If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing ok. Link and I are moving kind of slow today and it’s raining. We need the water so grateful for the rain!
Todays prompt is about changing your name. I honestly don’t think I would change it! I already changed my maiden name to my married name. I kind of flirted with a name a couple of years ago for a Facebook profile Julia James. Julia was my confirmation name when I was a little girl still practicing Catholicism.
I was looking at my pictures love this two tone rose.
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Hello to you. Hope this finds you well as you visit me here today. I just finished an intake appt for behavioral health through the VA. Fun! Fun! So many questions!
Today my mind turns to thinking about finding happiness where you find yourself living. Blooming where your planted. This is something I’ve tried to do most of my life. Next week I’m going to see about a volunteer opportunity at the local Food Pantry here in town. I have been praying about an opportunity to serve my community that wasn’t politics and this showed up on Facebook. What’s pretty cool is the gal I talked to is medically disabled too . She said she really likes helping out at the pantry. Like her I need a purpose in life – a reason to get up in the morning!
Plants and Trees bloom where they are planted and so can we!
Hosea 14:5
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
Hello to you. How are you today? Todays prompt is about fears I’ve overcome. The biggest one I have had to overcome is the fear of death. I think we all have a healthy fear of that! Ever since death took so many that I have loved – people and animals, I have had to accept that death is a part of life. At some point I too will have to let go of my clutch of this life and go and see what’s next.
Nature and animals have shown me a lot about life after death. I can remember after spreading Sam and Blondies ashes around our oak tree in the front yard millions of pale flying insects came forth. Seeing that happen was kind of like seeing proof of life after death. From ash comes life.
Delicious peonies – these smell so good! Flowers I’ve never seen before A large garden is underway There is always something to see on the walk. It’s interesting to see life springing from seemingly nothing sometimes. Spring and summer are a nice reminder of life after the death and slumber of winter.
Revelation 21:4. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. …
Psalm 34:18. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 147:3. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Hello to you. How are you today? Today is my Dads birthday! I hope he has a good day. In birthdays past my Mom would make chocolate pudding dessert. We both love it and also chocolate cream pie. My Grandma Schmidt used to make that. Some of my favorite memories with my Dad are us dueling over the piece sizes of the dessert!
Todays prompt asks a question that has more than one answer. Yes I practice religion but I also practice spirituality which is more than just reading a Bible and following rules. For me the word religion kind of has a negative connotation associated with it. Religion has been at the root of many wars and continues to be so. That’s why I choose to think of religion more as having a personal relationship with God. There are so many interpretations of the Bible and so many different denominations of a religion with God at its center! Which ones are the right ones?! I was raised Catholic which is really different than the church I’m attending now. With the church I’m attending belief in Jesus is the focus to be saved whereas that’s not the case with Catholicism. It’s taken me some time to say Jesus is my savior; the only way. I’ve come a long way – I’ve tried a lot of different walks of faith to get to the point I’m at now. I still question things!
My neighbors two tone treeA two tone rose blooming Beauty on the walk last night
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?
Hello to you. How are you? I’m just back from a dawdle with Link. I’m lucky to get him around the block these days. I have had to learn patience with him. He isn’t a spring chicken and neither am I. The peonies are blooming in the neighborhood – so beautiful:
My neighbors peonies are open!
Yesterday was nice. My cousin whose son got married yesterday, had a gathering at her house. I didn’t stay long as I was feeling really tired. I still haven’t really recovered from my fall this winter. My lower back is still bothering me.
Todays prompt questions what does it mean to me to have it all. I have learned to be grateful for what I have. When I have everything I need and want for nothing I need I feel like I have it all. Currently I have all my needs met and anything over and above that is icing on the cake. When I was active duty I was busy all the time. I worked a lot and then came home and had household chores. I didn’t have a lot of free time. I guess I never really thought of trying to have it all in our societies standard – working, having free time, hobbies, vacation, spending time with family and friends, being married and having children. I’ve just been grateful as I’ve gone along! I think societies having it all is attainable but not necessarily sustainable. You can get burnt out without balance and that happened to me.
