Smile Into the Fear

Sharing a video this morning of a most beautiful song that Jem, (hubs) and I have grown rather fond of lately, we listen to this song in the car on our dates, the words are so exact and encouraging to my heart...    Brave.

You want to run away and you say it can't be so...When you stand up and open your hand...

In the face of what I don't understand...

a reason to be brave..

We love music, I've played in the past, and Jem is a musician besides being a real estate broker in oldtown...  In our home, music is a big deal.

This is such a great season of life.  Life!   But then when I see my dad and how his health is going...his choices...   I must face what I don't understand.  ... A reason to be brave.  Hold on ...Time carries on...

I hope you too are blessed by this fantastic song...it's an old one but just as new to my heart today.


I love the symphony in this video, it gives me such a rush.  ....The female musician with the big blonde curly hair is so great.  I'm wearing my hair big and curly these days.   Putting on my Stevie Nicks. : )   I like it, it's natural and it's me I'm finding... It's a nice feeling I do believe.

The composer in the video..He is composing with such fervor, such preciseness...such care.   He reminds me of our Father, the Director of our Lives.  The musicians watch His every move...  His every quake and expression.  



Heard an interview of Josh Groban the other afternoon, did you know he was bullied in school?  He seemed quite humble actually in this interview, I'm glad I was able to see and hear it, he was not mister perfect at all, just a nice guy attractive in his imperfections and realness.



The other morning I was praying, so worn out from a long wearing drive to visit my father in rehab.  I was sitting on the Father's lap so to speak and He reminded me of the little, sweet books I would read when I was a wee little girl as an only child, my quiet life, listening to the birds outside of my bedroom...the beautiful watercolor paintings in the books...and the Father reminded me...

You are still that Child to me...   I see it all....   I will take care of things.   Don't you worry.  


Oh those words have helped me immensely!

For...

People will always let us down but the Father won't.


In the meantime, I am enjoying planning this wonderful wedding for our daughter and *adorable* son-in-love.    Wow.  What a blessing this crossing of paths is.

I've always remembered the scripture in Isaiah that says in (my words)   The people will stand back and say:

"Look what God has done!"

And truly when I see these two young lives meeting, I say... Look what God has done!



I read this quote this morning on my kitchen flip calendar:

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



So many insights, everyday is loaded with them.  : )

God will whisper if we will listen and *hear*...   Isn't that right?

Have a sweet day Loves,    ~Amelia, the veteran homeschool mom, getting to know myself and God even more so in my 50s.   The Last Child in the Woods...

Confession: I'm a Worry Wart and Sweet Movie, 'One Foot in Heaven' (1941)

Yes, that is my dad above.  Handsome guy he still is at the age of 85, Mother is pretty too at the same age, after all they were born two days apart.  Yeah... Two Seabrook kids that liked each other since elementary school. Now divorced but friends. Life is like that for many of us, it's the fellowship of brokeness. .... Dad would suffer heartache as a little blonde headed boy...  His mother who I am named after passed a way when he was only ten.  Then he was off to a private military school, never a complaint.  I have a shoebox of his letters written back home.  Precious.

He took a fall.  He's in rehab.  I've had the flu and couldn't go visit him.  I'm an only child so it's a lot for me when anything at all happens, it always has been.  He's three hours away.

 Janie and Joycie took a drive to see Grampy...  took yellow tulips and a darling balloon to him that he adored.  From what I am understanding Lea was a case all the way there driving.  I would have been too..  It's been un-nerving.  He took a fall and because of blood thinners, he was bleeding internally.  When I learned he received blood I suspected it was the blood thinner that was the culprit.

I confess.  Not only am I one of those Highly Sensitive People (read the book if you like, it explains the way we are wired, a gift actually in many circumstances.)  I'm an INFP personality.   So magnify that and multiply that and you have quite an artful worry wart.  Yep, I'm a chief worry wart, I even worry about my mom being a worry wart and making me worry even more...   I worry and think about everything that can go wrong when stuff like this happens. On some things I'm the rock of Gibralter but medical things... I confess.  I fall apart.  I could have done something in the medical profession, medicine is common in the German side of our family, my Italian uncle trained to be a vet  until life through a curve ball at him...but for me, I don't think I could have taken certain aspects in that field.

