Meet My Mommy!!

If I get sentimental on Mother's Day it has nothing to do with me and my brood; but rather, all about the sweet, gray haired lady in the above picture. They say hind sight is always 20 20 and boy are they right. There is something about having your own kids that causes one to look upon their own mother in a new way. No longer do you see all the things she never let you do as a kid, no longer do you view spankings as a crime, no longer do you think you know it all. She takes on an angelic aurora.

As a younger kid we would go to Arizona and visit my Grandparents every now and then. It is a whole different world out there if you've lived in the east all your life. The barren desert can be difficult to like if you've known nothing but lush green grass, and deciduous trees. 

About 6 years ago my parents bought a house out there. Suddenly the desert has become a beautiful place. Suddenly, I long to go there. My Mom's presence out there has given new meaning to such a desolate place. I no longer look at it the same.  2 thousand miles with a phone call or text message is livable knowing I still have her. 

My Mom is a natural green thumb. She taught herself everything she knows. And without really trying she passed her love for gardening - both veggie and flower- to me. I remember as a young girl outside helping her one day and she asked if I was going to have a garden when I got older. At that point, all I saw was the hard work that gardening required and I emphatically said no way. I think she was a little disappointed :-( She knows now I've changed my mind since then. ha ha 

To walk into her house is like walking into a greenhouse, there are plants every where. To me, it is beautiful!! It is home!! I'm working on it. LOL 

One of the things my Mom passed onto me as a living example was that Christians are not to be lazy. She was always a hard worker. She did not work an outside job while all us kids lived at home, but she seemed to work around the house from sunup to sundown. Her house and yard were testament to all she did. She strongly believed and lived that Christians reflect Christ in ALL things and that we should live in a way that everything we did was attractive. She never went to town in every day clothes. No, she didn't put on her Sunday finery but she dressed nicely and was always clean.

I feel like I have a LONG ways to go, but I'm working on it. 

God definitely gave me the best when He chose her to be my Mom. On this day, Mother's Day, I wish she was not a phone call away. I wish I could hand deliver something special. I wish I could cook her favorite meal with her favorite dessert. I wish I could sit in the same room and have a heart to heart talk. 

I wish, I wish!!

If your Mom is close by and still living, hug her close and show her how special she is. Your heart will thank you.

Seeing Through the Glass Darkly

Somewhere above the craziness of this Palm tree is a beautiful blue sky. This Palm lives in beautiful Arizona where the sky is usually cloudless and the sun always shines. But from this point of view one must really look to see.

Wanting to develop a deeper relationship with my Heavenly Father I asked Him not too long ago to show me if there was things in my life I needed to work on. Warning! Never ask that unless you are ready to go under the scalpel without anesthetics. The procedure might not be so bad if you are one who can be shown things through the "still small voice". Me, on the other hand, seem to only learn through the school of hard knocks.

Its funny how we can live with ourselves day in and day out but never see ourselves for who we really are. I've not been living to my fullest potential. I had allowed or for that matter never even got my life weeded like I thought I had of certain weeds that was choking off my ability to blossom. Selfishness being the main thistle!

The last few weeks, I've been feeling a lot like this here Pancake Cactus - not very pretty. ha ha

 I Corinthians 13:12a NLT comes to my mind - Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.

And my view as though I'm planted under a Palm tree. I know the blue sky and sunshine is there but I can't really see it. Every now and then I catch a glimpse that gives me hope.

My heart may ache because of the reflection I've seen in the mirror, but at the same time, it rejoices because I know that God is putting me through the same fire that diamonds are made of. So that someday I can be that wife my husband needs and the proper mommy to my kids.

God's got bigger and better things in the making for this families future and he needs me to shoot for my potential and not be satisfied to be status quo. Because slackers aren't very useful to the Kingdom.

The rest of I Corinthians 13:12 says, All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

I don't know what the future holds, but He allowed me a partial glimpse of it last night. So through the fire I will continue if needs be because I want what I saw.

 

I've exposed my heart a little not to get sympathies. But to be an encouragement to someone else who might feel like life has become dry, barren, and desolate. Ask God what He wants you to learn from it. He wants to help you reach your potential. You are not alone!!

 

 

Just Puttering

I am most contented when I can just putter around my house. That is what I did today, puttered. Many people despise Mondays because it means back to work. I, on the hand, love them. Weekends wear me out with the extra running around, going here and there, etc. Monday is when I catch my breathe.

My day took on a much brighter turn when I received a phone call from a dear friend whom I had not talked with in 4 years. Not because we didn't want to, we simply lost touch after moving away and our paths never crossed. While I was a young and very in-experienced pastor's wife this sweet lady became my mentor. I loved working side by side her in the kitchen making a meal together and listen to her stories and advice. So to hear her voice on the other end of the line today really lifted my spirits.

 

The other day I was telling my kids I wanted to make violet jelly. HUH?! Yep! You heard correctly :-)  Well wouldn't you know but 1 of my boys came home from school and quietly asks "how many cups of those little purple flowers did you say you needed?" Then proceeded to open his lunch back and said "because I picked you some today." 4 cups - it was the exact amount I needed! What a sweetheart!

So pretty and they matched my bowl so nicely :-)

Warning! Do not strain the steeped violets with a rag you don't want stained a pretty blue :-)

Not really the color you was expecting was it? 4 cups of flowers will give you 6 pints of jelly. A new experience for me making violet jelly. But it's been fun to putter with it.

 

Recently Mr. Z built me a much needed shelf for the guest/kid's bathroom. I painted and stained it. Well today I finally puttered around and got it hung up which made me continue to putter around in this bathroom which is always fun. Decorating and changing and sprucing always make me happy.

I moved my funny sign over here which makes more since because this is the side of the bathroom that the toilet paper is located. ha ha The star had not been in here so I added it.

The cheerful flowers in a cheerful metal pail was added to the heart hook.

Lastly I added the cedar outhouse lamp Mr. Z built back in the winter. It's ambiance adds lots of warm charm to the room. I love how the room looks and feels after my puttering that I just might have to use those bathroom to enjoy it. ha ha

 

Lastly I puttered a little more in the kitchen and made some very yummy raspberry bars. All this besides a hamper load of laundry, empting the joy trap under the kitchen sink, and doing dishes this has been my day.

 

The week looks promising to being warm and sunshine. I hope so cause I want to go putter in the yard.

Have a great evening and may your week experience at least 1 blessing.