Mr. Hey-yo!

There are a lot of things I can do without, but when I run out of sugar, it is NOT a good thing! I don’t mind diet drinks, diet soda, etc. But when it comes to coffee or tea, I NEED sugar ---- that good old, grainy, white stuff that we are supposed to ban from our lives. But for me --- no sugar???? No coffee!!!! Period! Bottom line. I’ve tried a million times to go sugarless, use sugar substitutes, and all the rest. I’ve given in to my weakness, so sugar it is.

I went to the grocery store for sugar and came home with a cart full. Plus, I stopped at the roadside veggie stand. Poor old guy --- his fingers were so cold that he couldn’t even get the plastic bag open.

So I’m good to go for a little while. I have my sugar, my veggies, and Buster is restocked on treats and dog food. He checks his stash carefully, gets a bone, and lays down with a big sigh that tells me, “Life is good!”

On the way home, I passed a little “farm” --- just as I have a million times before in the past few years. Mr. Hey-Yo lives there. Not his real name, but we all seem to know who we are talking about when we refer to “Mr. Hey-Yo!” Several years ago, this little piece of land was parceled off and a “For Sale” sign was posted. It looked like a slice of pie, or a little wedge of left over land. This three-sided weed patch borders on a busy road, a large utility corridor, and a church property. Across the street is a grade school. NOT a quiet haven for a home, for sure.

It wasn’t long before it was sold. Then a home. Then a farm fence. Then a barn/shed type building. Then cross fencing. Then. . . A truck! And we knew someone was making their dream come true ---- a little piece of Heaven in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t long before we saw an older man working around his property. Then we saw chickens, goats, a turkey. . . And then, miniature horses. I can’t remember why, but my sister had some questions, and I mentioned to her that perhaps this guy could give her some answers. Her response was, “What am I supposed to do. . . . Stand at the gate and yell at the top of my lungs, HEY-YO!!!!!” So, to this day, the man with the slice-of-pie farm is quietly called Mr. Hey-yo, and we all know who we are talking about.

Today, as I passed by, Mr. Hey-yo’s goats and miniature horses were grazing by the fence. I glanced over and looked, and the old man was standing there looking at his animals. Though I never met this man, I felt I knew so much about him. He seems so content with what he has. So gentle with his little baby goats. And there is just something about miniature horses. . . They make me smile. I can’t imagine why this man raises these little horses --- they seem so useless. I think if I were to ask him, he would just smile and say, “Just because!”

I learned a lesson today. It seemed to hit me and I couldn’t get it off my mind. I wondered what people see when they look at ME???? Do I show contentment? Am I gentle? Do I make the best of my little slice-of-life God has given me? Am I a sheltering person? Do I have the kind of faith that sees a weed patch become a realization of a dream?

Thank you, Mr. Hey-yo, for reminding me today that all that I have is truly all that I need! And thank you, Lord, for sugar!

Daybook Entry for February 9, 2011

FOR TODAY
February 9, 2011
Outside my window... The sun is shining after several dark and cloudy days. A much needed rain soaked the ground, and I'm so thankful for that. Two balls still stubbornly hold onto the bare sycamore branch outside my window. A tufted titmouse is waiting his turn at the feeder. VERY impatiently, may I add!

I am thinking... About patience. I am NOT a patient person. I always thought I was. I now know I was just very good at covering my impatience!
And the older I get, the more my impatience shows. Psalm 40:1 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord. . ." which means, without tiring and with perserverance.
Mary Sutherland has a great devotional about this on the Girlfriends in God site
here: http://www.girlfriendsingod.com/Devotions/DevotionArchives/2011DevotionArchives/February11Devotions/ComingOutoftheDark2411/tabid/1054/Default.aspx

I am thankful for... God's patience with ME!


From the learning room...Hamburger is VERY hard and can be a health hazard when it rolls out of the freezer and hits your toe! Lesson learned: Make FLAT packages when freezing hamburger!!!!!

From the kitchen... Egg salad made from my sister's farm fresh eggs! Sour cream biscuits to go with left over beans and carrots.

I am creating... Nothing this week! But I may get my cutter out and get ahead on some card making supplies .

I am going... Nowhere? I can't think of even ONE thing I need to use as an excuse to go to the grocery store.

