What do you enjoy doing? What do you have a Passion for doing?

Today my two youngest children, 16 and 12, are going to play the piano at a convelesant hospital. I hope that they will be relaxed and just let their talent flow. My hope for all of us is that we will let our talent and skills flow through us and out to others. We all have been given skills and talents to use in our lives for our good and especially for the good of others. We each were given a particular spiritual gift as well. It is often more difficult for some to know what that is. It is that something you do very well and feel passionate about. If you have a desire to do something for others and when doing it you lose track of all time, when doing it others are made happier, healthier (mind, body, and/or soul) when doing it you feel happier and healthier and you do an excellent job. If you are not sure what that is, just volunteer to do anything that interests you.

When you try to exercise a gift, observe am I enjoying this, am I comfortable, if it is something you are better off to do just once in a great while you will know from the way you feel, the results you receive, and the peace and comfort you do or do not have while doing it.  If it was not something you felt passionate for move on to something else.  Your time was not wasted, you helped someone in some way and you found out this is not my spiritual gift. When you experience using your intended gift, you will know. The Word says the spirtual gifts are: Teaching, Prophecy, Peaching, Healing, Serving, Mercy, Leadership, Administration, Encouraging, Speaking in all kinds of languages, interpreting the languages, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Faith.
1Cor 12:4. It is possible to have more than one gift at a time; yet, one will be more dominant than any other. Usually it is one gift, sometimes it can be one and a time later, a year, numerous years later, you may receive a different gift and change your emphasis to the new gift and that opens the door for someone else to take your place wherever you were serving. If I have time I can put to use a lot of different skills and talents, but I know I have been given a spiritual gift of Encouraging, I love people, I always have, I want to help others to feel their value and their ability to succeed with joy no matter what life hands them.

I have HOPE that the future will bring a better time than this.

I just recently opened my blog to many more people. Surprisingly or not I did upset someone.  In the past there were people that walked politically for the good of their lives and there families. There were the  left wing radical thinking (leftist democrats), there were moderate democrats more family and God values than the left, the center independents, which voted liberal or conservative depending on the candidates not their party line, the conservatives very set on family and God values, and the right wing radical conservatives.  I think in our culture today people have gotten the idea that you if you are conservative you can only be a right wing radical. Unfortunately someone thinks because I state that I am conservative that I am prejudice, bigoted, and a racist.  We conservatives are pretty sick of being called these things, it just is not true. Just because we do not stand for the same values does not make us racist and bigoted.  I used to be registered an independent; however, I could not vote in a primary so I changed my registry.   When we disapprove of our children's behavior does it mean we do not love our children. I disagree with certain behaviors but that does not mean I hate or even dislike someone. A conservative does not mean racism and predudice.

Another movement that is happening in our country now, as it has long been throughout the world, is the prejudice toward Christians. The movement on the left is to be tolerant of specific groups of people not including Christians or military, they even passed a hate crime bill that includes telling us we cannot even speak against specific behaviors. They refused to include the hate toward Military and Christians (what does that say?). Yet, those who pass these bills have no tolerance for anyone who has a difference of opinion from theirs and will even try to destroy anyone who speaks out against their beliefs.  Christians in the US are Americans with Constitutional rights, which I intend to always exercise including freedom of speech. I continually pray for truth to be revealed and I have hope that the future will bring a better time than this.

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year

This blog has been in the making since mid-summer.  You may have just learned about it, as I just published in Facebook that it is in operation.  When I first envisioned a blog I had thought about it for business purposes. It has become a great way to share our lives with those we care for and it can be therapeutic.
Journaling is a therapeutic, growing experience I would say blogging is a way to know yourself better and share your life with others.  I do not know if blogging openly to everyone would be beneficial but it may. This is a learning growing experience and I hope you will share it with me.
Perhaps in the future this can be a means of my grandchildren knowing some of the experiences in my life that formulated who I am and perhaps their lives.

May this tool of communciation plant seeds in your minds and hearts, may it bring healing and hope for the future.

