I'm Tired...

I'm tired....
So what. Everbody gets tired. I just thot I'd like to say that I'm tired. I just read my daughter's blog. It was really good. She decided not to let her blogging go the way of many 'internet fads' and die. I'm glad. She blogs well and I get to peek into her soul a little. And if you're a mom you know how we like to peek into our kids souls!
So. I thought I should not give up on blogging either. But tonight I am tired. And I have a busy two days ahead and then start midnites for the weekend. Really! Who wants to know this??
I guess I'm just letting myself know that I have some more blogging to do, but it won't really be tonight.
But I do know that I want to blog about how I like to make my yard look nice. (Even though I don't really do that great a job of it.) That'll come later....
Today was my favorite grandson's 2nd birthday! "YIPES!" you say. "How can you have a Favorite???" Easy. I only have one.... =0) So, we all had supper together. I made him a chocolate birthday cake and he tried to touch the candle flames. Finally he got the idea of how to blow them out. He seemed to really like the cake...especially the part where he used it like gel in his hair. He's absolutely adorable!!
This is really dumb....I can't blog right now....
I'm tired.
(It's the way of a grandma--too tired to do anything, but she can still find the strength to gush over her grandbabies!!)

Blogging is hard work for some of us.... So why blog? I just don't know. Hmmm. I don't really have much to say, but I admit it is fun to see what people say about the little that I do manage to 'say'. Sometimes, it really amounts to letting my mind wander on paper. I do fear that if I let my mind wander too much, one day it may not come back!! Ha ha. Sometimes though, I have these epiphanies or life lessons while I'm working, or whatever, and blogging is my way of recording those thoughts. I've often thought it would be fun to write a book of little lessons I thought about while cleaning house--"Cleaning Ladies Get ALL the Dirt!" How's that for a title? Sounds more like a gossip column. Funny, at the moment I can't think of any of those things I often think I should write about. Brain freeze.... or is it fade.....? A testimony to the value of journaling. But that takes consistency. That is something that an ADD gramma just doesn't have. Consistency. The only thing that I've ever been consistent at is being--ta-dum-- INCONSISTENT!!! Phew! At least I have that! Ha. I think I'll start journaling tomorrow!

Here's a little humorous look at who I am....My kids saw a book of mine on the bookshelf entitled "You Mean I'm NOT Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?" "What's this?" one asked. "Oh" I replied, "It's a book about adults with ADD. But I've never really finished it...." This was followed by howls of laughter from all, me included.
Maybe I'll get into that next week--try to finish it....

So how's this for letting my mind wander??
Webster: wander...to ramble with no definite destination; to go astray; to lose concentration.

What was I saying?......

Remember...?

One of my first blogs was about taking a job and then finding out that it was much harder than I ever thought it would be. It was all about working with a sweet young lady (23) who is almost totally incapacitated. Her only means of communication is to blink her eyes in response to yes or no questions. She basically has no physical capabilities. She is totally dependent on those who care for her and care about her. However, her mind is sharp, and she has an amazing sense of humor! She has a smile that turns her whole countenance on 'high beam'! And when she is feeling mischevious, she can't hide it. You know something is up. She is a very gracious person, patient with those whose job it is to learn her daily routines and how to position her in her chair or bed. If we goof, she often takes it with humor and grace. I consider it such a privilege to be part of her life, even though it is such a small part. She has an amazing family and an amazing network of friends who have also discovered her amazingness. Does it seem like I'm using 'amazing' a lot?? Well, there's really no other word....at the moment at least.
I really hadn't planned on writing about my friend today. I was gonna write something totally different. But this just happened! She is such a blessing. One of those sort of hidden out of the way blessings that you find--like a pretty little blossom in the crevice of a rock somewhere. Maybe I'll write some more about her later. She is an inspiration.

Dancing the night away....

