncy chairs, ponds, and cousins, woods and tree houses.

I am from gardens and music and guns and bow and arrows.

I am from piano lessons, recorder and violin playing, recitals and throwing up afterwards.

I am from playgrounds of warm musty attics filled with treasures and breezy barns filled with stacked hay bales to climb on and corn cobs to throw at siblings and cousins.

I am from lakes, ponds, moss covered rocks and poison ivy.

I am from pink calamine lotion and red mercurochrome.

I am from sweet tea, beans and cornbread, yucky lima beans, fried chicken, homemade bisquits and gravy, mashed potatoes, roast beef and roasted potatoes, potatoe cakes,and even frog legs jumping in the black, cast iron skillet.

I am from libraries, Nancy Drew books, writitng tablets and purple banana seat bicycles.

I am from grandpa who was sheriff and farmer.

 I come from grandma who was excellent cook, baker, homemaker, gardner and protector of grandchildren to the point of chopping snakes in two who slithered too close to her babes.  I come from bravery.

I am from grandfather who only had a 6th grade education and yet self taught himself to the point of taking excellent care of his family.  He roasted and sold peanuts, became a barber and invented a machine that supposedly grew hair that brought men from miles around. I come from hard workers.

I am from a grandmother who was another excellent, devoted housewife, cook, sewed, crocheted,loved to work in the yard.  I am from kindness and love. I am from devoted women.

I am from quiet people filled with kindness and compassion.

I am from a distant father

and an ill mother.

I am from depression, broken relationships and distance.  I am from tears of many kinds.  I am from healings, restorations and forgiveness.

I am from stories and love and miracles.

I am from Pat and Jack.  I am from grace and mercy.  I am from God.

Where are you from?

My Thanksgiving From A to Z

A blogger friend wrote her Thanksgiving list from A to Z and I pondered. . .hhmmm. . .what would my A to Z list look like. . .


A ~ Acts of kindness. . .I have received many and it is fun to give them.

B ~ Balloons. . .You just cannot NOT be happy with balloons around.

C ~ Christopher. . .my son I can do "stupid" with.  ( the good, silly kind)

D ~ Doug. . .my supportive brother

E ~ Every lesson that God teaches me. . .even the hard because they make me grow

F ~ Faith. . .it keeps me moving
      Friends. . .they're like the bacon bits in your salad. . .they bring zing to your life.

G ~ God. . .the One who loves me most.

H~ Husband. . .(mine) supportive, loyal, deep thinker, loving, kind, would do anything for me, like
      cleaning up vomit when I'm too sick, without any wise cracks, or jumping up from a football
      game and fixing a broken glass hutch door (that I broke) because I needed it fixed before a
                     party.  What a guy!

I ~ Ice, crushed. Love my iced tea COLD.

J ~ Jehovah Jireh. . .my Provider

K ~ Kim. . .my supportive and beautiful sister

L ~ Love. . .who wouldn't be thankful for this?
       Laughter. . .can save the day.
       Leaves. . .colored leaves for the eyes to drink in and dry crunchy leaves for the wonderful smell.

M ~ Music . . .and maple syrup.

N ~ Nice people. . .because nice is just nice
       Not so nice people. . .because it gives me a chance to practice grace and patience.

O ~ Opened doors. . .the ones God pushes, nudges me through. . .because it takes me out of my
       comfort zone where huge blessings are.

P ~ Polka dots. . .because they just make me smile.
      Potatoes . . .mashed, fried, fries, baked, any ol way. . .so good!
      Prayer partners. . .love them all!

Q ~ Quiet. . .so peaceful and when I'm quiet, I hear from the Lord much better.

R ~ Raspberry jam. . .from toast to turkey.

S ~ Sunsets. . .they can be so gorgeous and it means bed time is coming.

T ~ Tim . . .son who put me through 19 hours of unmedicated labor. And I would do it all over
       again for him, because he is worth it.

U ~ Upbeat people. . .they're just fun.

V ~ Victory. . .in Jesus. O death, where is your sting?

W ~ Windless days. . .good for my thick, frizzy hair.

X ~ Xtra Ranch. . .because everything is good dipped in Ranch

Y~ Yahweh. . .the One who gave me new breath.

Z ~ Zebras . . . one of the many ways showing God's creativity. By the way, I learned they are black
       with white stripes, not the other way around.

There you have it. Some more serious than others, but still thankful for all. And of course, this is just a small list. . .I could go on and on. . .and I do. . .between Him and me.

"Gratitude bestows reverence. . ."

"Eucharisteo (thanksgiving) . . .opening the eyes wider, the heart deeper. . .giving thanks for what is, creates an appetite for more - not for more things, but for seeking more of God to give Him more glory."