I commit to write regularly as of January 2010, I hope to write each week, sometimes daily.

May you know the love of the God of the Universe.
Many Blessings to you and your loved ones.

PS Dave this is the arrangement  Thank  you

Do you know a caregiver?

Is someone you know caring for a sick parent, spouse, child, or friend? They need to know you care. They may not be able to take time to go out with you, they may not have time to call you like they used to, like they want to; yet, they need you. What can you do? Send them a card, a letter, email. A communication that they can receive when they have an extra moment, which might be when you are sound asleep. Please do not forget them. If you can arrange with friends, family, or maybe church volunteers, set up a time that they can be relieved of the responsibilites for at least a few hours. They need to have some time for them. They need be pampered once in a while. Encourage them, be there if they need something. Take a meal and drop it off do not expect to stay. But definately stay if they insist, only they know their schedule, their needs.

If you are the one who is doing the caregiving. Try to find a way to be in a support group for caregivers. I cared for my parents for over five years. My mother was first at age 58 she began signs of Alzheimers. My father began to show signs two plus years later. They both lived with my husband and I for five years. Being a part of a caregiver support group softened our frustrations. Let people help you. Find some way to pamper yourself. I made sure I went to a Bible study once a week. I had a pedicure done regularly. I looked for blessings every day. Now ten years later, both of my parents are deceased and I can truthfully say I was so very blessed to have that time with my parents. I gave back to them after many years of their giving to me. It was not easy, I would cry in the shower so that I could scream and no one saw me. I never wanted to be angry with my parents, it was not their fault. I was hurt and sometimes felt angry that my parents were ill at such a young age. With my faith I was able to be patient, kind, and affectionate to them even when my Mom would pinch and hit me. A rub on her back with "I love you sweetie" always calmed her and she would smile and be at peace. God gave us all that we needed to care for my parents. I pray right now for each of you who are caregiving and are reaching out to a caregiver. May there be joy and an abundance of peace.

Being a Grandmother is pure JOY

Today I enjoyed my weekly Wednesday morning with my three year old granddaughter. We played with Dora Explorer's build a park (similar to legos). We made jewelry with play dough. We played swim class in the pool, she was Sarah, Judy, Marilyn, and herself, I was the teacher.
We had snack and watched her favorite this month, Wonder Pets DVD. We had lunch and she left ready for a nap. She and I love these visits, I was ready for a nap too. My eleven and nine year old granddaughters take turns having a day with me every six or so weeks. We like movies, shopping, eating, talking, talking, talking. My four year old grandson and his sister ten months old live in another state. My goal is to have them know me and, despite the fact that we are not together, for them to enjoy being with me. I send FAXES, mail cards, pictures, gifts and as they get older I will talk to them by phone too. We have a cam to actually see one another, so far none us are very good about using that. When we are together I am the "Silly Grandma" and I want to make him laugh, giggle, cheer, we play, sometimes, roughly, but there is great Joy and I go home a happy memory in his mind. I love my five grandchildren, they bless my life!

There are things I miss

Yesterday went by so quickly I did not have an opportunity to say Hi! Every time slot was spoken for long before the sunrose. We have beautiful sunrises, the sunsets are the best. Our back lot is elevated and we look southwest at the mountains. The best sunsets are in the winter, often there are brilliant geometic shapes of red. The second best sunset I have ever seen was in Nigril, Jamaica. I was there in 1976 (?) visiting a friend, Pat, that lived in Santa Cruz serving in the Peace Corp. We had gone to a restaurant right on the ocean. The sunset was brilliant, if I had known the term then, I would have said it had bling-bling. When I was growing up on the Mississippi, Mark Twain territory, I rarely admired a sunset. The sunsets on the river were nice. The best nature activity in the sky were storms, great lightening, I so enjoyed crackling thunder and magnificent flashes of light and huge bolts at the same time the next thunder came rumpling from miles away. When we lived in California, people would be frightened of their lightening and thunder, it did not come often but when it did I would hear squeals and anxious people about. I did not have the heart to tell them "you have not yet seen lightening ". I missed real lightening. They were anxious about the lightening but an earthquake did not phase them. After living there many years I too became desensitized with earthquakes. We are happy we moved, though I do miss the ocean and cool summer nights. I loved September and October in Southern Illinois, I liked to walk alone in the brisk air and the wind whipping beautiful fall colored leaves in circles around my feet. I miss those autumn days. I do enjoy mountains, I did not see a mountain until my family visited Pennsylvania when I was fourteen. Those were beautiful lush mountains. As a child I had the bluffs by the river. Bluffs are four to five story high cliffs. There were many Indian legends regarding those bluffs. Now we are surrounded in all directions by amazing mountains. I do miss friends, three children, a son in law, and two grandchildren that still live in California. I hope to hear from you soon. Di