I am reading... Sparkling Gems from the Greek by Rick Renner (PLEASE don't think I am a deep theological student here! This author has written this book as a daily devotional, with 365 days of treasures!!!! He gives a passage of Scripture, picks out a word, gives background, history, Greek meaning in its context, application, questions to ask yourself and a prayer.) I had signed up for the daily email and I was getting one a day. Not enough for me. (AGAIN -- impatient!) So I checked on ebay and found a used one and just love it!
I am hoping... To follow through with memorizing at least 2 verses a week. I’m finding it doesn’t come as easy as it did when I was younger!!!!

I am hearing... My heat running and running and running. . . .(cha-ching, cha-ching.) Don't know what's wrong with me, but I am cold ALL THE TIME! Doesn't matter how many layers of clothing I have on, I'm just cold!

Around the house... First on the list is the bottom drawer of the stove -- under the oven. I pulled it open, and now it won't shut. That means taking everything out, keeping Buster's slobbery mouth off whatever is in there, try to get the drawer back on track, etc., etc., etc., (Patience AGAIN????)

One of my favorite things...Patty Melts!!!!! Years ago (when I was crazy, strong, and brave), I delivered newspapers 7 days a week. Afterwards, a few of us would meet at a 24-hour diner and I almost always ordered a Patty Melt. Since those days, wherever I go, I will order one if it is on the menu. My sister and I have a rating system, giving them a score of 1 - 10. Right now, I'd give anything for a big, juicy, hot one with onions, drippy melted cheese, buttery grilled rye bread ----- can't you just feel the cholesterol sticking to your ribs?????

A few plans for the rest of the week: Read over I Peter for tomorrow night and continue on my own in Kay Daigle's Bible Study. She has entitled it, "Adorned in True Beauty."

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...


I planted a few blackberry bushes last year. NO, these are not mine. But I'm HOPING someday they will look like this. I love blackberries!!!!!

Praying for: Healing Rain to fall on a dear friend!

Please join in with us and share your daybook entries at:

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Thank You, Lord for. . .

1. Gentle rain with a music all its own.
2. God's faithful provisions, whether I worry or trust.
3. My sister, her friendship and unconditional acceptance, not matter what.
4. Buster, my big, exhuberant Lab who has taught me not to sweat the small stuff.
5. My Pastor, who, by example and teaching, has taught me not to sweat the big stuff.
6. A church I can truly call home.
7. A beautiful smile on a beautiful lady in the Post Office.

Click on the link below to find others who are counting their gifts and sharing them with us all:

Daybook Entry for February 5, 2011

FOR TODAY
February 5, 2011
Outside my window... A soft breeze making the bare limbs of my sycamore tree sway back and forth. The laurel is loaded with thousands of tiny white flowers! The breezes caused them to fall all over my car! This tree is fooled by the warm weather and will probably have to do this again before true spring is here. The sky is gray, dropping a soft, much needed rain. Robins don’t care at all. The puddle in the driveway makes a “free for all” bird bath.

I am thinking... About hope and faith! Strange that my laurel tree would bring a flood of thoughts like this. Spring will come and that which seems dead will burst forth in flowers. Hope that is not in vain, faith that lives in the light of tomorrow’s promise of new life!


I am thankful for... Second chances! Forgiveness! Encouragement to finish the race in spite of a horrible beginning!


From the learning room... Digging into 1 Peter. Pastor is going through the book in our Thursday night Bible study, so I’m “digging deeper” with an online Bible study by Kay Daigle. It helps for me to write things down. Especially answers to questions. I can slide past things too easily if I don’t put it on paper.


From the kitchen... Not sure yet ---- maybe a pot of navy beans with carrots and ham, a pan of biscuits, salad. . .

I am creating... Some greeting cards.

I am going... To the post office to mail my first chemo angel package.

I am reading... Diamonds in the Dust by Joni. It’s a daily devotional, but I just keep reading and reading. . . !

I am hoping... To follow through with memorizing at least 2 verses a week. I’m finding it doesn’t come as easy as it did when I was younger!!!!

I am hearing... The calming drips of the rain off my roof onto the dead leaves on the ground. Cars splashing through puddles on the road. A crow cawing. Buster snoring!

Around the house... Laundry going, already cleaned bathrooms. . .what’s next?

One of my favorite things... Rainy days! I love the sounds, the fresh smells. . .!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Week is about over. Haven’t even thought about next week.