So I just came back from a wedding. It was really great! The bride was beautiful and sweet and the groom was charming and studly. The food was great and the speeches were thoughtful and articulate. But the dancing--that was amazing!!! I really feel I've been robbed by my midwest Bible belt upbringing... Dancing was absolutely a big 'no no'. I remember sitting on the edge of the gym in grade 3 or 4 while all the other kids were learning square dancing. No way would that be allowed! And Christian kids never went to school dances or proms! Nuh uh! (that's midwest for "No way!") But tonight, as at a few other weddings, I watched with rapt romanticism as the bride was swept around the dance floor by her groom and then the parents, and even grandparents, of the happy couple floated over the floor to the wonderful tunes of "What a Wonderful World", "Can I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life", etc. etc. And then there was all the fun stuff like "Rock Around the Clock", "Rah, Rah, Rasputin", "Y.M.C.A.", etc. etc. Such a wonderful, joyful, fun celebration. People just enjoying one another's company--children, seniors(who by the way are the best dancers!!) married couples, young people, moms and kids, brothers and sisters--all together celebrating a happy occasion by dancing the night away. Sometimes you just need to dance! I'm not sure I could even learn at this stage of life....maybe. I think I'd like to try sometime...maybe.
When we left, I was just tired from all the dancing I did in my mind....ha. I think dancing was surely God's idea....

I'm back....!

Well, yup, I'm back. My brain is still a tad fuzzy from jet-lag, but my ankles are finally back to their normal size! Hooray!
So how was it? Great! Unequivocally great! There were frustrations and bumps along the way, but I would still have to say that it was a wonderful experience.
Did we see lots of famous places? No. Just a few in fact. But did we see some amazing places? Unequivically YES! (You can choose which spelling of 'unequiv-etc.' you like best....) Italy is a beautiful country. We were in the Romangna area which borders on Tuscany. Very dry, but the trees and flowers were gorgeous! Hard to imagine how the dry dusty dirt we saw could support the lush and fruit laden tomato vines that climbed up to six feet on their bamboo trellises. And that was just the tomatoes! Rows of basil (basilico) and parsley and friendly old rosemary bushes whose aroma was lovely. And the trees! Mimosas with their feathery pink blossoms, tall gingko trees with their neat fan-shaped leaves, spikey palm trees, banana trees, and tall sturdy sycamore trees lining the boulevards. There were many beautiful blossoming trees and shrubs whose names, alas, I do not know. Perhaps a taste of the Garden of Eden. So much variety. I loved it! And of course all the wonderful window boxes full of geraniums and petunias cascading down the walls. Beautiful, beautiful.....
Did we meet any famous people? Not a chance. But did we meet some wonderful folks? You betcha! The dark-eyed, dark haired beautiful little children so full of life and mischief. The lovely old ladies riding their bicycles in their lovely dresses. The people strolling in the evening, dressed to the nines. The white haired old gentleman who would chatter away to us as we made our regular visit to the coffee bar on our way to the grocery store. He always made sure we had enough chairs at our little table as we made out our menu and shopping list for the day. We attempted a little conversation with our limited Italian, but made the most progress with the international language of laughter and smiles. And there were significant conversations with parents of the day camp children who had some knowledge of English and were eager to connect. We cherished those moments. Communication is a precious thing and takes many forms...
We went to serve. Serving is meeting people where they are at. Sometimes those we serve are not in the best place of their lives. And sometimes that is when they need our serving the most.
The team I went with was mostly young folk. And amazing young folk they are! Exuberant in their zest for life! So full of potential and a desire to serve. It was a privilege to live with them for those 16 days. One young man shared how each evening he and his wife would ask "Have we lived Christ today?" An amazing and challenging question, no?
I can't say that I'd go again next year.....I'm too old and out of shape for all the running we did through the airports! :o) But I really do treasure the memories I have.
Maybe I'll tell more specifics later. I just wanted to comment on the grand adventure before too long. It's been a week, eh?

Whoooosh!

Whoooosh??? Yep, that's the atmospheric disturbance that was heard and felt coming out of the town of Yarrow today at about 1:02p.m. It was the sound of me exhaling a huge and turbulent ssssssigh of reliefffffffffffffffff when my passport finally was delivered to me by the nice Fedex man! I'm pretty sure I saw a faint circular glowing just above his head, and some feathery protrusions about shoulder height..... I wonder if he knew he'd been commissioned by my own Heavenly Father for this particular day???? I should've told him, I know, but I was caught up in the moment! I guess this has been the 'pre-adventure' adventure! Off to Italy we go on Sunday. Thank You Lord for answering so many prayers of many friends for this little blue book called a passport!