My husband has tried to help me, he tells me it's sin to worry, he gives me scripture verses (in a nice way of course)... Yeah.. I know.  But you must realize ...   Oh we have all grown up so differently.  My parents were cautious on many things.   My dad's brother, ten years his senior went to Rice, a drama major, the apple of his dad's eye at 6'3".  He died at 23 of cancer.  Cancer caused by something that shouldn't have been.  I have his dress gloves, I have his bank book and fraternity book filled with manners back then... Yes.  Manners.  ....My dad wouldn't even let my mom use silver knobs on an add-on addition bathroom to our home.  Why?  He said it reminded him of a hospital.  His last memory of his was his sweet mother in the hospital that Christmas season shaking him asking him "Who are you?"  She had been poisoned by the treatment typically given back then in the 30s.

Okay.  Maybe this explains the blogging lapse.  The flu.  My dad took a fall.  I'm fighting discouragement.   One other reason I am fighting discouragement because through planning this wedding I see how sickening the materialism of many modern day weddings has become, the debt people incur...  Just the ideas of what people think are norm.  I will not enter into that!

I don't know about you but I blog for many reasons.  The best times I've had blogging is when I am doing just what I am doing now.  Jotting thoughts..   Not worrying about grammar etc.  My court reporter daughter would have a cow.. (I'm still better at spelling though) ; ).

Speaking of.  Joycie was interning at a murder trial last week.  Did you know the court reporter is in charge of the weapon and evidence?  She had to carry it around with her last week from the office to the court.  I'm sure hearing details of that courtroom story has not helped my heart.  ...Oh the poor young lady.  She was a Christian so we know she is in Heaven now and her mother has since become a Christian through her daughter's Christian life here on this earth.

Enough of that but let's remember, that there is so much going on in this world... just so much.  Oh that we will be a loving, gentle Jesus to people.

...

We have recently been so blessed by once again an old movie!  It is soooo wonderful!  Now I am smiling.   : )   Take heart.

Here it is:

One Foot in Heaven  (1941)



The gardener is so PRECIOUS here...  He says:

"I need no friends, I have my Bible and my flowers..."

The children's choir is so beautiful.  These are the sweet things I long for.  Let's make sure and keep our children and youth used to this beauty... Surrounding them with sweetness and an atmosphere of praise.  If we give them the real deal, they will recognize the cheap counterfeit naturally as they grow older.

The movie is precious, just look what someone commented on the youtube.  Oh how true.  And the old fashioned Methodist church my daughter will marry in?   It resembles this one quite a bit.  So lovely, the same time period.

The movie is poignant and humorous at times as the pastor stands against the religious folks (shown in the clip) in more then several instances.  The pastor is so inspiring as in the beginning of the movie it shows that he leaves the new beginnings of a medical practice to become a preacher. Great movie.

May we all have sweet hearts like our precious gardener friend above.  I hope you enjoy the movie clip and will even consider viewing the entire movie with your family.

Good Evening Loves,   ~amelia



P.S.  I have been doing a good bit of sewing lately.  I found a cute, easy carefree palazzo pants pattern.  I'm learning my style is carefree in many ways... long flowing skirts, flowing pants when I wear them.  A bit of Stevie Nicks, 40s and Victoriana mixed in.

I've made these long capris slightly taking in the ease middle leg and going back out to the full glorious eccentric width!  Here it is:  Simplicity 1186.

P.S.S.  Why do I not post pics anymore of the Forest Cathedral and our family?   I don't have a camera these days.  I do hope to get one soon.  I've been without since before winter.  I've been depending on hub's camera phone pics.   : )  

A Wedding in the Works!

 I hugged Josh goodbye last Sunday and laughed...