Here is picture for thought I am sharing...



Praying for my pastor and his wife.
Thank you, Lord, for such dedicated, faithful servants!

Please join in with us and share your daybook entries at:

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Chemo Angels

Those of you who have followed my blog down through the years know that I took the journey through Breast Cancer. If you are new to my blog, you can find that journey beginning with my posts towards the end of June, 2008 and continuing through 2009. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about that time in my life. It just seems that I'm finding more and more women who are going through this, and as I read their blogs, I find myself reliving my own experience over again.

The other day, I was going through things and trying to make spaces for "stuff" that has no permanent storage place, and I found my stack of cards I received during those dark days. Most of them are from all my faithful blogger friends. I sat down with that pile and went through them all, one by one, and found myself thanking the Lord for these special gifts of encouragement. They STILL encourage me and I will keep them forever!

Mixed in those cards are a bunch that are beautifully hand made. They came every week or so and contained a thoughtful message of encouragement. You see, Linda was my "chemo angel". And what a faithful angel she was!

I'm so excited now to have the privilege of being a chemo angel myself for the first time. These people have a website at:

http://www.chemoangels.net/

They are so good at matching patients with "angels"!!! It doesn't take much or a lot of time, just a commitment to send a card or little gift of encouragement to someone going through chemo treatments. Anyone can do that, I'm sure.

So if you are going through chemo right now, let them know. Or if you can find it in your heart to see someone through this rough patch in their life, sign up as an angel! It meant all the world to me. Let's make the world a little brighter place!

Wendy Blight: On-Line Study, Cultivating a Heart of Prayer, Begi...

Wendy Blight: On-Line Study, Cultivating a Heart of Prayer, Begi...: "Cultivating a Heart of Prayer Begins February 7, 2011 Hi Bible Study friends, In a little over a week, we will begin our next online-study..."

One Thousand Gifts

I am so sorry that I did not continue the list I had started a couple of years ago of all the things I was thankful for. Every day for me is a gift from God, and within that gift are just tons of smaller gifts for me open and treasure if I'm willing to look, and see, and take the time to wonder at it all. Today, a flock of robins stripped my cherry laurel tree of it's cherries. Those berries have been hanging there for what seems like forever, freezing, thawing, refreezing, thawing again, etc., etc. But today, I guess, they were just right! Either that, or mine were the last ones left in the neighborhood.


I loved listening to their cheerful voices and wondered why I couldn't be that happy with the simple things in life????
I make it all so complicated -- to the point it can make me crabby in a moment!

I want a Robin's heart! I want to see good things in simple places. I want to sit on my branch at the end of the day, snuggle my beak in my feathers and thank the Lord for the berries He gave me, the song He gave me, and another beautiful day! Can it be that hard?????

You've got to watch this! I sooooooo want the book! Be sure to turn off my music at the bottom of the page.

Little By Little

"O my Saviour,
let me not fall by little and little,
or think myself able to bear
the indulgence of any known sin
because it seems so insignificant.
Keep me from sinful beginnings,
lest they lead me on
to sorrowful endings.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon
1834-92

Taken from today's daily devotional found at Transformation Garden:

http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/transformgarden/

Foundations

During the past few weeks, I've been thinking more and more about my "foundations" --
what I have built my life, my faith, my hopes on. I've gained a lot of insights into my own heart, some good with assurances and a basic knowledge of how to pass it on, and some. . . well, let's say I found out I needed some brushing up and studying to do.

As my brother went through the final stages of lung cancer, he shared with me some of the "projects" he had been working on. I think that anytime a question was raised that he could not answer, it became an unending quest until he was satisfied with the answers he found. Doubts? I don't know. We always seem to criticize the word, "doubt," as it sounds so opposite to the word, "faith." Yet, is it not our doubts and questions in life that send us on our quests to find the ultimate truth in Christ? I know I have my brother to thank for igniting the spark in me to dig around my "foundations" and see if they are right and built upon the true Word of God.