Update.....

Well, here it is Wednesday....I'm supposed to be leaving on Sunday.....No passport yet.....Hmmm. Wonder what this is all about..... A test? Must be a test. I feel like I personally know the lady who made the recorded message that begins each sesh of waiting for the next available operator. And of course my call will be answered in the order in which it was received.... They're smart too. They don't put you on hold with 'elevator' music--the 'phone' just keeps ringing so you have hope that at some point someone will answer. And they do, after about 25 to 30 minutes. I think I read on the State Department website that they'd processed over 80,000 passports in the last few months. I wonder why they're so slow anyway!! Ha. Oh well, I keep waiting and asking God if He wants me to keep bugging Him or just be still and wait. "Knock and the door will be opened".... Am I knocking on the right door?
What's the reason??? Must be a reason!!!

Help!

Okay, I give up!! I'm supposed to be going on a missions trip to Italy in 10 days. In order to go there, I need a passport. Well, actually, I had a passport. But they told me that if it would expire within 6 weeks of my trip, I had to get it renewed. That also meant surrendering my old passport. So our trip is July 1 thru 16. My passport would've expired on July 29th. That means a renewal. EXCEPT that with all the passport hoopla (It's a U.S. passport and I live in Canada), what used to take 6 weeks now can take anywhere up to 14 weeks. Actually, when I sent mine off--April 4th--they said 8 to 10 weeks. Well, that still would've been okay. But with everybody thinking the same thing, the passport agencies are absolutely DELUGED with applications and renewals. The annoyng thing is that my passport WAS good till July 29th and I could've gone with it and come back home and started the process after the trip. Except, they (whoever 'they' are) were worried I might try to stay too long in whatever country I was going to and then my passport wouldn't get me home. So now 'they' aren't worried anymore about me staying too long---I'M worried about getting there in the first place!!!!!! I've been to the State Department website over and over.....home page has a new meaning...The toll free number they give only works in the States. The good people at the City Hall in Sumas, WA have invited me to have a chair and use their phone. (I'll be on the phone waiting a long time says the nice lady there.) I've emailed the State Department and they said in essence, "Keep trying!" I did some tele-exploration and found the regular long distance number of the State Department and they gave me the 'direct line' to the Passport Task Force! That sounded encouraging! So I waited for the appointed time to phone that number--it was important to phone at the appropriate time. And I waited through about, oh I'd guess 35 "Thank you for your patience. Please stay on the line and wait for the first available agent to help you." I didn't mind that. Hope makes the waiting quite bearable. Finally the nice lady answers my call. I give her all my information so she knows I am who I say I am. Yes. She politely listens to my plight. Like I need my passport in hand by June 29th as there is no mail in Canada on Saturday. That's one week from tomorrow! "Well, Mrs. T I will send a fax with your information and situation." .............. That's it?? After all the checking and emailing and phoning and waiting and phoning again, etc. etc. and so forth? Her soft, smooth southern drawl didn't really give much comfort. But yep, that was it!
SOOOOO, that gets me to where I should've been all along. Whose trip is this anyway? I sure can't make anything happen. I guess I've been counting on the good ole US of A to come through for me. But there are probably THOUSANDS of other people like me. And there are only a limited number of passport agents out there. And judging from my wait on the phone there are many people like me who are within days of their departure date too. Funny, I haven't been concerned about it at all until the last week or so. I figured I'd have my passport when they said. So what's with this last minute panic attack anyway? Perhaps its a wakeup call that this is GOD's trip. Just a reminder that He's planning it.
So what now? Do I feverishly pray and phone prayer warriors to pray with me? Do I sit back and relax and just wait. What should my posture be in these next few days? For sure one of openness to what God wants to teach me. Not one of taking His care for granted. But probably one of rest. One of examining my attitude towards going and serving. And rest. And prayer. Talking to Him about it all.
So, being new to this whole blogging thing, I'm not sure if it's appropriate to 'vent' on a blog, but as you can see, I just did. So if it's not cool to do that, you won't read it anyway, right? In the meantime, it has done ME some good. Ha! I need to print this off--especially the previous paragraph--and read it over again when I start to fret.
In the meantime, if you read this and want to send up a prayer for my passport and me, that'd be okay too. Thanks for "listening".
And I'll let y'all know when it comes......

