Everday is a Gift, Make the Most of the Time...A Few of my Favorite Things.

As the Chris Rice song, Life Means so Much goes...Time is our currency...Everyday is a Gift you've been given...A Journal page...Make the most of the Time every minute you're living...

Tis true.

One of my favorite things to remind myself when I have a lot on my plate is simply first things first.  For this day what is most important, what has to be done?   When bewildered I echo a story by Elisabeth Elliott she once told about someone who lost a loved one...Do the next thing.  Just do the next thing. 


Sometimes first things first is an outing with one of my daughters.  This day it was my birthday!  So our oldest daughter, Janie and I visited a special exhibit at The Museum of Fine Arts.  If you have read this blog for long you know that I am not only a country-forest-mouse who fearlessly guards my quiet, but a city mouse as well, just taking tiny little contemplative bites of old downtown.  I like the city, the true city, where the museums and hospitals are...downtown, because it's a comfort for me I think.  Growing up, we lived in a little town on the bay, a bit like Avonlea in the feel back then, but we would drive on outings to downtown, my mom, dad and I.  I was born in downtown as well as Jem.  We were both delivered by the same doctor in the same hospital. 

Downtown, Museum District, a little piece of  me and one of my Favorite Things.  My mother went to art school in this area staying with a relative in that season of her young, single season of life.  Happy days with my mom and dad here at the zoo and museums, and my father attended college here.


Janie and me at the art museum.  Spending time, just simple things with our daughters.  A Favorite Thing.



I love the floor of the art museum, it's more of a green color then pictured here and it too is a comfort ...I would love this floor in my home.  Dark green terrazza.  Timeless.  Timeless simplicity and beauty are a few of my Favorite Things.  I love the color, green.



A favorite song to accompany my thoughts and memories of Downtown..One of my Favorite Things...This music:




A very old church close to the museum...I think this view is so beautiful.  Jem and I spied this beautiful scene one Sunday.  An outing with Jem, old beautiful churches where I imagine what went on there perhaps during those WWII years...   Some of my Favorite Things.  Thinking back to what things might have been like...My Favorite Things...





This very old fabrics store in downtown gives me such an excitement, I just love this place.  This is a huge place, and it is old.  Notice the wooden fixtures painted that original retro pink...This is less then probably a fifth of this huge room, this is just the cottons and there was more behind me.  There is an entire other huge room with trims and the most elegant fabrics.  Mannequins dressed in unique designs.  This past week I was feeling as if the little men in white needed to come and get me. *big smile* Ha!  There was a lot going on.  I shared with Jem that going to the downtown fashion fabric store would do me so much good, I just wanted to walk the aisles and look at the fabrics...touching the fabrics in peace and quiet... My sweet husband was kind enough to take me there, he knew I needed it.  A few of my Favorite Things.

While I was at the fabric store I thought to myself...They have a small 50 percent off shelved area ...Yes, I have seen that before so I strolled to that tiny little area and found this wonderful vintage print.






This print was so darling and I just stood there looking at it....Flashes of my readers in first grade, flashes of memories came to mind with my parents in our vast yard in the old town where we lived.  The precious family dog, the little girl's cotton outfits, very much like I had when I was a little girl. ...And how I dressed my girls when they were little. ...And I bought this fabric by George.  Vintage fabrics...A few of my Favorite Things.



 One balmy day last December Jem and I were on a day-date for lunch in downtown...Dates with my husband, one of my Very Favorite Things.
We have often said we wanted to ride the little train in the zoo area.  We figured we would go into the area and if we could find a parking space we'd take the ride.  We did find that space, and it was so fun...so relaxing.  The weather was so beautiful that day, I barely needed a cardigan and the breeze whispered through the trees, we could smell the fragrance of Christmas through the trees gently swaying under the cozy grey skies...I felt like a kid again.  Really nice.





I even brought my little elfkin that day as you may have guessed.  Our daughters and I played 'elf'' through the holidays and even now.  One of our married daughters, Joycie temporarily lives a bit away so we would send shots of our elves back and forth in the most interesting of places!  I love whimsy....And childlike fun...to view the world as a child...Noticing things, enjoying things.  One of My Favorite Things.  I never want to lose that childlike way of looking at things....




The Museum of Natural Science...They put up Christmas trees in the lobby, each has a theme for charity. Rescue kitties, ...even underwear for children from families who do not have much.  Just the gift shop in this museum is fascinating with all the natural stones and such.  The Imax and planetarium here is a special treat for Jem and I. The day my father passed away, Jem took me here and we went to the planetarium for a quiet day.  We never know what people may be going through when we see them.  Let's be kind. 


Jem in deep thoughts in the city...He too has his quiet moments.




Now back to the Forest Cathedral...  The city is nice for very short outings but the Forest is my loved home, my element.  I try to take notice of the Present from God (Presence of God) wherever I am because these are the Gifts for today, the future good memories.  If I dwell on yesterday too much I can become sad, even though those are many times good memories...  And if the various memories make me too unhappy, then that's certainly not good, so there is a balance between stuffing memories and living in them constantly. Let's let memories of love fill our hearts with so much love that it will overflow to others.  Let us celebrate this day, this moment, Gifts from God.

If you have seen or see the old movie, A Guy Named Joe (1943) with Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, you will see a scene where Joe, a guardian angel now, once a bomber pilot played by Spencer Tracy whispers a beautiful message to his wife played by Irene Dunne. His last words to her as her guardian angel in the last minutes of the movie...That's my girl.  Oh my...This is a beautiful movie, a fantasy but yet very real.  Very patriotic as well.

I know my dad is saying or thinking too... That's my girl.  For you see, he sees very clearly now and it's I who sees through a glass darkly.