Mark 12:30-31New International Version
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a]31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”
Hello there! How are you? Todays prompt is a good one to contemplate about. When I think of the word legacy I think of a tombstone with a birth date, a dash and a death date. There is so much that littledash represents for most people. It comprises all the little things, the small moments that make up a life. From all the mornings with coffee on theporch, weddings, going to church, days spent at work, walks, getting a hair cut, playing with pets and or children. So many little things we take for granted are in that little dash.
I hope my dash, my legacy is a positive one and will be recalled by those I leave behind with love. These past couple of years I have been kind of dormant. My health condition has made it harder to be who I want to be. I have had to adjust and change – focus on what I can do not what I can’t. I’ve come a long way from even my first year living here in Idaho. There were so many things I was convinced I couldn’t do. I was shell shocked in my body. Everything I used to be able to do with ease I had to work to be able to do again. Stuff like even taking a shower by myself!
I hope the legacy I leave behind will be one of ultimate inspiration – never give up on yourself or others. Always look for the beauty in life around you and you will be rewarded to find it.
I was treated to a surprise last night One of my neighbors rose bush is already in bloomAbsolute beauty – my Grandma Schmidt left behind in her legacy the beauty I find in roses. She cared for hers so much. Roses also make me think of Saint Therese Lisieux of the Little Flower. One of her signs is roses.
Hello to you. How are you today? Todays prompt calls to mind a story. It was the early morning of my husbands 35th birthday and I was awake. My spirit was moving faster than my body. I went in the garage looking for something and found a huge black cockroach on the wall. This startled me! Then it suddenly flew at me and I grabbed an old purse and threw it to try and stop it from flying on me. In doing this I lost my balance and fell. All the weight of the fall went to my left wrist. Thank God Kyle was home to take me to the emergency room! The people that helped me were kind of scary and I didn’t trust them, they put my wrist in a cast. All the while this was going on, I felt so bad to have ruined Kyles birthday!
The healing process was frustrating – I rebelled against wearing an immobilizing cast. I liked a Velcro brace best. You can tell my wrist has been broken but it healed pretty good.
You can tell my wrist was broken.
Jeremiah 17:14 NIV
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
Beautiful spread Emily put together We had lots of young ladies present – so sweetEmily getting ready to share devotionAuntie and me Ladies Tea – Grace Women Middleton
Hello to you! How are you today? I’m just home from a wonderful event with our Women’s Group – a Ladies Tea. Our leader Emily did a great job of planning and setting up the event. What was really sweet is we had a lot of little ladies present. I love going to Grace House for gatherings. The house was built in the 1900’s and was a hair salon prior to being leased to our church. I miss the trees that use to be outside. The landlord cut them down and I guess s parking lot is going in their place.
Emily had a wonderful devotional for us. She spoke of a family members office she recently visited that was filled with random things and when she asked him about it he said each thing was a token to remember scripture. So Emily chose as the party favors little jam jars as tokens to remember spreading hope. I can’t remember the scripture she chose but this is a good one too:
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Something happened afterwards when Emily was talking with my Aunt , Maryann and myself . I felt that feeling in my chest of being filled up with positive energy. A glowing. For a few moments I didn’t feel my ears bothering me or my body aching. I felt the glow of fellowship and what comes from sharing time with fellow believers. We have such wonderful ladies in our church! They really give their all to God and what they do for God’s people in our church.
I was looking through my pictures from last year and found this natural beauty. I’m looking forward to the time of roses blooming again.
Hello to you. How are you? My thoughts today turn to natural beauty. A beauty that exists without artificial enhancements. I find a lot of this kind of beauty in nature. Especially in the flowers like roses! I hope to capture some new pictures this summer of the roses and flowers around here.
Isaiah 35:1-2King James Version
35 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
Rose pictures from last year – they are not awake yet
Hello to you. Hope this finds you well. My thoughts today are about the power of focus – keeping your eyes open for what you want to see in the world. If you were to drive into my neighborhood you probably wouldn’t notice much at a glance. It’s when you decide you want to see beauty that all the sudden an ordinary place becomes extraordinary. All around us this time of year nature is showing us the power of rebirth. There is always something new to see! What you focus your sights and energy on gains power. It’s kind of like my asking God about orange flowers and then finding them everywhere!
Philippians 4:8New International Version
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
To be 