Under contruction is a blog regarding gardening, please check it out when it is up. My son-in-law, Andy, gardens and he built me some planters and got me started gardening too. We will tell you more about that in the Gardening blog. In process. My greatgrandparents in both my mother and father's families were farmers, my great great grandparents migrated from England. I am curious what they grew on their farms as they settled in Illinois.I know my grandparents primarily grew green beans, tomatoes. and corn. My Dad's father had a half acre he farmed for personal use until he died at ninety three, just five years ago. My Mom's father always had a home garden, as a child I helped him weed and carried aprons full of fresh vegetables to my grandmother's itty bitty kitchen. He liked gardening so much he rented an empty lot about two miles from his home and planted corn and tomatoes there, checking it daily. He loved family. My dear sweet Grandpa H called me and all eleven of his grandchildren almost everyday, after we got home from school. He would question me and make sure I had a great day. When we moved away to California (I was in High School), my grandfather came to our home the morning of the day we were leaving, he began to cry and never did stop the whole day. He repeatedly walked the perimeter of the house for a good three hours. My Mom always said "I broke my Dad's heart moving so far away." When a family loves each other so much, you want to live close enough to see one another whenever you want. I only saw my grandfather one other time after we moved, he had a stroke within the first two years. He lived to be sixty seven, sixty seven and dark brown hair. He had retired from Illinois Glass, had sold fuller brush on the side and became a town alderman. He cared about his community and he loved his family deeply, a wonderful man. We were so blessed.

A baby-boomer, the highest populated generation in the United States, I was born in Illinois in the early fifties. My Dad was stationed in England in the Air Force at the time of my birth. The first time my Daddy and I laid eyes on one another was when I was just over one year old. I was standing in the arbor on the front sidewalk to my grandparents home, where Mom and I lived the first two and half years of my life. My Grandfather was so attentive, he had me potty trained at six months. Yes that sounds crazy, but he was with me so much that he never let me have a soiled diaper. My cousin, Linda, lived with us as did my Mom's sister, Delores. They were my playmates.
Now, over half a century later, my grandparents and parents are deceased. I am a Mom of seven, two birth daughters, two step sons, one step daughter and two adopted children, one girl, one boy. The only two living at home now are the two adopted children. We have five grandchildren, four girls and one boy. Joe and I just celebrated our eighteenth wedding anniversary. It was a big one, as Joe was married to his former wife seventeen years, I to my former husband ten years. Now we both are married to our intended mate longer than our former spouse. Our three eldest daughters are married with children. Their husbands are great guys. Our eldest son has been married one year, bought their first house and they hope to start a family soon. Our second son is working his career successfully and setting goals he hopes can be realized, if our government does not bankrupt our country. Our daughter 16 and son 12 are struggling and enjoying the teen years.
As I write these few paragraphs as my first entry to my blog, I sense an overwhelming feeling welling up inside me. I have lived what must seem like many years to a teen or even someone in their twenties. Yet, I know that compared to my aunt's ninety five years, there are still so many more experiences to come in this journey of life.
I hope you will stay with me as I explore my past and look to the future with excitement, hope, patience, and enthusiasm.

About Us

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