...So these are some Favorite Things from the Forest as of late.  Today Jem and I finally were able to take a walk but these are past pics from winter days.




Winter evening skies from my front porch...The muted colors of the Heavens are so beautiful and speak to the soul.  Speechless.  Favorite Things.


Surprise snowy mornings..my view one morning.  My quiet prayer time alone in the early morning hours, nothing like it. I thrive on my quiet time while still dark in the stillness.  We can talk to God and hear God much better like this.  A most Favorite and Cherished Thing.  Quiet with God.


Later I read my devotional, Streams in the Desert, the original version looking up the scriptures in my Amplified Bible.  Many times that original version Streams in the Desert devotional is so right on the money to what is happening in my life.



Our Peter O'Toole-personality blue-eyed white cat, Elbee watching our photographer-artist  daughter, Grace seizing the moments getting some great shots of the wonderland.  I really like to get down on the level to see things from the little being's view. I think God does that too, ...With us.



My kitchen window...A favorite place to look out and contemplate and notice...Snowy trees in a wonderland.  A Gift.  A Total Gift for me...A Favorite Thing.

How much of our lives are...well...so daily.  How often our hours are filled with the mundane, seemingly unimportant things that have to be done, whether at home or work.  These very "daily" tasks could become a celebration of praise.  "It is through consecration," someone has said, "that drudgery is made divine."

-Gigi Graham Tchividjian



Grocery store day in smalltown...Oh the love. Our view from our car sipping on iced tea behind the fast food drive-in.  A Favorite Thing.  I see Clifford and the new calf so peacefully grazing...


We've recently seen this lady at the intersection at a light of a very busy highway in smalltown.  She is warning people from her megaphone to repent.   Janie and I went to bring her a water bottle, she was praying for another lady, so Janie waited.  The lady warning people with the megaphone finished praying for the other lady and then turned to Janie as Janie spoke to her...and we see the lady is blind. 

Jem said she sees more then most do.  

Yes.



I think I had better come to a stopping point for now...It's evening time...Time to unwind...



The same moon that shines upon me shines upon you...




Taken from our living room one night.   The moon shining through the Forest.  Definitely one of my Favorite Things...   




Every day is a Gift...







Thanking God for sweet notes that lift my spirits.


Good evening, loves,      ~Amelia in the Forest


Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.

-A.W. Tozer

Roe Vs. Wade, What Has Become of Us?

 
Once again, I am re-posting this article I wrote for a dear friend's magazine in 2010. I once again present to you:  Roe Vs. Wade, What Has Become of Us? 

 
  Photo by Robert Stock

 
(This article I have written here was recently published in an online publication, I was going to post in increments but decided to post it in entirety and simplify a bit.)



The year? 1967.


There she was, my first grade teacher, Mrs. Fischer. The typical 60s flip hair-do, orange dress with white polka-dots, matching shoes, a sunshine face was Mrs. Fischer. It was spelling test day and we first graders were attentively listening to each word as the sun streamed into the bright classroom, you could hear a pin drop.



The spelling word at that moment? "Baby".


She said the word, baby with a smile so radiant as she placed her hands upon her stomach, discreetly yes, but yet to me? A most sensitive and perceptive little first grade girl? I knew exactly what was up. Mrs. Fischer was going to have a baby. Yes! I just bet she's having a baby! Sure enough, the end of our first grade school year was ended rather tumultuously with one substitute teacher after another and I was never to see Mrs. Fischer again...she was home with her baby. She chose the best thing, to stay home with her baby. Even though it was hard for me as a little girl and I missed Mrs. Fischer greatly, I knew she was doing the right thing, enjoying motherhood and saying phooey with the rest.



The moral climate of those years were changing; just the year before, we Kindergartners all said our prayers with little bowed heads over saltine crackers and orange juice for snack time.



"God is great, God is good, thank you for our daily food. Amen."


I remember the children, us little girls in our sweet cotton dresses, I remember the little boys in their cotton button up shirts tucked in trousers with leather lace up shoes, hair parted on the side neatly. No matter what economic class we were from, we were neatly, modestly and sweetly dressed.



As that first grade year progressed, it was noticeable to me that the prayers over our food had mysteriously vanished. Time was changing and things seemed to be darkening to this little girl, I could feel it in my bones and most sadly in my innocent heart.



I remember sitting in front of my grandparents' home they ran their fishing business from, sitting upon the steps on a large, vast pier as the sailboats and shrimpboats would come in on the sparkling bay for the evening, In my little girl solitude, I would hear clanging at the shipyard not far away. My Italian grandma enjoyed reading and she usually had some Life and McCall's magazine around....Finding those Betsy McCall paper dolls in the McCall's magazine was a huge treat, kind of like finding a really good treasure in the bottom of a Cracker Jacks box....Every now and then I'd look over her Life magazines as I'd sip on my soda and quietly munch chips as my bare feet felt the texture of those wooden steps...There in those magazines I would see in living color the culture changing for the worst, the waif-look model, Twiggy, presented as the norm for body types, the brash fashions with go-go boots and fishnet stockings, me thinking my legs didn't look much like Twiggy's and where was Shirley Temple? Stories about members of that band called the Beatles...and I knew. I knew. I knew in my little girl's heart that things were going down fast and a darkness was coming over our country, and what was worse, this great country, America the Beautiful was letting the darkness pour in. This country of ours who had lent it's hand to my Italian and German immigrant grandparents who were now proud American citizens, my father and my uncle and great uncles who proudly served this country and made something of themselves. But Joltin' Joe had left and gone away, it was most apparent to me back then.