Ann Voskamp

(looking for the "thanksgivings" is looking for love and giving it back)

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

Two Resurrections

Resurrection. . .don't rush through that word. Say it slowly and listen as it reverberates off the tongue. Resurrection. . .such a beautiful sound, such a beautiful word, and the meaning behind it; to bring to life something that was dead.

A relationship in my life was dead for nine years. From the time I was the age of fourteen to twenty-three, I did not see or talk with my mother. She suffered with severe depression. In this state of mental illness, she would fly into rages without warning. My brother, nine years older was gone. My sister, five years older was gone. I was the only one left to witnesse the depression, the rages, not understanding what was wrong with her. There were days she would just stare at me with her large eyes, me always wondering what was going on in her head. There were days I would come home from school, and she would meet me in the living room, raging over nothing, and shredding the clothes off my body with her bare hands. In the end, I was scared of her. I would go to bed not wanting to close my eyes. I was fearful, of what, I wasn't sure. I was taken away to live with my grandmother. No one explained. I thought my mother didn't love me. And so, I wouldn't love her either. In my young, innocent, naïve mind, I told myself I wanted her to be happy, but I didn't need her in my life. And so she wasn't for the next nine years.

I went on to high school and lived my life. I grew, I graduated, and then married. I had learned to go on with my life without her, not giving her any thought. Then one night as I was dusting my dresser in my newlywed apartment, I heard God clearly speak in my soul, "It is time to call your mother." After nine years of not thinking of her, God led me immediately to my phone and I called her. How I knew her phone number, I still do not know to this day. But I called. She lived a mile from my apartment. I went. A resurrection took place. She greeted me, we hugged, we talked and we sat at her piano for hours and hours playing and singing praise songs, at times crying grateful tears, praising our Heavenly Father for all He had done. . .Resurrecting His Son Jesus after sending Him to die for our sins, to pay the penalty for OUR sins, so we could come into a relationship with a Holy God, to have a heavenly home to go to when we are called. Resurrecting our own relationship to a beautiful reunion, forgiveness not even mentioned because we knew it had been given. My mother had been healed. I had grown up. And after nine years, God spoke and said it was time. That was in 1985.

After enjoying our new relationship for a couple of years, my husband received a job that took us from our Oklahoma home to Arkansas for the next four years. Then from there we moved back to Oklahoma but to another city. After thirteen years, we moved to Kentucky. My mother and I had never lived in the same city after I left for Arkansas, but we had many, many visits, phone calls and e-mails over the years. She became a wonderful, loving grandmother to all her grandchildren, and then great grandchildren. As I became older and more mature, I realized all my mother had gone through and began to understand how strong this weak perceived woman really was. When she totally surrendered to the Lord, she began to rise, being a blessing to all who met her. I found myself proud of this woman who I call my mom. With the Lord, she had overcome what the enemy had meant for harm. With the Lord, victory had been won.

My mother is now 84 years old. My brother and sister who lived in the same city as she, had done a wonderful job of helping her. They had done so for many years, but it became more and more of a job and with both of them working full time jobs, it was time for me, a stay at home wife, to take over. But it took three years for my mom to be ready to leave her Oklahoma home behind. In July of last year, she became ready, and my brother and sister brought her to my Kentucky home to live with me, my husband and younger son.

We call mom the Queen, I am her princess, and together, we worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

 

There has been more than one resurrection in my life.

Both have been life saving.

Both have been filled with grace.

Both have been filled with lessons learned.

Both filled with love.

And one because of the other.

 

Resurrection

Such a beautiful word!

Only from God!

Hallelujah! 

Trading Ashes for Beauty

Living in this great big, beautiful, wonderful world, sometimes storms blow in. Really big storms that bring fires that burn. . .burn bad. And what comes after the fires?  Ashes. And we have a choice to make. . .sit in the ashes or trade them in. Sometimes we need to sit in those ashes for awhile, because we can learn lessons there but there is Someone who doesn’t want us to stay in those ashes forever. He has something SO much better for us. . .

Isaiah 61:1-3

“…He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

Let me introduce you to four women who have sat in the ashes and learned to trade them in for some doozy kind of beauty. . . (please don’t miss the important story and message at the end)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trading those ashes out for

 

beauty

 and joy and fun, something we had all lost at one time. . .read the rest at the end of pics. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRAISING JESUS!

~TO GOD BE THE GLORY~

 

So there ya have it…four southern women…all who have gone through difficulties and heart breaks in their lives, but made it through with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“He reached down from on high and took hold of (us); he drew (us) out of deep waters. He rescued (us) from (our) powerful enemy, from (our) foes, who were too strong for (us).” Psalm 18:16-17

He was there to comfort, give rest, guide and lead, gave discernment, and brought us out of the pit. It took time, but. . .we found our way back to joy and fun and we praise Him, our Heavenly Father.

