Reward Photo challenge

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Reward.”

My youngest LOVED to catch frogs when we would be at our church camp in the summer. She would be very patient as she would keep trying. Her REWARD would get  their picture taken and then be set free 🙂 I will say that when we were there and summer camp was going on, she would be the girl at the pond attracting all the boys cause of what she was doing. They thought it so cool that she could catch frogs and tadpoles!

Friday’s 6 word story!

Lost shoe, can mark the beginning!

So I probably have you baffled now, but I am sure that you can figure it out 🙂 Give it a try!

Crisis averted

The debate between electronic books and real books have been never ceasing for awhile now. I wasn’t planning on writing this tonight, but since the event happened, I thought , Hey that could make a good post, or maybe not. I will let you decide 🙂

I finished my book in the early part of the evening, was lost in thought for awhile at the ending, but then came out of my book trance.  As I sat there I thought,  Ok, what will the next book be?  That is when it hit me, I hadn’t put books on my Kindle for awhile. I had been reading real books and now I had none of them left. Well shouldn’t say none, my bookshelves will argue with that. But the books on the shelves are treasures that have already been read. So what do you do when you are in a crisis? You text another book loving friend who you knew would understand 🙂 After laughing at me by text it didn’t take long for her to send me 2 links to FREE Kindle books. She thought I would like them and she was right!  I read the description was intrigued and with 1 click my crisis was solved! Why can’t all my crisis be solved that quickly!

In conclusion, that my friends is why as much as I LOVE the feel of a real book, I also really love my Kindle! At the touch of my fingers I can instantly have a book. Instantly begin to read, being transported into another world. Yes, I can go to libraries, but they are closed right now. Don’t think a policeman would have much sympathy for my “book crisis” if I I tried breaking into the library.

Book crisis is averted thanks to my Kindle and my friend. BUT….there is another problem looming now; the bed is calling my name, and so is my KIndle! What do I do??

Tuesday’s Thoughts!

The theme patience today was inspired by a conversation this morning with a dear one. It is also something I have to keep striving for, some days are easier than others to have this precious quality!

Don’t give up. Normally its the last key on the ring which opens the door. Paulo Coelho

But isn’t that so frustrating when you are going through all those keys! With the last one, you are thinking this better be it and Voila, it is! 🙂 Unfortunately going through different keys in life can take longer than the ones to open your door, but the concept remains the same! Hang in there!

Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you had in mind. David G. Allen

But we like to think that our order is the best!

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, He became a butterfly! Unknown

I know I posted similar things about the butterfly before, but it describes patience so well! The caterpillar realized that in the end the struggle was worth it! Take heart today if you feel like the caterpillar, the time to spread those beautiful wings is coming!

Thanks for reading, Have a Wonderful Day!

Monday’s Snapshot Memories!

We are going out to the MidWest today, Oklahoma!  Where it was 110 degrees! I could use some of that heat right now. My hubby was sent to Oklahoma for training with his job back in 2012, He was fixed up in a nice hotel, got a rental car and got to see a state that he had never been to. He played tennis about every day. even in the heat. He was glad that it was a dryer heat, not the humidity like we are used to. He took daily walks in the evening and said how loud and how much bigger the crickets were! Sounded like he was in the forest and he was in town! He had Fish Fry’s about once a week. The guys would go fishing and fry up the fish and they would all eat together. The only bad thing about Oklahoma was that he was far away from us for 3 months!  There were many times I was tempted to jump on a jet plane to go see him, but just wasn’t possible. The texts were flying and we were very glad for Skype. When he came home we surprised him with a trip to the ocean for the week-end. It was great!! It was in October, so we were about the only ones on the beach! The girls dove into the water for from the really hot summer we had the water was still fairly warm. I still remember the comment from my youngest at our first night on the beach. When we were walking back to the hotel, as it had grown dark. She gave me a peck on my cheek and said “I feel like we are in a movie, for this is the perfect ending!”  Couldn’t disagree with that 🙂These pictures were from Medicine State Park and the Memorial picture was when he went to visit the site of the Federal building bombing in Oklahoma City. A sad day! 

He wants to take us to Medicine Park someday, I want to go and see the adorable prairie dogs 🙂

Hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of Oklahoma, my hubby said he wouldn’t mind going back, as long as next time he is with me 🙂

The Reunion – Sunday’s Flash Fiction

She turned her head as she heard the screen door squeak open. Out came her beautiful daughter. She may have just rolled out of bed with her robe still on, but she still was so beautiful to her! She was holding 2 cups of Hot Cocoa in her hand as he moved toward her Mom on the porch swing.

“Ahh, thank you dear, come sit with me and look at this beautiful sky.”

They rocked on the porch swing in silence for awhile, sipping at the hot cocoa and just enjoying the stillness of the early morning hour.

“Mom, did you ever wonder?” Her mom had a feeling of what she meant, but waited for her to finish.

“Did you ever wonder if I would come home?”