Years ago, my pastor did a series called, "On These We Stand." Week by week, he went through the doctrines (like Sanctification, Justification, etc), and made it all so simple to understand. Ever since the day I was born, I was in church. From the cradle roll all the way through I never missed a Sunday School class, church services 3 times a week, youth groups, DVBS, camp, and whatever else was going on. I did all the Bible Memory Association verses, memorized chapters for contests, etc. I even went to Bible School for 3 years. But all of this learning was never "filed away" in some sort of "grab it and use it" kind of way. It was through this series of messages that I finally got a filing cabinet in my mind where things started falling into their proper places!!! Thank you, Dan!

I don't think I ever realized before how important it is to get the "foundation" right. Paul says in I Cor. 15, "So, then, brothers and sisters, don't let anyone move you off the foundation of your faith." In my old age, though, I have come to see how everything topples and falls apart if the foundation is not right from the beginning. When all is said and done in life, it all boils down to where we put our trust and faith. Most of the guilt, fears, doubts and regrets that we carry with us are so unnecessary, but are there because we have built our lives and beliefs on foundations that are incorrectly taught to us.

Hosea 6:3 says, "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." To know Him is to know the truth. And this was Paul's utmost desire as he expressed it in Philippians 3 -- "That I may know Him. . ."

There were so many sleepless nights for me during Tony's illness, and I would dig into the deepest parts of my heart and brain for stuff I had once learned but had forgotten. It bugged me to no end! I don't like loose ends and unanswered questions. My brother had spent so much of his life searching the Scriptures, and I'm sure he knew them way better than I do. I have him to thank for rattling my cage because I found lots of rusty hinges and loose screws!!!

Beth Moore is challenging women to memorize at least 24 verses this year -- that's just 2 verses a month.

http://blog.lproof.org/2011/01/2011-siesta-scripture-memory-team-verse-2.html

She even has a little spiral notebook you can buy (or download for free and print out yourself) to write your verses out and join in on the challenge. Since I love tags, I made my own and I'm off and running with it. I'm picking verses that are foundational to my faith in Christ, promises I can count on through eternity, and principles I can live by. I don't know what's in my future or who I will yet meet along the way, but I NEVER want to be caught without an answer!

I feel like I'm rambling today. Maybe it is because I feel I'm entering new doors and I don't know where they are taking me. Maybe it is because there are holes in my heart that need to be filled. Anyhow, thanks for listening!

Since Yesterday

Tony is finally home!

It seems so long since yesterday
When he was with us here.
Though weak and tired and struggling,
We knew that he was near.
But now we stand upon this shore,
His path we cannot trace.
We only know since yesterday
He saw his Savior's face.

His first day home since yesterday --
We wonder at the thought!
We'll never know that special joy
That moment must have brought;
No clouds, no mists, since yesterday,
No pain, no questions, "why?"
Unshadowed now he sees the sun
As time has passed him by.

We miss him so since yesterday,
Each memory seems so real.
We long to share, to see him smile,
His special love to feel;
Yet, could we call him back again,
To leave his soul's delight,
To leave the gladness of the morn
For one more painful night?

Ah, no, we let him go with love,
For we shall meet some day.
We would not take away the joy
He's known since yesterday.
Could we deny the special gift
The Savior had to give?
For he who struggled so for life
Has just begun to live!
--Cora Eelman

When there are No Words!

Sometimes a song just hits you and goes to the very core of your heart. This is one of them. I've played it over and over and over and it washes over me like nothing ever has! Be sure to turn off my music at the bottom of the page!

My New Year's Prayer

Dear Lord,
I'm not making any promises or resolutions. I know from my past performance that this would only be setting myself up for failure, discouragement, and ultimately confession to You that I had no intention of keeping them in the first place.

I know I've changed in the past few months --- not a whole lot, but enough to know that change is possible. "Probable" is another whole issue. Thank you, Lord, for my brother and what he has brought about in my own life. Thank you for the example of my other brother, sister, and family members and how they have sacrificed with joy to take care of Tony. Thank you for making me look deeper into my own soul because of all of this.

Lord, if I can ask for one thing this year, it's this: Keep changing me. Little by little. Day by day.

Change me into someone who can discern what's really important from the trivial irritations that would ruin a whole day.

Change me into someone who can see a need in one person's life and fill it. Not the whole world -- just one person.

Change me into someone who lives Your Word instead of someone who just knows it.

Change me in such a way that maybe 365 days from now, I'll look just a little bit more like You.

If You can change me in just these things, then this coming year will be considered one of true miracles! With You, all things are possible, aren't they? Let's go for it!