Years would go by and in the liturgical church our family attended I was surprised to see the new priest walking down the hall with a Hawaiian shirt on one Wednesday afternoon as I attended a catechism class...He was so different than the sweet priest who braided my long hair just the year before in his white collar whose resemblance and mannerisms were something of a Bing Crosby to me. Sadly, The Bing Crosby priest had left and gone away too. Now we had the mod guy with the long hair and the Hawaiian shirt. The same mod guy who had our church sing "Imagine" by John Lennon in a Sunday service. The song that starts with... Imagine there is no Heaven.


The years were eking by, man's knowledge was ignorantly being placed over any knowledge of the Lord in this new modern era this country seemed so proud of. The tower of Babel was once again being built it seemed.



The year. 1973.


Man had been on the moon, and I was sitting in classes with those very astronaut's kids, some of them later becoming friends of mine. Nixon was becoming president and our junior high looked like the gates of hell had been turned loose in it. Long gone were the sweet dresses and little boys with lace up shoes and neat hair. In place of it all were mostly hip-hugging jeans, guys with brushes stuffed in their back pockets to brush their long hair with and some dating at the age of 12 and all that went with that. I had found a small group of sweet girls to be friends with, we would spend our time drawing people, horses, animals and the like in our quiet world away from the hellish life we were surrounded by.



That year, 1973. There was no teacher saying the word, baby with such sunshine smiles. No. That was the year the country decided it would start seeing the babies as "choices". It was the year of Roe verses Wade. It was the year they turned the baby, the innocent child into a choice.


But where was the baby's choice in the matter?


Life went on and the hellish atmosphere didn't stop much, in fact, it intensified into high school, heavy kissing in the halls, smoking was fine and allowed as long as it was outdoors, you could smell an occasional whiff of marijuana in the breeze as you walked outdoors to class. And now it wasn't just the students who were in the mire but many of the teachers too as they tried to impose liberal beliefs on us in what most would think was a model high school. For many, those who had no Christian training at home, the liberal agenda quickly stuck and entrapped. For few of us, we fought it like mad trying our best to hold on to what was right and good. We tried so hard to hang on to the beliefs we were brought up with as contraception was brazenly taught to us in mixed coed classes adding to the confusion. Joltin' Joe had left and gone away. Where was the real choice? Where was my choice to live a Godly moral life free and with honor as these liberal ideas were being forced? How many little unborn babies were murdered at the core of this new "freedom" - on the altar of "choice"?



Those who were supposed to be open minded, were they really open to the choice of the baby? Are they now really open to Christian principles and moral absolutes? Perhaps the lack of absolutes is really an absolute they say they don't believe in?
Let's think...

At the very least, if prostitution is illegal, and that involves a person's body shouldn't that help us to see abortion for what it is, that there is another body involved? A most innocent body? If a pregnant woman is murdered and it's considered double homicide, shouldn't that help us to see what is transpiring here and the wickedness and cruel torture involved in these barbaric acts? As suspecting tests are administered as to the unborn baby's health, do we to play God and say who is worthy to live and who is not? Heaven forbid!

Where was the outcry then and now? Perhaps part of it was the fact some of us then were so embarrassed by what was going on we didn't tell our parents what was transpiring in the schools. Perhaps we noticed our parents on the passive side when Roe vs. Wade transpired and people seemed more interested in Watergate than living babies. Perhaps we were becoming some pretty mixed up kids. Who wouldn't be? Some of us were desperately trying to hold that rope while double standards were at play. Our relatives coming back from college never the same with lost convictions. Our teachers who we were taught to respect, shoving liberal ideas contrary to the Bible down at us.





What happened to me? By the time I graduated high school, of course I had been marred in various ways by it all, we can't place our kids in Alaska and expect to grow a palm tree. Please don't be deceived on that, be careful where you place your children and under whose authority whether it be the school or the church, be careful of the companionship that surrounds your children no matter what the age. I don't think the Bible is kidding when it reads, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20. Homeschooling is a wonderful option by the way, we've homeschooled for over 20 years and it has been a huge blessing to us.

A year or so after high school I was to meet my husband to-be at an Italian wedding, he had recently dedicated his life to the Lord. We've been married for almost 32 years now, serving the Lord together. We've been blessed with four lovely daughters.




The year. 2011.

What happened to "Jane Roe"? Her real name, Norma McCorvey; a Christian now, she is a vocal anti-abortion advocate. She never had the abortion fought for in Roe vs. Wade giving birth to a baby girl, giving the baby life choosing adoption.

She said:
"I think abortion is wrong. I think what I did with Roe vs. Wade was wrong, and I just have to take a pro-life position on [abortion]" ("World News Tonight," 8/10/95).

McCorvey was . . . haunted by simple things like empty swings in a playground. "They were swinging back and forth but they were all empty. And I just totally lost it, and I thought 'Oh my God. The swings are empty because there's no children, because they've all been aborted'" ("World News Tonight," 8/10/95).

~ "Jane Roe" Norma McCorvey





One thing I knew when I turned my life completely to Christ and started understanding scripture more; and that is that I wanted to be serious about my walk with Christ. God forbid that my children would see passivity or compromise in me, when it came to a loving Christian walk or when it came to our stand for the babies. The babies who have no choice.

Our kids know, I hope they know and see what is important by our actions by what we do. Do we stand for what is right? Or do we play it safe and not rock the boat forgetting that what we do for the least of these we have done it unto Him? Do we put them in the same environment some of us were placed in? ...God forbid.



