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Viewing 1 - 6 out of 6 Blogs.
Praise God, the biopsy of the mole I had removed was benign. No cancer! This is a relief as I have had pre-cancer results in the past.
"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be." ~Clementine Paddleford
"To choose what is difficult all one's day, as if it were easy, that is faith."
W.H. Auden
My husband and I took a homeless teenager into our home a few months ago. This is a child we have known for many years and a friend of our 17 year old son. We have had a heart for this kid for sometime. His parents kicked him out and when we found out that he was homeless, we took him in so that he will be able to graduate here. He doesn't come without some issues and we are aware of that, but I do believe that we have the skill, but more importantly, God's grace to enable us to help this boy. This morning the school called and he has been causing trouble at the school and is in danger of not graduating in the spring. If this does not stop they will be seeking alternative placement for him. My heart aches for this kid and we have come to love him as one of our own, but I know that tough love is what is needed here. I pray that God gives us the wisdom needed to help this child succeed.
I have been absent from NOTH as my life has been undergoing major changes and reconstructions. As I witness home, community, country and society freefalling, I have decided that my family and home will not join in the free fall and have decided to draw some lines that I will no longer cross. Some of these include: 1) I quit my job working for an organization that worked on behalf of democrats. I am pro-life. Period. And cannot compromise my integrity or what I believe in any longer. I was leaning toward this decision and viewing the following video clinched it for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo 2) I will no longer be quiet and passive concerning the atrocity of abortion. 3) I closed my JCPenney credit card when I received notice that they were raising the interest rate for all card holders and decreasing the grace time between bills before we would accrue late fee penalties. I called them to close my account and when asked why, told them I am sick of corporate greed. 4) After making a small purchase at this same store and paying cash, I was penalized for using cash rather than their credit card in the form of denying me an additional discount for using the credit card. I wrote them a letter today saying that I will no longer be a customer of JCPENNEY. 5) I have ended a long time friendship because I could not continue a friendship in light of their decision to cross genders. This was difficult and painful as we have been best friends for years. 6) My family will begin to attend church on Sunday's once again, despite our disenchantment with organized religion. These are but a few of the changes in our household, and we are already experiencing a peace as well as a healing in our household as a result. On another front: I have been delving deeply into my art and upon requests I have received, I will share my latest projects. 1) This is a study for a large pastel painting I am beginning. It is a view of our favorite place to fish which is reached by going through two lakes and two creeks, the last one requiring us to get out and pull the boat through the creek and then through a huge culvert. This is the view that we are greeted by as we emerge from the culvert. 
2) The next is a sample from my visual journal. Keeping this journal is a passion of mine and I even drive a four hour round trip to meet with like minded artists once a month. 
I have a hard time with beginnings. An empty sheet of paper awaiting my words, a blank canvas awaiting the paint, a project awaiting a start are all things that I find both exhilerating and terrifying. So it is with beginning a blog. I have thought long and hard about what the purpose of this blog should be. Some chose to keep the focus of their blog on one thing; politics, spirituality, art, memories, quotes, etc., and I admire them, but for me, I would like my blog to be a record of my journey and the discoveries along the way, which may include all of those areas and then some. And so I begin with today. My husband and I got up at the crack of dawn this chilly late summer morning and began the day by leaving behind the sleeping children with the dogs to stand watch, as we jumped on our bikes and headed out for breakfast at a local family owned restaraunt. We chose a seat at the window and enjoyed our breakfast while we watched the sun rise and spill across our shoulders and onto the wooden floor like a bag of spilt copper pennies, as the city came to life. On our way home we stopped at the local farmers market and chatted with friends and neighbors about our gardens, fall, and the best way to prepare eggplant, which we purchased along with beets, red onions, cucumbers, and one zucchini. I'm not sure whether I enjoy the beautiful colors and shapes of these vegetables more, or the taste. And now with the morning over, husband and children gone for the day, I look at these beautiful gifts lying on my counter and contemplate whether to draw/paint them or to make that beet cake with orange glaze. *sigh* Decisions. Beginnings and endings are so difficult, and yet so beautiful.
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