Dig Deep

It's 'story time' again....and from the archives of my 'cleaning lady' memories....
There's this nice little lady I clean for. Last summer, we noticed quite a number of moths hanging around the house. They were annoying little beasts. Fluttering here and there just where you didn't want to see them. Often I found myself in fruitless chase of one of those pesky flying critters. Always just out of reach of my clapping hands or even the end of the vacuum hose, they were hard to catch or kill. Pretty soon we all just got used to them being around. We'd still chase them and seldom get them. Aha! But we could smack them when they landed on the wall. Mind you that left a dusty little black spot that then had to be wiped off. Oh well, at least that was one down, eh?
Now you need to understand that my little lady is a pack-rat. Maybe a nicer way to say it is that she finds lasting value in just about everything! That plus the fact that she really only wants me to be there 2 hours and to just do the vacuuming and dusting and bathrooms and floors, makes getting things really clean quite a challenge. Plus, my little lady loves to tell me various and sundry news and events and history that require my full attention and keep me from the job at hand. Me, being too polite to give her less than my undivided attention--although mentally I'm saying "Aaaargh, I gotta get done here"--I just let her tell me all she finds important at the time. All that to say that I just do the routine stuff she wants done, all the while wishing that I could really dig deeper and get at some of the hidden away dirt and clutter. But I let her make the call.
Now, back to the moth thing..... So here we a year later and--can you believe?--the moths are still bugging us! (pardon the pun) Oh, we don't see them flying around so much. In fact, I rarely see them myself. No, I just see the black spots on the wall. They are really everywhere. Little reminders of a grungy nest of something old and dirty somewhere in the house. If only I had the permission to do a thorough cleaning search through all the piles of clutter to find that nest! I could put a stop to all those nasty little black spots on the wall. But no, I am relegated to going through the house each week, cleaning spots off the wall. Spots that remind me that the nest is there somewhere. And that to get rid of the spots for good, I need to dig deep and clean out the nest!
Now. This makes me wonder what spots are on the walls of my life. And what nest do I need to clean out to stop the spots from reappearing. And am I willing to take the time and effort to clear away the clutter and mess to rid myself of something in my life that keeps cropping up like those black spots on the wall?
May I not limit my spiritual "Mr. Clean" to just spot-cleaning me. May I allow Him to cleanse and freshen me from the inside out!
Sounds like a song I once heard.....

by Gammi B

I Get the Point!!!!

I had the most amazing experience today!~~Well, okay so it wasn't that amazing. I was doing some gardening and I had to get a tool from the garage. (This is really random....) There, what to my wondering eyes should appear!--(I've heard that somewhere before....)--but my old pencil sharpener! Now, this old friend has been sort of in hibernation since we moved. Many times already I have so wished for my old friend. Can it really be that I have survived for a year and a half without a nicely sharpened pencil in the house?? Anyway, there it was, nicely attached to the 2X4 framing the garage door! And FIRMLY attached so as not to wobble when grinding away on some stubble of an old, once useless pencil. So what if I have to walk all the way down the driveway to the garage to use it!
"Dull pencils of the house! Rebirth is imminent!!"
I guess if you always have a pencil sharpener at your beck and call, you don't really realize what a lovely thing a newly sharpened pencil is. Try going without sharpening your pencil for a couple of weeks even, and see for yourself!
Thank you dear husband for resurrecting my trusty old Boston pencil sharpener!
(I was gonna make up some dumb pun...but, you get the point.... :o) Right? You're really sharp!!)

Growing up...the short long journey....