Fasten your seatbelt this is going to be a wild ride!  But it will be fun!   Ha ha!

This is our future son in love, Josh and our sweet daughter Michelle... Delle.   They were just engaged and we are just bustling with activity over here at the Forest Cathedral.  This photo was taken in front of the great church the couple will marry in this fall...this was after the service and meeting with the wedding coordinator.  We had just talked with my new friend, Amos...the precious security guard who had shown Delle and I around the previous week.  I tell Jem, "I made a new friend!"

We just love this place...right in the heart of downtown...down the street from where my husband and I were born, where my parents were married once upon a time...My husband and I have both teared in the balcony of this place and I have a feeling water works will be coming once again.  The stained glass windows of Jesus and His little Lambs shine over the city as a beacon from this place.

So far the people and leaders of this church have been very kind and we are so grateful.

The message we heard this past Sunday was *seeing*, seeing through Jesus' eyes...various things.   I do believe we Children of God receive the same memos from the Lord!  

We are so excited for Josh and Michelle and look forward to the coming year!   God has been so good to have this church open for the date, this fall.   Even the pastor at this church we love to listen to will be marrying them.  Not only the sanctuary of this church beautiful, full of history, can you imagine during the wars?  The families that wept and prayed in this place.  The hall at the church is a neat one, it has an old fashioned feel to it and I'm thinking...  There are going to be some things done a bit differently.  Classic simplicity and sweetness.  A sweet First Kiss at the altar. : )  We pray God will be glorified.

I'll be back soon, just wanted to update that little did I know when I wrote about this neat church... the homeless who sleep upon the steps and I have since learned one precious man who sleeps there is a member of this church...he watches for the other homeless there.  The church feeds the homeless people four times a week...that's the spirit of the church that my daughter and new son in love will be marrying here soon.   God sure moves in mysterious ways!

What a different way of life we have!  We have the beauty of the country and the simple life, the smalltown but yet can travel in our space capsules of sorts to downtown...both have their special characteristics.   I love both in different ways... Beautiful people in both.  ...   if we *see*.

I'll close with this cute video of Petula Clark singing "Downtown"...I used to sing this as a little girl in my cotton bathing suit with the water sprinkler above my slide with my little friends, Tina and Dina when they would come to visit their grandma across the street.   We would pretend we were in a show together!  : )           

   

Goodnight Loves,    ~amelia

               

It is the Scarred Ones Who Make the Body of Christ Sensitive

I saw this Ann Voskamp blog this morning and the title grabbed my heart...

When You Feel Wounded by Your Own

Here are some excerpts that grabbed my heart this morning....

Because when we ignore suffering - we ignore the Suffering Savior.


It is the scarred ones who make the Body of Christ sensitive.  
You are so brave to keep facing the light.  To keep walking toward Home.

The Scarred Savior will know you're His - by your own scars.

Can I just whisper?  I know you must feel like people, the Church, have wanted you to go away.  Sweep your scars under the proverbial rug.  Erase you, avoid you, silence you.


Once, yeah, we found a trapped and wounded bird.  
And when we simply cupped it close and listened to it's heart - it turned toward the light and flew.




May I just say, from a sensitive artist's heart?  Please don't blame Christ for what any institution has done to you or the way they have made you to feel...It grieves the Father too what has happened, trust me.

They did it to Jesus too.

I am just telling my husband that I do believe that there are so many who have turned their backs on the Father thinking some churches (little 'c') are what represented Christ

He said just now... Yep, that's exactly right.

Me:  There are a lot of folks out there who have visited churches and they are just not seeing Him there for the most part...

Jem:  He's out there on the highways and the byways, the prison, the nursing home.  When you see a Church that has Love, His presence is there.  There is one thing you can't manufacture and that's Love.


There is a world out there that needs our bloodied, warm touch...There will always be those who turn a cold ear, blind eyes to our hearts and others.  Let us not worry too much about them.  Let's turn to the Light (Jesus) and fly to Him...He loves us and those we see.

