Friday, August 16, 2013

Gifts


Eating lunch with a friend.  Trying to do a decent day's work.  Hearing the rain patter against the window.  There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize Him or not recognize Him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly.   ~Frederick Buechner

So great.  Such a Gift.  Becs and I took a drive to meet sweet friends.  Jem tells me my glasses look like they are taking over my face! : D
 
We listened to this on the way:
Show You Love by Jars of Clay

Me and my sweet friend, Margie. We had so much fun. She is such a kindred spirit. : )

  This is Margie's daughter, Elsie with our youngest, Becs. They are so cute together....So darling.

Nothing like sister-in-Christ fellowship. Nothing like it.  It's not very often we are blessed to meet such sweethearts on this earth.  A Gift.

Becs and I went to Hobby Lobby afterwards where we had so much fun looking at art supplies and such...So. Fun. These are precious times.  Such special Gifts.

We're still really missing our little duck, Daisy. She was just soooo human-like it was amazing. Do you know that little darling would nap next to my bed on a little blanket?  She would run to the front door with the little doglets when someone was at the door, her little webbed feet runing so cute...Kind of pigeon-toed....Such a precious little thing... A sweet Gift even for a short time. God's little creature...We miss her so.

When we arrived home yesterday, I was greeted by Marianna, she cooked dinner so that was very nice indeed.  What a sweet Gift.  We listened to this:

I think this music is beautiful...I never tire of it.  Ever.  It reminds me of so many things....just so many things in life. The real things in life....A Gift.

Today I'm missing my dad, I think I need to call him:

I need to visit my dad, it's difficult, he lives several hours away and it's so hard getting schedules together and so forth.  Pray for me about that would you?  It can be difficult and weighs heavy at times.  He's 83 now, he can't drive more than a block away from his home... he has macular degeneration.

Lea talked with him over the phone and he tells her how when he was on city counsel years ago he had had quite enough of another city councilman as he sat listening to the man (falsely) pridefully bragging on himself at a meeting. My dad took a book, probably the rule book! ... and threw it in such a manner that it slid across the floor, my dad promptly publicly challenged the bragging man.   Not a fake bone.  Such a Gift...

Reading and loving this book as well as enjoying the dvd, I fell in love with the book Marianna had given me for my birthday, it's like a personal retreat for me...I just had to treat myself to the dvd also with my Christmas money: 
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are  -     
        By: Ann Voskamp
    
  You can watch the trailers Here:   Ann Voskamp One Thousand Gifts   and a series Here with Ann herself. Ann Voskamp is such a Gift within herself.  I do believe she is a kindred spirit indeed. You can also see some neat things here on her blog. 
I do hope all is well with you and yours.  And for all my sweet blogging friends who left such sweet, precious comments about Daisy, I so appreciated and still cherish each one.  Gifts. Love, Amelia
  

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

9 comments:

auntie said...

The gentleness of you and yours is our gift from your heart. Sitting here and reading your thoughts and the life that you live seems to make the world around me calmer and softer.

Jenny said...

A sweet blog today dear sister in the Lord. You do write about some of the important relationships in life, friends and family, as well as the sweet companions God gives us in animals. I am sorry you lost your little friend.

Beloved's Redheaded Bride said...

It looks like you had a great day out with a friend! Such sweet smiles.

I hope you get to see your sweet daddy soon.

Barbara said...

You are such a beautiful, gentle spirit -- even behind the big sunglasses (which I love -- keep wearing them!). You remind me to cherish every family member, friend, and moment. Life is not always peaceful so when life is good, we need to be GREATLY GRATEFUL!!! And when life is tough we need to submit the matters to our Lord and wait while we watch Him work things out.

I love your descriptions of the little duck. What a unique little creature and precious memories!

The Saxophone Player's Wife said...

Hi, Amelia!

Thank you for stopping by. It is always nice to hear from you. Such a lovely thing to get together with our sisters in Christ. I feel like I do that every time I come to visit you here! God bless you and your family today! :)

P.S. Please, share your daughters' blog links some time. I would love to see what they are up to these days.

debi said...

Oh my friend ... you've been on my mind the past few days, and coming here to read this is such a blessing! Your words are so encouraging to my heart. I could comment on every little thing you shared! Indeed, friends are very special gifts from God, and it looks like you had such a fun time together ... yes, there are so many gifts He gives to us that in our daily lives we tend to overlook. Well, I have to tell you that I started my 'grateful' journal just this past week during my prayer time! I've been meaning to do it for awhile now, but something would always stop me ... until now! I was so blessed to see that you had shared about your gifts. too, Amelia! I still do not have Ann's book, but plan on getting it now that I've started the journal, but I do read her website, and I did see her video a week ago Sunday, and wow, isn't that wonderful?!! I couldn't start on my 'grateful' journal fast enough. I'm really excited to see how God will use it in my life, and the lives of those I love. Giving thanks opens doors to even more of His sweet blessings! Our lives, and the lives of others are so much richer all because of a grateful heart! And, I will be praying that God opens those doors so you can see your sweet dad more often. Such a wonderful photo of your parents, and I enjoyed the story about him that you shared, too. I am also praying that your hearts will heal a little more each day since losing your little Daisy. Bless you, my friend ... I hope you have a wonderful week in Him!

Hugs - Debi xoxo

Amelia said...

Hi Caroline, I did put a couple of links here for Rebecca and Michelle. Marianna's is http://mariannarose.blogspot.com/. Lea doesn't have one these days. : )

Next time I hope I can link to Marianna's. Thanks Caroline for asking! You are so sweet.

Amelia said...

Hi Debi, Thank you so much for your thoughts and care!

I'm so glad you too are probably going to be reading Ann Voskamp's book, it's a huge blessing! Isn't the dvd beautiful?

I think it's great that you are keeping a journal! It's so nice to know that we both are practicing Eucharisteo. <3

Thanks so much Debi for you thoughtfully coming and letting me know and it's especially special and a Gift to me that the Lord had placed me on your heart and you let me know. Sometimes it's that extra step of just letting friends know you were on their heart right? : )

Hugs to you Debi, let me know how your journal is going, that is so exciting!

Amelia said...

Caroline, Ooops. I put the links on the above post! : )