What can we do? Be educated on the facts. When allowing a doctor or any medical professional whether it be a midwife, surgeon or nutritionist to attend to your needs ask them where they stand on abortion. This will reflect on their ethics in how they will treat you. It amazes me, the people who say they believe in what they call choice (the prodeath agenda), but fail to think about the end result of it when carried through. What they may perceive as inconvenience will affect them in old age. Just look at the people who were passive about the healthcare bill, ignoring the abortion portion of it but then suddenly when they noticed euthanasia in the bill, they became most concerned.


Prayerfully participate in the life marches. Vote prolife! Support prolife candidates! That is the very least we can do. Take that stand. There are simple things you can do such as display a life bandor wear a precious feet pin, committing to pray over the lives of these little unborn babies. If you are a stay at home mom, be the best stay at home mom and wife you can be. Put your all into your home and make that home a peaceful place where the Lord dwells, make your home a peaceful sanctuary and refuge. Give your children the real deal, not synthetic Christianity...If you give them the real deal they will recognize the counterfeit easily. As a stay at home mom you can also write letters, and have your children write letters on behalf of the unborn to the proper officials. Pray together daily as a family for the unborn that the scourge of abortion would end.

There are many prolife pregnancy centers that would greatly value your time depending on your season of life, there are many in need of counselors, people to organize their maternity and baby clothes rooms, just do simple cleaning. Most clinics will appreciate gently used maternity clothes or baby items. Perhaps monetary gifts to keep those clinics running with supplies etc. And remember, many lobbyists are fighting the fight, many organizations fund these lobbyists working hard for the rights of our unborn.



Commit to living a godly life. Shine light to others, don't marginalize the Christian walk with compromise allowing darkness in. Let's be found blameless as we stand for the unborn.
That way you will be able to determine what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. ~Philippians 1:10



As I trod this highway of life, our entire family has participated in prayerful pickets, counseling and general support of our unborn babies. Our daughters are active in prolife activities as well. My oldest daughter at 29 (age updated 2012) is a counselor at a prolife clinic as she also shares a message on abstinence and the gospel of Christ to those who come into the clinic. She is well qualified to do so, a living testimony at 29, she's single, saving her first kiss for the altar. Parents, expect much! Pray hard, do hard things for Christ! He is Faithful!



Please remember. It is a Child not a Choice. I believe little unborn babies should also have the choice of what to do with their bodies. One day as you grow older there may be others who take your choice away. Remember, your thinking now, your stand now for the unborn and all innocent life, may affect you when you grow older. It may affect you in less than ideal situations.... Just ask Terri Schiavo's family. See her timeline here.

If only wombs had windows and we could hear the silent screams of the babies. Some are worried about torture when abortion is the ultimate torture, and to an innocent baby! Oh please don't be as the church once was in Nazi Germany as the schools changed and indoctrinated the students and most said nothing. Please don't be like the churches then as the boxcars with innocent Jewish grandparents, parents and children were on the way to the death camps screaming desperately for help, and the churches sang their hymns all the louder to cover what they perceived as uncomfortable noise. Please hear the screams of the unborn with your heart!



If you have been deceived and have been affected by this atrocity and holocaust this country calls choice, please know God will forgive a repentant heart and He is there arms open wide. He can make beauty out of ashes.


One day your little grandchildren or great grandchildren may ask:



"Where were you when they were killing the babies? Did you try to stop it?"


What will we say about the year 2012?


What will you say on judgement day as the Lord asks you what did you do to the least of these?


Hear are some facts and helpful links about the unborn:

Partial Birth Abortion

Diary of an Unborn Baby starting at Day 1.

National Right to Life (a wealth of information)

Who is Funding Abortion? Let's be aware of who we are giving God's money to.

Precious Feet

Do Precious Feet Save Lives? (very interesting testimonies)

Get the pin

Get a life band



Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
~Proverbs 24:11-12



Truly I say to you, In as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me. ~Matthew 25:40bYou knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ~Psalm 139

...................

This week of 1.2012. may we also remember the words of President Ronald Reagan:

"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born."

Pray for our nation, please in the name of Jesus, vote prolife! Isn't that what should be of the utmost importance in showing true Christian character? The proof will be in voting records. ( How could anyone be trusted to run our country and be blessed by God if they do not even stand behind these little ones!

Black and White. How can we not be black and white on this issue?

Christmas 1964 and Now

 My dad and I 1964.  See the little jumper I am wearing?



This is Mother and I.  She made the sweet jumper for me, I so remember how she painstakingly made the applique by hand and I was so, so fascinated by the process.  My mother is very meticulous in everything she does.  She along with Daddy were very artistic.  See the icicles on the tree?  I decorate with icicles now on our tree too, I so love to achieve that old fashioned look, it reminds me of the 40s when our country had a healthy fear of God.

...............................

A Dream

Yes, I'm still missing my dad this Christmas season, knowing he's not on this side any longer, no more chance of things being the way they were supposed to be.  I must say though, our youngest daughter Rebecca had a dream last week.

Rebecca tells me she hadn't even had Grandpa on her mind either much lately..But in this dream he walked past our kitchen sink window and through the back screened porch and stood at the glass door looking at her smiling sweetly.   She tells me he was radiant and looked wonderful, the dream was very vivid and clear, much more than real life.  Daddy  had somewhat of a light and mist surrounding him and wore a light grey sport coat with a light blue shirt underneath.

Light blue is a sign of Heaven, a sign of Eternity.  A nice jacket or coat is a sign that they are a new person.

........................................

A book I am reading now is To Live Again by Catherine Marshall, the wife of the late Peter Marshall.  



 I recommend this book for anyone who has lost loved ones.  There is a chapter in the book entitled:  Is There Life After Death?  Fascinating.  If you are not familiar with the late Peter Marshall, once chaplain of the United States Senate or his wife, Catherine Marshall, you may enjoy reading of him.  I have a book of Peter Marshall's sermons and it is so excellent.....Just soooo excellent.   There is also a very good movie of his life entitled:   A Man Called Peter

Peter Marshall was a Christian pastor and passed away suddenly in 1949 leaving Catherine and their little boy. 