I LOVE THIS CLIP...Always Try to see Life Around You...

Always try to see life around you like you've just come from a tunnel...

Jimmy Stewart as Mr. Smith to Jean Arthur as Saunders, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)...Mr. Smith is so speaking my language here...I think it's beautiful.  I think of this exchange often as I enjoy the nature and the handiwork of God here at the Forest Cathedral...I remember hearing this exchange when we watched this movie in the suburbs...Jem, my hubs reminded me that the country would provide that beauty...Wouldn't you like to be in the country?  Here I am...and yes, I am sooo blessed to be here.  I love looking out and seeing the trees, the animals, today we saw a coyote on the way to the grocery store...He turned and looked at us and leaped across a field into a forest...

Here is another clip for your enjoyment:

I love the exchange here and so relate with Jefferson Smith...and just look at Jean Arthur's beautiful, beautiful profile, so lovely, just so very lovely.  

I am thanking God for a nice uneventful day.  Eggplant Parmesan the way my Grandma Oddo made it...a sweet secret peek at my husband gently scoooping up and sweetly holding our almost blind little dog, loving that sweet fur angel in such mercy.  

Projects done lately:  A black cotton zinnia skirt...soooo retro.  I made mine in the high waisted, pleated, belted below knee version but I don't belt mine.  I've already worn this skirt several times and it feels so 40s-50s.. Very flattering.  I wore it last Sunday with a fitted vneck sage green quarter sleeve sweater tucked in the skirt with strapped black velvet ballet flats, black capri length leggings.  Hubs and I were at a beautiful park in USO-town, we were sitting in the green grass surrounded by huge twisting oaks...upon a lake with beautiful ducks and geese swimming...Very nice indeed.  A precious maintenance man with beautiful blue eyes named Benito carried on a sweet conversation as we saw him off and on through our little visit.

What are you thanking God for today?  Have you done any neat projects lately?  'Do you enjoy Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'?  It was made in 1939 directed by Frank Capra, do you like that time period as I do? : )  Things have changed but yet maybe not?  

Always try to see life around you like you've just come from a tunnel..

Goodnight Loves,  from The Forest Cathedral...God be with you all.    ~amelia

I've Been Thinking...

Hello everyone, just posting some thoughts this wintery Monday eve.

Lately I've been thinking, that's what I do.  That is what my personality does, it thinks and it thinks a lot. : )  I create a lot and I perceive much...I'm an artist of sorts.  I like the quiet, pretty music and really don't care for a herd mentality, I've always been this way, I never liked rowdy birthday parties even as a little girl.  How about you?




Sometimes we visit churches.  We love homechurch, we are the Church after all if we are children of God, but sometimes we like to venture out and meet other brothers and sisters in Christ.

One of my favorite churches is the downtown Methodist church.  Oh what a glorious place!  My mom and dad were married there ....I can just imagine people weeping and praying there during WWII...It's a special place.  I know the Methodist church as an organization has a bad reputation, sure it does.  The people at the top have some bad thinking on some things (John Wesley would be grieved) but not every Methodist church goes with that.  More than one person has been ministered to by the lit stained glass windows at night, traveling on the railway next to this old church...Those same folks will go there for help and receive that help.  At night if you look below the stained glass windows you will see dozens of homeless sleeping upon the steps.  This church is known as a safe place.  Are our churches known like that?   The pastor of this huge church will take the time to speak with you after service and you feel like he cares... you just do and you know it.  Salvation is freely spoken of in that place.  We personally know a Chinese couple who attends there whose father was in prison for his faith in China when our friend was a little boy.

I wonder what the Father, what Jesus must think of all of the different stuff going on in some churches.  Lately I've been exposed to how adamant some may be about the King James Only thing.  Wow.  I know there are concerns with the different translations of the Bible and I can surely understand...but what did they do before King James? : )   ...and sometimes it concerns me because I hear the same not-so-good zeal I hear from others with pet doctrines.  Some try to make pet doctrines a salvation issue.

