This is Most Wonderful for Memorial Day or Any Day!

Oh my.  Just saw this.  It SO reminds me of my Daddy.  He loved to fly, and had a simulator like this on his computer.    I miss you Daddy so much.  

In honor of those who serve and served our country with valor, many sacrificing their very lives for us.   God bless America and may we bless God.

"The Aviators"

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  ...Sure do miss my daddy

 All the great blessings of my life are present in my thoughts today.   ~Phoebe Cary 

A very good movie that I love to watch this time of year is 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946) 

It has been said that this movie is the closest hitting movie to how our vets felt and what they went through after WWII.  Just the music score is beautiful. 

 

May we remember those who gave their all for us.  Please stay close to the Lord and may we lift our country up in prayer.

~Amelia 

Stop, Ponder and Remember Always... Gifts

The other sunny afternoon out on our front porch, our son in law was telling me how Christopher Robin, one of our little grandsons, our first grandchild was sitting on the steps of their front porch with his little wooden box with special things in it...You know how it is...The things little boys are made of...Special little rocks and gems and things from outside and special trinkets that are very special, held by precious little hands.  Christopher Robin was humming as he sat on their front porch on the steps there looking through his wooden box...My son in law who is the same personality type as I am said it was just like the opening to the theme of:   To Kill a Mockingbird.   To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my most favorite movies.   He said he just stopped to listen and it was uncanny and beautiful, the kind of thing where you stop everything and listen...You had those sweet little hands holding the opened little wooden box, hauntingly but beautifully Christopher was also humming just like the opening of the old movie above.  The scene could not have been more perfect my son in law shares...

When our firstborn was around 18 months old, she was walking down my mother in law's hallway wearing my high heels.  It was so cute, she was wearing a pinafore dress and her sweet little chubby legs were barely walking in my white pumps.  My mother in law and I were walking slowly behind her, smiling knowingly, and my mother in law tells me...Remember this, hold this picture in your mind and always remember this scene.  ....And I did.

In life there are things like that, we must be still and take notice though.   We have to be still and take notice.  Notice things.  There is a lack of deep thinking these days.  People get in a hurry and don't notice things and jump in on things they should not many times and all the while they are missing beauty of the heart, not listening to hearts and possibly missing out on discernment on things, perhaps even missing out on mercy to others, appreciating friends and family members, reaching out maybe to someone we don't even know.   ...Missing out on snapshots of the heart.  Gifts.

 

Do we miss out on sharing a word, a Gift of comfort to people who are grieving the loss of a loved one, a friend, a pet, maybe they are  feeling picked on as the under dog?  It just takes a minute many times to be a huge blessing to others.  

These snapshots are so precious that were caught...This is Christopher Robin and his little cousin, Little Rosebud, two of our precious grandchildren.  Christopher Robin is our grandchild who was humming with his little wooden box and Little Rosebud is our oldest daughter's little girl, yes, her mommy was the little toddler walking down the hallway...

 

The theme to the song by Elmer Bernstein: To Kill a Mockingbird is below and it represents my heart as I saw these snapshots of the heart.

Christopher Robin takes very good care of his cousin, Little Rosebud, he is very protective over Little Rosebud.  It's so sweet...You can see the love these two little cousins have for each other here.  Snapshots of the heart.

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I hope you too will ponder beautiful things as you listen below:

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For me?  When Jem and I go to the zoo...I so love it there.  It brings back snapshots of me, my mom and my dad there at the zoo back in the 60s...Some things have not changed there, the reflection pond, the very large brick round snack building with windows all around that is now a modern restaurant, the sculptures of the monkeys at the entrance to that particular area with the monkeys, now a much more natural looking area, it's a beautiful zoo with many trees, near the medical center, Lifeflight can many times be heard above and seen too as the hellicopters land atop the many hospitals, this is one of the things I stop and ponder as well.  Someone is in trouble, they need prayer and I stop and pray, I tell Jem...Let's pray.   

Sometimes, when I hear an airplane above?  I think of my daddy, he flew, he loved to fly.  I think of him buzzing low over our house yelling below...Hellloooooo to me and my mommy when I was very little, she was pushing me in a toddler swing in our large yard by the front door of our little home built in the 30s.  My mother was wearing a lovely white sundress, with a gathered skirt, cinched waist with the zipper in the back with green vines and red, yellow and different colored flowers on it...She was wearing white wedged heel, backless sandals then. She looked lovely, like a young woman from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine...  She was taking care of herself and life was good.  It was good.

 

 

 

 

Life is full of these moments.  Stop and take it in...

 

Listen to your life.  See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.  In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness:  touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace.    ~Frederick Buechner

 

Every day we live is a priceless gift of God, loaded with possibilities to learn something new, to gain fresh insights.    ~Dale Evans Rogers

 

It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.     ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Don't ever let yourself get so busy that you miss those little but important extras in life---the beauty of a day...the smile of a friend...the serenity of a  quiet moment alone.   For it is often life's smallest pleasures and gentlest joys that make the biggest and most lasting difference.     ~unknown

Tuck this thought into your heart today.  treasure it.  Your Father God cares about your daily everythings that concern you.    ~Kay Arthur

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciate comments very much, they are a Gift to me.  Please feel free to share some of your snapshots in life too.

 

 

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."   

~To Kill a Mockingbird  

 

God be with you, take care, until the next time...Amelia