................................................


Do you have special Christmas memories? 

One of mine is when I was around seven years of age....Every year, St. Paul's Catholic church (a very modern Catholic church by the way, very Christ centered at the time)   would have the children choose a new toy to bring for a poor child.   We would walk up the aisle of the church to The Little Drummer Boy music with our gifts.  At the altar was Father Connnally, now Father Connally was very special to me, he had the looks of a Bing Crosby crossed with Montgomery Clift.  He cared for me and my mom and we knew it.  My heart was broken when he was moved to another parish back then.   Think:  The Bells of St. Mary's old movie.  (worth seeing by the way).  

Every year my mother and I would go on a serious trek to find the most beautiful baby doll we could find.  It was an exciting thing, oh so exciting!   I remember the fragrance of the fresh packaging and the baby doll..It was a cross between sweet talcum and a delightful new (sounds strange) but what I thought was a neat, delicious intoxicating synthetic type smell.

It was great.  I would think of a little girl who did not have any toys and who would be holding this beautiful, beautiful baby doll soon.  The Holy Spirit was so very near to me in those times...  Be near me Lord Jesus I ask thee to stay...Close by me forever and love me I pray....Bless all the dear children in thy tender care and stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.....

I remember one of those Christmases, that Christmas I was seven, my mother once again had made me a beautifully simple double-knit  kelly-green jumper, it had a bib front with criss-cross strap back and the A-line skirt.  I wore a white turtleneck with it and white tights.  My dark hair touched down long almost to the waist of my skirt...  My mother would brush it very neatly and pull it back with a simple white hairband or brown tortoise shell color clip.   Very.  Neat.  Neat in the true sense. : )  I think I may have had a pretty Christmas tree pin on the front strap my mother particularly placed there too.   Soooooo my mother.  : )

After the service, the magic of bringing my beautiful doll and placing it around the altar with other gifts with Father Connally and seeing his smiling face, I had such an inner Peace and Joy.  The Holy Spirit was so evident in my heart and Jesus was so there, just so there.   God is with us.

Mother and I went to Daddy's gas station there on the bay.  My father owned a Gulf gas station on the water for boats, on one side facing the bay on a pier and the other side on land was for cars.   Mother and I sat in the gas station lobby, much like the one you may see in the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" when Clarence rescues George. There was a line of wicker chairs along the wall for patrons and friends.   The sky was dark and grey and the bay was beautiful....It was Christmas time.  Daddy was happy, Mother was happy and we were at Peace that Sunday.  Mother would share with Daddy about the Christmas time service at St. Paul's.  I remember sitting in the wicker chair and enjoying a chocolate little cake, I think it might of been some kind of Hostess cake.  I loved the dark chocolate icing and cake but not so much the filling. : )



Now?   I still have joy in those things

The Forest Babies


I still love choosing pretty babies for little girls who may not have one...  Now I'm a big girl and a middle-aged mommy myself, I'm a little more settled now so I can choose more than one.  *big smile*   Our oldest daughter, Lea attends a church that has programs for families who are having a hard time...Thus, I have a nice time enjoying shopping for little children who don't have much.  You see, I've been there.  I remember wrapping my old toys for my children because we didn't have the money to buy new ones.  It was painful.

One thing we did as our little girls grew old enough to understand and God saw fit is we would also later go on trips to the store and buy toys for others later.  Such wonderful memories. 


Now.

Our daughter, Lea getting ready to take the little Forest-Babies on their voyage into the hands of a mommy and daddy for their little child for Christmas.  There is Coffee one of our rescue pups.  Marianna was showing a home one day and there was Coffee in a neighborhood garage, she had mange bless her heart.   Marianna brought her home, and she had and has the cutest expressions the way she wrinkles her little forehead.   So adorable.


Photo by Robert Stock


What is in the kitchen?

I'm being kind to myself this year.   I am keeping a Sarah Lee brand butter pound cake in the freezer, they are delicious and I have a bag of frozen berries if people want fruit on top.  When I was a little girl my mother also kept a Sarah Lee poundcake in the freezer.   Lea and I also purchased some quick refrigerated chocolate chip cookies to make if needed.  I also have a roll of refrigerated off brand orange rolls in the fridge to bake for deserts too for my sweet son inlaws and hubs.  They just love those orange rolls.   So tender and flakie.  I may just have one too minus the icing.  ; )

Italian pizza much like my Grandma Oddo used to make with a big salad is also on the agenda.  I buy the frozen bread dough.  One loaf per 9 x 13 pan.  We stuff it with olives and tomatoes, seasonings and drizzle olive oil over the top.   It's so good.  I may also stuff small chunks of Kerrygold brand Dublin cheese in it too.  I love-love-love Kerrygold cheese and butter.  It's from Ireland and the cows are out in the pasture, tails swishing as God wants them.  It's humane to God's creatures and that is extremely important to me.

For our new neighbor?   I bought a Panettone bread loaf for around $6.  I figured I did not have the mental energy to make anything this year so I picked that up, it's boxed pretty and tastes oh so good...I placed a bow on it.  Jem and I rode over and made our Welcome! known and I hope they enjoy their Pannetone bread with their coffee and such.  Yes indeedie.   I'm not sure they were thrilled, they didn't say all that hearty of a thank you but I think when they slice the tender moist, slightly sweet bread they will say Bellissima.   Oh such is life on unthankfulness, As my husband says, there is isn't much worse than a person being un-thankful...I bet that is how God feels too at times.  