As she enfolded her daughter’s hand in hers, she said, “I never wondered IF, I only wondered WHEN.”

Tears streamed down her dear daughter’s face as she squeezed her Mom’s hand. With a catch in her throat she said to her Mom, “Thank you for never giving up on me!”

With contentment in their hearts they finished watching the sun rise. It was a new day. A new beginning!

Sometimes its right in front of you…..

Some of you  may remember the post I recently posted about how we miss what is right in front of us sometimes? I wrote about  my class of 2 year olds  and how when we play the color game they never see the colors that are so big and obvious. Well I have a chuckle for you all before you go to bed.

We were cleaning today and I found a copy of the passport photos we had taken last Spring. The originals are of course safely locked up in our firesafe box in our passports. I laid my photo on our bed with some other things and forgot about it. Later tonight after my hubby finished snow blowing our driveway he came inside tired and ready to watch a show on TV. We watched Dr.Quinn, Medicine Woman. Anyone remember that? Well the show ended and he asked if I was ready for bed, I turned to him to pat his chest and that is when I started laughing. He had my passport photo taped over his heart! I just shook my head asking when he did that. He said right before the  show. I thought, No way! For yes, my eyes were on the show, but I still had looked at him several times. I laughed again as I thought of how Yup, sometimes we really don’t see what is right in front of us! He told me that he put it there cause I guard his heart 🙂  And all the ladies are going  AWWWWW……right? 🙂

Sweet dreams my friends!

Friday’s 6 word story!

I must have moved to Alaska! (B..R..R!!)

Let them eat CAKE!

When someone dies we hurt and when we go to the funeral to say good bye and celebrate their life, its hard. Last week  I learned something that can make funerals even harder. That is when you truly don’t  know the person. No, the funeral I went to was of my dear friend, who I have known since 2005. I knew her well, but her family did not. I came away from her funeral feeling a deep sadness and void for it was like her life hadn’t been honored.  There was nothing personal said about her at the funeral, no memories shared. The pictures displayed of her were from her childhood. As I said, her family didn’t know her, and to me that is a tragedy.  They missed out on knowing a great woman.

I don’t want to go into detail of why her family didn’t know her, the purpose of this blog isn’t to tell her whole life story. Suffice it to say she was kicked out of the house when she was 17 and after that her family would pop into her life when they wanted something. She always kept the door open for them, hoping that maybe the one time they would pop into her life would be a sincere time and that they would stay. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

So now she has died and her family has no time left to get to know their daughter, their sister, their granddaughter. All her family has is faded photographs and old memories. They never made the effort to become part of her life. It  was a constant ache in her heart that she dealt with. From witnessing the heart ache they caused and seeing their uncaring ways, I struggled with bitterness. But amidst the bitterness I felt  deep sadness for them. They don’t have a second chance to make things right and to be the family that my friend needed.

So in my sadness my blessings have stood out to me.  Its been impressed on me all the more of how much I value my family and my friends, and how blessed I am to have them in my life. I know without a doubt that when my funeral comes, it will be a day of sharing treasured memories and laughter as stories are told. There will be old photographs along with the  new ones to show my life’s journey. My presence will be felt at the service as they sing some of my favorite songs,etc. Yes, it will be a day of sadness for those who have loved me, but they can at least be content in the fact that they REALLY KNEW me!

Now before this post gets too morbid, I will end with this thought. As I said, my service will be planned by my loved ones who really knew me and because of that, the meal afterwards will consist of mostly desserts! I will be looking down from above and saying, “OK,service is over, tears are done, Let them eat  Angel food CAKE! And brownies, peanut butter fudge, strawberry pie, and who knows how big the spread of desserts there will be! I am sure I will be enjoying my own spread of heavenly desserts!

“Spread the Love Challenge”

My dear friend Priceless Joy from Beautiful Words nominated me to participate in the Spread the Love Challenge. A fun way to celebrate February. You are supposed to write 10 four word sentences about love and share your favorite quote or poem about love from a movie or book. Then nominate 10 more bloggers to keep “spreading the Love” 🙂

Love is truly unconditional.                                        Love – spoken by eyes.

Love is always forgiving.                                            Love = a warm heart.

Love is often exciting.                                                 Love = a open heart.

Love = a warm hug.                                                      Love – being another’s  wings.

Love is tears shared.                                                   Love- sound of laughter.

“How do you spell love?” said Piglet

“You don’t spell it….you feel it.” said Pooh

There are so many great quotes and poems about love, but that has to be one of my favorites, for we all know just saying you love someone isn’t enough, you have to show it, you have to make sure they feel loved!

Thanks PJ for this fun challenge and now here is my list of 10 to continue it on.

Jeanne from The Exceptional Everyday

Meg Evans

Maria from Another Cup of Coffee

Little Learner

Mandibelle16

Caroline from Beautiful Life with Cancer

Dawn from Daily Devotions with Dawn

Silver Threading

Sam from Another Voice

Love, Hope and Happy Notes

Enjoy!