I held a tiny little girl today....two weeks old. So sweet and so amazing! An itsy-bitsy sprout of humanity. Of life. Yet, so incredibly bursting with potential for greatness! When I had my own babies, I guess I thought about their potential, but the focus was definitely on the moment. These tiny precious little persons who needed me so much. Love, food and shelter....
Well, now my babies are young adults! It truly has been a short long journey. 'Where HAS the time gone?' Had I seen the path we were headed down I'm sure I might have tried to take some detours. Perhaps we'd all be stronger. Or weaker. I don't know. But I do know that I am amazed at God's goodness in producing in those three little lives, three strong, wonderful individuals who love and care for people around them. I am thankful for God's gift of an amazing husband and father to my 'babies'. I am also grateful for the family of God who has contributed to their growing process--watering, weeding, cultivating and feeding.
So from the first time I held a baby of my own in my arms til now has actually been almost 27 years! Unbelieveable! Who knew it would be such a fast 27 years? 25 for the next? and 21 for the next? 27, 25, and 21 years...you might think "that's a long time!!" It is ya know. But......."Time flies when you're having fun!!!"
Thank you God for a wonderful family!!!

Gifts

Here's a little story that I've been saving....for quite some time now....
I'm a cleaning lady. I work mainly with elderly folk who need a helping hand. Dusting, vacuuming, washing floors and cleaning bathrooms. For some of my peeps I also am a listening ear. You might say I 'get all the dirt'. Ha. That's okay too. I also get to hear their fun stuff too.
Several years back, one customer was showing me a cute little gift she received from a friend for Christmas. It was a nice little basket of stationery all wrapped in cellophane, with note cards and writing paper and envelopes and even a note pad. I thought, 'Cute--that'd sure make me want to write a letter or note to someone.' It sat in the living room for several weeks until the clutter of Christmas was all put away. Then I noticed it in the bedroom under a chair.
It still hasn't moved--except when I pick it up to vacuum. It's still in the cellophane, tattered as it is. I try to dust it off sometimes. It's beginning to look quite sad. Outdated too. Too bad. Truth be known, there's a box of chocolates and another of cookies that I've had to dust around for over a year too.
It makes me wonder what gifts have been given to me that are getting dusty and tattered and wasting away due to lack of use. What have I hidden away or put on a shelf in a closet and why? The gift of encouragement? Of teaching? Of hospitality? Of wisdom? Of love?
1 Peter 4:10 "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
Unwrap your presents and USE 'em and ENJOY 'em and SHARE 'em!!

Surprises...

So I decided to do this job... Yup. Seemed like the thing for me to do. So I'm toodling along doing my thing, thinking, "Yup, this is the thing to do!" Then, WHAMMY!! Things change! I think, "Hmmmm. Can I really do this? Hey! Wait a minute! This isn't what I thought I was gonna have to do!! No...I'm really not sure this is what I signed up for..."
My 'job' is to help people. Now I know some of them really need my help. And yes, that's what I signed up for. But wowsers, I feel really inadequate to help here. Like, the need is SO great. I don't think I have what it takes for this. I'm too old. I'm not strong enough. I don't know how. How come they're in this condition anyway? It's not fair! This is just plain overwhelming!
What was that?....
"Be still and know that I am God"....."My strength is made perfect in weakness".......
"He who began a good work in you will complete it..."

Okay. I think I can do this. If You help....

First Real Blog....

The whole idea of blogging is a very interesting concept....I just hang my thoughts out there like so much laundry and let 'em flap, as it were, in the breeze! And of course when you hang out your laundry, it's gotta be organized, eh? All the socks together, all the towels together, all shirts together.... When it comes to thoughts, that could be a bit of a challenge for the wandering mind! Like the old joke, "They told me, 'just let your mind wander'---I did and it never came back!" And for those of us who are ADD-challenged, even more fun!! Where was I anyway????
Oh yeah, blogging. So, I guess it's a good idea to pick a subject and go from there. In fact, pick a bunch and make a list. Then you don't have to think about what you want to blog about. Not that you want to cover them all in the same blog. You just keep that list right there by the computer and when you got a minute, you pick a subject and wax eloquent!! This sounds great! Better than playing free cell or minesweeper! I guess as you get more familiar with the whole blogging thing, pretty soon it's more like 'random acts of blogging'. I might even learn how to put pictures on this thing!
Since I tend in life to be generous with words, I think I'll leave this first blog at that. I thnk this was just the socks.....
More later....

first one

Hello