Babies and Pets Are Happy Makers

2011 and 2012 are dubbed "The Years of the Great Grandchild," mainly because there were seven born to add to the two already here.  There are two more on the way in the next couple of months.  That will be a total of 11!  To honor their privacy, I won't post names.  Their parents can do that if they want.  Below are two boys and a girl.  Two more girls are on the way, so the girls are winning.

    

Our little 49er and my oldest daughter's dog on the right--always smiling.

The youngest daughter's "kids," so these are my granddogs.

This is Outlaw, raised from birth by my oldest daughter.  He thinks he is human.  Judging by the super metal, locking padlocks on their freeze and fridge, he's conquered the baby locks.

Good Thoughts to Live By #1

Thoughts To Live By
I have decided to post an ongoing series of my favorite thoughts and poems collected over a period of years that have touched my heart and brought a clearer perspective on what really matters in ordinary day-to-day living.  For me, these thoughts bring a variety of insight and wisdom that promote happiness, faith and hope.

I don't know the name of this sculpture in Denver that I snapped while Arian and Karalee lived there, but I like to call it "Seeing Oneself Close Up," (considering this guy is about ready to drown, it's how I've felt looking into the mirror after the age of thirty--as if my face was shouting, "The end is drawing nigh!"  There's actually a lot of interpretations for this visual.  Perhaps you'd like to dwell on it and see what you think it could represent.  Here below is a great poem to go with this picture.

I'm nobody!  Who are you?

I’m nobody!

Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us–don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know. 

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
to tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!  
   -Emily Dickinson

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain. 
   -Emily Dickinson

The best things are nearest; breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of Right just before you.  Do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.                        
  -Robert Louis Stevenson

It was lovely beyond any singing of it.
   -“From Cry the Beloved Country” (movie)

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.  
  -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Two are better than one; for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.   
   -Ecclesiastes

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprise?  If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
   -Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Chapter XVII, conclusion.

2012 - No Need to Fear

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. . . . Be still, and know that I am God . . . Psalm 46:1-3; 10

The end of a year and the end of a day in Florida 

What difference would it make if 2012 was the actual date for the world to end?  What changes would we make in our lives if the Mayan calendar really predicted the end of the world?  It could be utter chaos if everyone knew when the world would end, but it might also be a time of people mending relationships and loving and gathering together to review precious memories and celebrate special events they shared.  


For those who don't believe in God, knowing there was only a year left to live, they might get busy filling their "bucket list" with all the things they had always hoped to do and never had the time.  For those who believe in God, it will be a time to either get their lives in order, or a time to prepare to celebrate the great and dreadful day--dreadful for those not ready and great for those who are. 


Thank goodness we know that only God, the Father knows when Jesus Christ will come again, which will mark the end of the world as we know it and usher in a thousand years of peace.  He has given us plenty of warning about the signs to look for, and many are happening in increasing consistency and intensity, but we are told we have no need to fear if we are prepared.  Our life IS the time to prepare to meet God, whenever that will be. 


None of us know how long we will live, so the only thing we can do is to live each day as we choose to live it.  God is in control over the whole earth, but we are in control of our thoughts, our actions, and our attitudes.  What things are most important?  Do we spend our time on those priorities?  What regrets might we have if we left the earth today?


Just food for thought.  Kind of like writing your own epitaph exercise . . .


Below is a poem I wrote in 2001.  This type of reflection comes for me each year as I put away the Christmas decorations and sit staring at what seems like an empty house.  All the extra warmth and laughter--those jolly good times have drifted off into memories.  The cold walls have no more glow of soft lights and bright red, gold, and green festiveness.  The nativity scenes are back in brown boxes hiding away to burst forth again next Christmas to celebrate the hope we have because of Him who gave his life for us.  


As the first day of each new year draws closer, I sit down and prepare the calendars that will hang on the walls next year by writing down the birthdays and special events coming in the new year.  As I thumb through the pages one by one, I can almost see the next year passing before me.  I can never believe I'm putting away another year and attempting to organize another.  A year gone so quickly.  In a blink of an eye and I'm looking at the beginning of another unknown--the future waiting . . .

Life Cycle

Pages of the calendar,

Like winds on churning seas,

Turning, dropping, lifting,

As fall does to the leaves.

Younger years meander,

As trickling streams through trees.

Older years are water falls

Of memories to seize.

Embrace every eddy;

Flow over the rocks of pain.

This life like rivers going

Will circle around again.

I'd better get my sails up if I expect to make headway into this new year!

Feeling the Holy Ghost: Power of the Holy Spirit

Nightingale - Yanni

Beautiful music brings happiness.