I go to the nursing home and visit my friends there, and let me share...  I really don't think they care what version of the Bible I may be using.  I don't think most of them care what Christian religion I am. They care about my touch, my care, my love.  My time.  They want Christ with skin on to them...

One of the last times I was there, there was a lady and she was so very upset, she was weeping because something had happened with her room.  I never could get the story.  I just knelt next to her wheelchair and I hugged her and even cried a little with her.  I put my hand around her grey long hair and her beautiful dark brown eyes looked at me.. and she said through tears...

That is all I needed, that is all I needed, someone to just sit with me.  

Isn't that the way we all feel sometimes?

The month before this the same elderly lady had told me...

Jesus has me sitting here, so I sit. 

Her sweet compliant heart had been so touching to me and I think that is what especially broke my heart was to see her compliant heart so very broken the next visit.


The Story of Lucille:

More then several years ago there was a precious saint in the nursing home named Lucille, our little girls had made her a red plastic pony bead bracelet the year before.  Poor Lucille was dying, she lay there with her red pony bead bracelet on made by my precious little girls' hands,  red blouse and white pants...she didn't even have a nightgown on, no family was there with her.

My girls, and my friend Margie gathered in her room and I ask her...

Lucille?   Do you know Jesus?   

Lucille smiled radiantly...

Oh yes.  I know Jesus.  I see Him right here in my room, His face is in your faces.

Lucille passed away that very afternoon...wearing the red plastic ponybead bracelet made by sweet little girl hands. That little plastic pony bead bracelet meant that much to precious Lucille.

Do we think Lucille or the brown eyed lady care about pet doctrines and stuff?  No.  They want what is Eternal.  

Where am I going with this?

I think we need to focus on Jesus, the main thing and live it out whether it be with our precious children or out a bit...perhaps bringing our children to the nursing home, it's a great place to share mercy.   Christ's Mercy.  Our daughters are 21 to 32 and  I assure you the nursing home taught and still teaches so many beautiful Life lessons.

Can we love each other and be kind?

And...If I am feeling this way in circles, can you imagine what the world is feeling about things?   For me?  I like to talk to Jesus and He just scoops me up in His love.

I thought this was pretty good, I've always remembered this clip by Sara Groves:


May we live the Life.  Goodnight Loves,   ~amelia

Black and White Photo by Robert Stock

Reaching Down in Mercy

I am reading Dominion, The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy by Matthew Scully and this paragraph, one of many touched my heart today.

Matthew Scully writes on the mules and the way they would frolic for months after being down in the mines in the cruel darkness years ago in the coal mines in the late 1800s.

There is nothing fanciful here.  It is hard realism, facing facts about suffering both human and animal.  Whenever any animal is locked away, or treated cruelly, or hunted or trapped, that is what we are taking away, the grass and trees and breezes and the sun.  Whenever we reach down in mercy to  spare one, as only we can do, that is the gift we are giving back, and what a beautiful gift it is.










Readers, I cannot tell you how our fur angels bless my life daily, they have an innocence in their faces I cannot describe thus the term fur angels.   Most of ours are rescued but one, Charlie would cower down when I would reach to pet his little head, some one had hurt him and now he is a love-bug...Buddy above is gaining our trust and we refer to him as the Lion form the Wizard of Oz, for this large angel is most timid dear ones...He now follows me everywhere and will sit on my feet literally... So precious.  I call him big-baby and kiss his cheek.  Two of our daughters are above enjoying Buddy and our chick.  Here is a complete blog on Buddy .

Why even our hens will crouch down and let us pet them...

Well I must go, Jem and I have a most important meeting.  Guiseppe our almost blind little dog is barking, he needs me.  It's neat.  It's like God takes care of us, He reaches down to us, we reach to the helpless, the vulnerable.  Oh what a blessing.  We are able to give back that Mercy in praise to the Father, and oh such a great Blessing that is.

Signing off this most beautiful eve at The Forest Cathedral Sanctuary,  Good night Loves,  ~Amelia