You say, “You all don’t know what heart break is!”  It’s different for all of us and no matter what each one is, when it’s our hurt, it hurts!  One of us tried and almost succeeded in suicide. Because of doctors who did not give up the first time, the second time or the third time, she is with us today radiating with joy. One of us became the mother of a prodigal, a story that put her on the couch and lost 30 lbs. over a two week period. It took her 5 years to put it all back on. Two of us have had dear ones in prison. One ended up on a psyche ward for depression. We’ve all had broken relationships. And we’ve all survived. We traded in our ashes for beauty.

Some of these hurts didn’t go away. Some were mended, some restored, and some are still there being raised in prayer. But praise Jesus! We don’t have to sit in the pit of despair. No matter the circumstance, we are here to tell ya, when you follow Jesus, keep your eyes on Him. . .Joy comes! Joy comes! Joy comes in the morning!

Are you going through discouragement, pain, depression, some kind of hurt of your own?  Praise Jesus! Jesus is there with you. Ask Him what it is He wants you to learn while you’re waiting for delivery. PLEASE!  Don’t waste the pain.  That is what the devil himself would want you to do. Don’t give him that. Lean on the strength of the Lord, learn, give Him the glory and be ready to rise, cause it’s comin’ girl, it’s comin’!

“…weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5

 

"You have turned for (us our) mourning into dancing; you have loosed (our) sackcloth and clothed (us) with gladness, that (our) glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, (we) will give thanks to you forever!"  Psalm 30:11-12

 

From your sisters in Christ, daughters of the King,

Elaine, Kris, Tamra and Peggy  

 

DEAR READER. . .Do you feel alone?  You are not precious one. God is with you.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior."  Isaiah 43:2-3 

BUT. . .sometimes we need someone with skin on. If you would like to talk or want prayer, please feel free to e-mail any or all of us at the following. . .we'll be here for you!

You are loved with an everlasting love. And underneath are the everlasting arms.

 

Kris   ~ Krbrid@aol.com

Elaine   ~ Elainecbailey@yahoo.com

Tamra   ~  Tlew1207@yahoo.com

Peggy   ~ Pgrannybird@aol.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angels with Stethascopes

~In honor of Nurse Appreciation Week~


“God appoints our graces to be nurses to other men’s weaknesses.”

~ Henry Ward Beecher

 

 

 

This is National Nurses Week and I would like to salute all the wonderful nurses out there being angels to all those who are ill in one way or another. Our Homeless Outreach Ministry is blessed to have nurses at the bridge every week to take care of our guests. Not just to put stethascope to skin but a listening ear to their words and compassion to their souls. Listen. . .you just may hear the flutter of wings.

"Our job is to love people. When it hurts. When it’s awkward. When it’s uncool and embarrassing. Our job is to stand together, to carry the burdens of one another and to meet each other in our questions."

 ~Jamie Tworkowksi

“The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.”

~ William Osler

 

 

 

“Being a Nurse, is a endless loving act of heart!”

~ Anonymous

 

 

Our nurses are always smiling, greeting our guests warmly and ready to take blood pressures, talk about medications and addictions and ready to listen to stories when stories need to be told. 

 

 This man above didn't seem moved when told his blood pressure was WAY in the danger zone. . .that's stroke level zone. The nurse explained what could happen and that it could happen quickly with the extremely high numbers he was showing. He was told to get to the hospital which was just down the street like. . .NOW!

 

We'll see hopefully next week if he did just that or not.

 

Our nurses keep an eye on another one of our guests who has his blood pressure taken every week at the bridge.  His was also in the danger zone awhile back and was told to get to the hospital right then. He rode his bike right there, was put on medication and is doing better.

Everyone loves our Louie. . .

 

Louie loves to come to the bridge each week.  It may be for the food. It may be for the fellowship. It may break up his day. I think he really comes now to see the smiles of ones like these. . .

 

 

 

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts. 

~Florence Nightingale

 

 

 

 

 

This past year our nurses have formed teams and now are a part of Street Medicine. . .they roam the streets, down alley ways, parking lots, stroll through parks and woods looking for people who might need medical attention.

 

 

 

 

 

Not only do they give of their medical expertise, but grace and the love of Christ. There are those who might not have seen a smile that day except for the smile of the nurses who came looking for them.

 

 

I wish I had pictures of all of them, but there are just way too many. A BIG salute to all the nurses everywhere. . .street teams, hospitals, doctor offices, veteran offices, rehabs, schools. Have I left out a place?  Let me know~

 

 

 

To all nurses,

Thank You!