Something funny!

Sometimes we would like to do what Snoopy does below.  *chuckle*




In the holiday seasons, it seems there are always those manipulative, nosy, nervy people who never learn it seems...  God knows all about it.  We can love at arms length and be wise.  God is Just.  He sees all and hears all too.  It's not easy sometimes but God knows.




I hope you enjoyed your visit here, I hope it's like coming over and having a cup of coffee.  Take care now, I'm enjoying thoughts from our recent nursing home visit.  Pics to come.  



I also hope everyone is doing fine and contemplating true Christmas.  Be still...Be Speechless as the Steven Curtis Chapman song says.......





God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love...the all of Christmas, which is Christ. 

-Wilda English



Have a sweet day, God's blessings to you all this Holy Season,    -Amelia in the Forest

The Theatre of my Heart. Keeping a Quiet Heart This Advent Season

The God who created, names, and numbers the stars in the heavens also numbers the hairs of my head....  He pays attention to very big things and to very small ones.  What matters to me matters to Him, and that changes my life.         -Elisabeth Elliot





A photo of my father and me from my dear mother's photo album...I say, Daddy and me.  I am missing these times long ago, oh my heart.  Many don't understand because of my father's shortcomings later in life, and therefore the grief process for me this Advent season is a difficult one, a very, very lonely one.  Death is a very permanent thing on this side of Earth.

And trust me, I've walked outside stepping down quietly off of our back screen porch hearing those airplanes or perhaps the sound of silence here in the forest and I say to the sky as a little girl would, up to my dad...Why did you do that to me?  Who knows how the Eternal on the other side works exactly, I do not pretend to know what our loved ones know or hear.  I know this, and that is that God hears. 

Many have canned answers but I do know I have seen unbelievable, many would say uncanny signs that my dad is with God, for he had time to repent in that far away hospital.  I still weep to remember seeing his poor face the last time, his teeth were worn to almost nothing and he had just a small glimmer of those once beautiful blue eyes as the light of his life on this green earth was going away.  This was the last time I was to see him, we had no idea he was dying in a hospital far away.  Previous entries tell the tale more so.

The only reason I was able to see him was an elderly distant cousin's wife found my daughter's number on the wall of his home as she felt strongly she should stop by his house to investigate what was going on since it was noticeable we were not at the far away hospital.  Unfortunately a preacher's wife turned my dad's heart against us, basically talking him into staying very far away from us after he had wanted to sell and come live near us, his family and support system.  She then took advantage, not only taking my dad's willing and deceived heart but  my  inheritance also. We don't feel he was in his complete right mind.  One day I will have to go through the process to warn others of what can happen.


I know this though and am still learning more, as always, I've had disappointments in life before...God allows pain and suffering and would like for us to use the pain and suffering as the talents in the Bible, it is up to us what we do with it all.  We can share and thus be full in an emotional way, for if we stuff the feelings...Our emotions will never be whole and we cannot be whole and healing to others.  We will be missing that compassion.  We must face the suffering symbol.


A Book

  A book I have started is 'A Crazy Holy Grace, The Healing Power of Pain and Memory' by Frederick Buechner.  I really enjoy most all of the books I've read by Frederick Buechner, he's like a long lost uncle I've never met.  He lost his father when he was a little boy by suicide, the story is a poignant one.  One of his memories he has is as a little boy hiding his father's car keys under his pillow as his father sat in his room.



Relating

I can relate.  One of my early memories is of my mom and dad having an argument, I do not know why.  I do remember I was very little and my bedroom was still a pale yellow from my nursery, I had a single bed though instead of the crib at this point...My little bear lamp my dad had jig-sawed and mother made a decoupage of that little vintage bear, the light glowed.  The large rectangular plug-in heater was purring the way those old electric heaters did and the lines of fibers were that bright red orange.  Daddy, with his handsome face came and sat on my bed and put that face in his hands and just cried, and cried. I remember the silhouette in the golden room, he with his curly hair like yesterday.  I was so very helpless, not knowing how to console my father.  I still find myself moved to tears when I remember this.




I haven't finished my new Frederick Buechner book yet, but so far, it seems to be one I will read more then once. 

May we be that Christ-bearer to others.  Just as I have some of my father's natural mannerisms, the way I kick my shoes off and plop backwards on the bed to nap, or the way I hold my fork up, prongs up as to give my fork poise next to my face...that is my dad.  ...And so many other things...

May we also have characteristics of Christ in His most beautiful, loving way.   They will know we are Christians by our love.  There is also a very strong Companionship of Brokenness.   May we be part of that Companionship of Brokenness.  May we be like a tiffany lamp, broken but put together by Christ's loving hands to shine our gentle Light to others.  Let's be wise yet vulnerable.  There is a sweet freedom in that.

...And yes, we may feel alone in our vulnerability at times as not everyone is going to be part of the Companionship of Brokenness, they may seem rudely preoccupied, some may even walk away as we are quietly shocked and taken aback ...But Christ, Christ is with us.  And that?  That is all that matters.


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There are so many things to be thankful for this Advent season.   



To be Quiet this Advent Season, ...and to Smile and Laugh When Needed

I have found to be quiet, even in decorating for Christmas, the Advent season, to just methodically decorate, precept upon precept, just quiet thoughts.  I'm carefully choosing music, perhaps that beautiful Bing Crosby voice.

Do you know Bing Crosby's wife lived in smalltown?  I know where the beautiful treed lot is among other very old homes still there.  I also had the pleasure of meeting their veterinarian and talking with him about Bing Crosby and all that good stuff. He tells me Bing would practice his golf swing in the front yard when visiting.  Yep, I rode on a hayride with Bing Crosby's vet!  He's an older gentleman and still gives tours dressed in historical costume.  I think that is so great.  Just last year, Marianna and I were driving to the grocery store and there he was giving a talk in his historical outfit to a group of people at a marker.

