Where I'm From

I am from Dr. Seuss books read in bed at night and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and antiques from Saturday yard sales refinished in our basement.

I am from the century old house on 10th Street with seven layers of wallpaper and ornate wood trim. From a screened-in front porch with a porch swing, visiting neighbors and a cool summer breeze.

I am from a Linden tree I watched my father plant in the front yard, and peonies in the back yard that drooped when it rained. From a big vegetable garden, from honeysuckle picked on family bicycle rides through campus, so sweet.

I am from waking up at five on Christmas morning to open gifts, and lily white skin, from Lula Mae and Mary, from the Hartman's and the McGreavy's who changed their name to Rea when they got to this country lest they be found out.

I am from the melancholy and the artsy and Southern hospitality.

From "I love you" and "You're special".

I am from a father studying to be a priest ('til he met my mom), a Unitarian church, no church, a Methodist church, from Granddad who forbade his children from going to church and slipped atheist literature into his grandchildren's birthday cards.

I am from Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Scotland and Ireland, from hillbillies and Cherokee, from fried pork chops and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce.

From a great grandmother who taught Bonnie (of Bonnie & Clyde) how to shoot never dreaming how she'd use her skills, from a grandmother who ate a grasshopper in a banana on a dare, from a mother who was in drama club with Ryan O'Neal.

I am from photos in the bottom drawer of the cherry bookcase, and Mammo's sapphire in a pouch in Mimi’s purse, from vintage jewelry in an envelope taped under a dresser, from JFK half dollars tucked away in a metal lock box, from laughter and memories that I'll always treasure.


Use this template to write your own Where I'm From poem. Reminisce and enjoy!

Just an Observation

I have done a lot of reading about nutrition lately (actually some friends of mine are on the Hallelujah Diet and I've been reading the book). And so I'm finding out there are all these things that destroy the vitamins, nutrients, minerals, anti-oxidants and enzymes in food. Things like heating food, exposure to air, length of time before consumption, I don't know, you name it, just about anything you do except pick it fresh and eat it right then, destroys something. :)

So, I'm thinking about all of this and I have this thought ~ Why don't any of these things destroy the calories in food?!?!?! What is up with that?

Tell Everyone You Meet

I was reading the story of the leper in Mark 1:40-45. One thing that struck me was that the leper knew he was unclean. We also know that our hearts are unclean. He said to Jesus, " If you want to, you can cleanse me." We too could say this. And Jesus' response to us would be the same as his response to the leper, "I want to. Be clean."

At this point Jesus asks the leper to tell no one. He knew if he did, He would be so crowded with seekers, He couldn't move. Of course, the leper was so full of joy, he had to tell everyone he met what had happened. The same should be true of our testimony. We should be so overjoyed about what Christ has done for us, that we can't help but to tell everyone we meet.

Can you imagine what it would be like if all of Christ's followers did this?!? People would be waiting in line to get into overcrowded churches, storming Christian bookstores to get their hands on a Bible. In other words, people would be wanting to "touch Jesus" in any way they could, much like the crowds that surrounded Jesus after the leper shared his story.

Today, Jesus doesn't want us to keep what He has done for us to ourselves. In fact, before he left this world, He gave His disciples The Great Commission. One of the ways we can lead others to Christ is to be finding ways to share our testimony with everyone we meet (just as the leper did).

Our testimony should fill us with such joy that we can't help but to do this! If we don't feel this way, could it be that we have allowed our relationship with Christ to dry up? He wants to make us clean. Will we let Him? Will we tell everyone we meet of the wonderful things Christ has done for us?

Ponderings from the bathtub

I praise the Lord every night for my tub and nice warm water. I have many friends who tell me they would love to take a bath, but they don't have the time. So important is it to me, that I make the time. It is a time to transition from mommy to wife. It is a time to pray, to ponder, to reflect. Alone, in the quiet, I cleanse my body and my soul.

I was doing some soul searching last night in my tub. I was thinking about an entry Ann V. wrote in her blog about the harvest. She eloquently wrote about her husband trying to get the harvest done ahead of an approaching storm. Her words challenged me. Am I as diligent about the harvest of souls that my Father has left to me? Do I pursue it as though a storm was approaching?

I have to confess that as I lay there in the quiet luxury of my tub, I couldn't think of a single thing that I had done that day for the Harvest. I had behaved as if I have all the time in the world for such things. Lord, please forgive me. Please give me a sense of urgency, a continuous awareness of the eternal. Clear my heart of the many temporal things that keep it occupied.