For Supper

Tonight I think I will make a very light pasta gravy, more like a tomato based soup broth with asparagus and spinach and such over pasta.   It's a very soothing supper.


Creating 

I'm creating a Collette pattern, Zinnia, skirt.  I'm slow-sewing, once again, just delighting in my project, precept upon precept.  Trying on, taking in, very carefully placing the zipper.  The fabric is a darling holly berry and leaf on cream background.  Very retro.  This skirt will be worn with a black top and red velvet belt.  I was inspired by Modcloth to create this skirt for Christmas.  












I'll close with a quote from the above book, Frederick Buechner is talking about a true friend who risked coming to him when  Buechner's daughter was close to death.  Here is what he says:


"It was a trading of lives, where he gave of himself and received from me of myself.  What a sense of peace we had.  We didn't talk about holy matters.  We didn't talk about religious things.  We didn't talk about anything much at all.  We smoked on our pipes in the woods and took walks. He was there a couple of days, but it was a blessed event, because he was willing to trade with his life.  A good and faithful servant trading with his talents." 

My dad smoked a pipe too.   Yes, along with his chapstick that myself and one of my daughter's always have he always had his pipe tucked away or in his mouth.  (A smile).





Sometimes?   We just need someone to listen,   just to sit and listen and be our friend.  I remember being my Grandpa Oddo's friend.  I would sit next to him quietly and we would watch television together.  We just quietly watched television together.  


I hope you are having a sweet Advent.  

May we allow Advent to make a mark on our heart this season.

Good evening, loves,     Amelia

Silent Night...May Your Week be a Peaceful One. 'Meet John Doe' (1941)

I have the above painting on a round refrigerator magnet up year round.  A very good reminder I think of sweet Baby Jesus and God's creatures...So sweet I think.  Sleep in heavenly peace... Sleep in heavenly peace.................

This time of year makes me think of unfortunately what follows for many.  I was talking to a young man cutting my fabric in U.S.O.town Walmart a couple of years ago and he shared that he was trampled the year before on black friday as they moved the crowd to another side of the store.  The young fella ended up with a fracture.  May I say that U.S.O. town is one of your better towns and the people are for the most part polite people there?  Why, it looks as if Judge Hardy lives there, seriously.  What has become of us?



And let's not forget the warning from the old movie, 'Meet John Doe' (1941)  One of our favorites.  I saw this movie for the first time when I brought our precious little baby, our youngest, Rebecca home from a birth center that first evening almost 24 years ago.

Whatever you do this Holy season, please don't be a Heelot   



Beautiful...The end scene.  (spoiler alert)



The original trailer:



This is a Frank Capra movie and it seems most all of Frank Capra movies are total greatness.  It's interesting to read Frank Capra's biography, he is actually from my Grandpa Oddo's hometown of Bisacquino, Sicily; he and my grandpa were around the same age.   The Oddo family is actually mentioned in one of the biographies I own.  You can read more about Frank Capra, it's really very interesting on Wikipedia.

Well, I hope all is well.  Here in the Forest I'm washing dog bedding and baking apples and such as well, composing and making our nightly suppers, trying to squeeze a whimsical Christmas-dog print maxi skirt together.  No time to be bored that is for sure.  I am missing my dad these days with the holiday season, it's difficult.  We mothers are the strong ones and the bearers of everyone's concerns but so many times we too are bearing a cross as well.  But I realize there are so many things to be thankful for so I must not complain but I would appreciate prayers.

If you like, I think your family too will love the "Meet John Doe" movie.  (1941).  How can we not enjoy a wonderful movie from 1941?  Gary Cooper,  Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennen?  Wow.   I so long for things to be more like that these days...I try to keep it like that in my home but the culture is so different, just so very different.

I'll close with our sweet little cat, Mo-Mo.  She is my i.n.f.p. buddy, such a sweet little angel, she exudes Peace.  She never claws or behaves badly, she's never greedy, just sweetly glad to be here.  Such a dear.



I look out the window and it's such an interesting fall day...It's overcast with patches of blue.  Just enough blue to make a Dutchman's britches....

(Edit 5:12pm.)  Just looked out the window here at and it looks like mother of pearl above the winter trees...an airplane is flying...I can hear it.  It sounds like the kind my dad used to fly...

Have a sweet Thanksgiving.  ...And have a Peaceful Holiday week.  (Holy day week).

Good evening, loves,    Amelia

A Man Told His Wife: "You Need to go Back to Work, We Could Use More Money".

Michelle, one of our married daughters showed me a video she enjoyed today...She tells me:

You'll like this one mom!



She was right, I did!

I hope you too enjoy this short video.  The message is so very, very needed in my book.  There are many of us who have chosen this simple path and allow me to say, it's a fulfilling one.   Yes, despite what society or present culture tries to say, despite what the pride of life tries to say, this is truth.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light.   Enjoy...




I may not garden or can but I know how to make a dollar stretch and making things out of what I already have has always been such a blessing to me, it's fun and a great outlet of creativity.  Spying nice items that are good quality but in our budget is a blessing too.  If you've read my blog for any amount of time you can see that I am careful on how I spend, we have had to be careful in our married life for my husband works on commission only.  It takes perseverance but yes Virginia it can be done.  If that meant going without a car or whatever it took...Yes, my children were more important.

As my husband shared once:

Our children are the only thing we can possibly take to Eternity with us.



Here is an excerpt from the little booklet our pediatrician, Dr. Louis Pottkotter wrote, Caring for Your Baby:
 
3.  "Some working mothers soon discover that when they add up the cost of weekly visits to the doctor with a sick child, plus the cost of medicine, plus the cost of daycare, they are actually LOSING more money than they make.  If this happens to YOU,  I suggest a serious reassessment of how important working is to you."

That always rang true to me.


I also knew my children needed me to care for them if at all possible.  There would be no career possibility to ever change that.  As Phyllis Schaffley once said, Some one has to rock the cradle!  As Napoleon said...Give us good mothers!     



 
 


  Recipe tip:   Do you know you can use cooked lentils for a healthy meat substitute?  I'm an ethical vegetarian, so I'm very used to cooking this way and I can see how a homemaker can save hugely by this as well.  Tonight for supper I am making my Grandma Oddo's pasta gravy.  Grandma Oddo was from Naples, Italy and she could cook!  I also made lentil patties, very similar to lentil balls, I just couldn't get them into a round sphere with no glutenfree breadcrumbs on hand today. lol.  I baked them in the oven to a perfect crisp and my family can place those over their pasta and ladle the gravy over all.  Bellissima! 

  Sewing machines?    I have found a good basic Brothers from Walmart works beautifully.  You can find them refurbished for around $50 on the Walmart site.  I ordered one for Marianna's birthday, our most recently married daughter.  It was like brand new, sealed and boxed.  Bravissimo!




I definitely taught our daughters the arts of sewing and cooking in our homeschool.

It's one of the nicest blessings ever to see our grown daughters using these gifts and budgeting lessons now in their lives at whatever stage they are in.  



If anyone has any questions on being a happy budget friendly homemaker please feel free to leave them here and we can have a friendly forum. : )

I love being an encouragement to others, we've been married for over 37 years, I'm almost 57 years of age and my husband, Jem (64) and I have brought up four daughters on one income. 

And I cannot close without pressing that God was and is our source in all things. Many of you know, it's been a very, very challenging year for me to put it lightly.  I cannot thank God enough.




All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

-Ronald Reagan



Good evening, loves, and don't forget, if you have any questions that maybe I could help with please let me know here.  Pretty much the only things I will not share are my Grandma Oddo's heirloom recipes. ; )  

*Big smile*     Amelia

Happy People Give Happiness. (I Try!)

We are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it.  No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them.   -Julian of Norwich

Nursing home visits can be an awesome joy.   A huge joy for me, a joy for my friends there.  There is a treasure of wonderful sweethearts there.  Look at this face....Our precious friend.

If you ever want to see an attitude of excellence?  It's our friend here.  This precious fella hears out of one ear, doesn't talk well because of it and has the use of only one arm.  He is wheelchair bound.  I can't tell you what it did to my heart when I stepped into his room and spied him making his bed with that one arm one day several years ago.  ...And to think many complain about chores.

He shouts in the most precious voice imaginable...

Heeeyyyyy!  How ARE ya'll doin'!

We were overjoyed to hear him say this complete sentence, his speech is so improving and that is such a hopeful blessing.

I do not know why our precious friend is in the nursing home, what happened to him.  I do see evidence of a tracheotomy and a scar for some reason to his head. Our friend is a middle-aged man, not what we would consider elderly.  The first time we met our friend he pulled out a worn white card with his name handwritten on it and we've all been best buds ever since.

His family has seen to it that he has a photo album of his life in his room for visitors to see.  It appears his brother is a minister and comes to visit.

Here's a few chosen shots from a little photo shoot of sorts:






Do you see his bib for lunch?  He loves to make sure his pals there around him also have a bib on and helps them with his one working arm.  Yes, this is our precious friend.  Best buddy ever.  An angel.

Do you want to stand out?  Then step down.  Be a servant.  If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you.  But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.  -Matthew 23:11



A Few of My Favorite Things:

A Book



A Book Suggestion:  Try Giving Yourself Away by David Dunn
This is a most uplifting book.  Timeless.



Soft Cotton Tops



Soft Fall Tops?  White Stag cotton tops from Walmart.com are great and the price is right.


*  I'm wearing one in 'teal' (top photo).  They're great with skirts or whatever. I enjoy black so I can throw colored scarves on if desired.  I purchase size 'L'.   White Stag Womens Essential Crewneck Shirt.

*  I live in these turtlenecks as the weather chills.  My signature black turtlenecks.  Once again, the price is right. Size 'L'.  : White Stag Womens Turtleneck.




   I don't think we have to spend an arm and a leg to look nice do you?   I sometimes see snob appeal and I don't want to enter into that.  ...So I like to share my bargains...Once in a blue moon I'll see a gal roll their eyes or give me an insecure blank stare on a good deal I may share.  Well..... That tells me far more about that person than me.  ;)  ...chuckle.


A Great Pair of Sunglasses

Sunglasses?   Dollar Tree comes to the rescue and I love this style, and as always..Say it with me!   The price is right! 

  

I take care of my sunglasses if I like them no matter what the cost and they last for several years if in a case.

Taking joy in life is a woman's best cosmetic.   -Rosalind Russell  (one of my favorite actresses)



 
One must have their favorite sunglasses to travel to the city.  Aha!  I see the run-away skeletons are still at their antics!  Yes, they are running through the huge lawn!   So hilarious if you ask me!  Oh my goodness!   This is the craziest, most bizarre yearly display ever!  It makes us literally crack up. : D 






If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.    -Anne Morrow Lindbergh






Prayer is the deliberate and persevering action of the soul.  It is true and enduring, and full of grace.  Prayer fastens the soul to God and makes it one with God's will.    -Julian of Norwich


I hope and pray everyone is having a nice week so far, a week of hope.   -Amelia in the Forest