Hopeful Videos and Some Sincere Thoughts on Life in Christ and our Nation

I'm writing thoughts this morning that came to mind.  I'm also including two special videos and a link, I hope it's not too much.  Remember when maybe you were a little child at the discount store, maybe a Kmart?   Remember once in a while your parents let you get two things instead of just one?  I remember once I was able to get one of those boxed halloween costumes and a board game too. So that's kind of how I felt putting these videos and a link up.  Please oblige.   


I thought this was such an interesting story...And just so you will know it ends happily.  The video story reminded me of my dad when he was little. My dad's mother died when he was ten years old and then was sent to a military academy, a prep school in Biloxi Mississippi. My mother was in his first grade class at school when his mother died and she said you could see such sadness in his little face and she remembers looking back at him also as a little child with sadness also in her face to convey her sympathy.  They were king and queen of the May Fete back then in the little Tom Thumb wedding and later married for real when my dad returned to the waterfront.

Hoping you will find the little story below interesting as I did and yes, the end is good.  It is good.







In the News, GOOD NEWS FROM WASHINGTON that You May Not Hear:

We also have good news from Washington that President Trump has added Dr. Scott Atlas to the medical team, praying this will be a positive move towards common sense and wisdom for our country in this ailing time of political correctness and lies greatly harming small business and greatly and unmercifully harming our elderly in nursing homes who are literally dying of loneliness.  

God does answer prayers.  Here is a video of Dr. Ron Paul explaining.  Did you know that I was 8 minutes from Dr. Paul delivering our fourth baby girl?  Just a factoid there... : )  That same baby girl would also work for Dr. Paul later.




Encouragement:

I was listening to a Fernando Ortega hymn this morning and it rolled over to this huge favorite of mine by Ann Graham Lotz.


He beautifies the meek....  The Pharisees couldn't stand him but they couldn't stop Him... He is the Lion and He is the Lamb...   Please, Just give me Jesus...   Thank you Dear God for just giving me Jesus...

Enjoy and be encouraged:







Thoughts:


It's so wonderful to have the Holy Spirit living in my heart as a Child of God, we can hear Him, that Still Small Voice if we will be quiet.

There are times when I miss my dad something fierce and I'll be out in my garden and I see a cardinal or a familiar orange butterfly....

God reminds me that He is with me and that great cloud of witnesses the Bible speaks of...Many mysteries.  I trust in God and He'll take care of the rest.  I know He will take care of His Children. I also know He is moved by our prayers...Our concerns are His concerns.









I think about my dad and those who have gone before us and I think to myself...Oh, if only they could see what is going on in our country...Sometimes when I'm in the kitchen, tears come to my eyes in the quiet but...

God is my comfort and strength.  He wins.  Thanking God for a President who as a whole is a good protector and bears the name of Christ.   He has quite a past but don't many of us?  Isn't that what Jesus is all about?   My life is like an onion one layer at a time, God takes one layer at a time... My husband reminds to look at a person's fruits.  What they do.





Well I'll close for now, I smile sometimes when I see that Greatest Generation wearing their Trump hats and I think it's so precious.  I know my daddy if he would have  been with us in good health mentally and physically would have loved to wear one of those hats and I can so see a Trump flag on his golf cart that he used to go to the grocery store in, he would have loved that.

Many of you may know that I lost my dad in a not so good way and it is still very painful to my heart.  But God wins and I know God is with me.  

The STORY


Be kind to people, be kind in your comments and comment to be kind!  I've never understood people who will not comment when they like something, to encourage others.  Isn't that the Jesus thing to do?    


Have a  sweet day in Jesus,     ~Amelia

 

Glimpses and Thoughts From Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Appropriate Then, Appropriate Now

I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if behind them they didn't have a little bit of plain ordinary everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella too...that's pretty important all that...   

~Spoken by Mr. Smith played by Jimmy Stewart on the floor of the Senate.

I have such a burning in my heart when I see this movie, perhaps you will too when you view this movie, definitely a favorite in our home.  Frank Capra as a director really had some things right.  He was from the same village of Bisaquino, Sicily where my precious grandfather was from.  The Oddo family was mentioned in one of the Capra biographies.


In the movie we see the same twisted attitudes and hearts that are just as present today in many places and institutions as yesterday.


Another place, another time but very much the same today in many places where it ought not be as I'm sure you will agree.


You will see Mr. Smith reading out of the Bible as he fillibusters...


I hope you and your family will also enjoy and be inspired by this movie classic great.  May we all be Mr. Smiths.   


One of my old pastors once said,  If people won't stand for you they might as well be on the other side...  I agreed then and I agree now.  


My father was a city councilman and one of my most precious memories was the way my father stood for what was right and good,  fearlessly.   

A Most Informative & Uplifting Interview by Dr. Stella Immanuel & a Soothing Song to Bless Our Souls...

 

  Hello Dear Readers,  Today's offering is a full interview with Dr. Stella Immanuel, a Christian medical doctor who graduated with honors and also loves the Lord Jesus.  She shares her life and the mighty benefits of HCQ.   She was given a full program, interviewed by Michael Berry on his show on the radio most recently.   Following that I have shared one of my favorite songs by Fernando Ortega...I think it's just beautiful and just good nourishment for our souls.  We've listened to Fernando Ortega for years.  We've seen him in concert and he is delightful, a wonderful sense of humor too, he just loves the Lord and it is so evident in his music.

Listen to "Dr Immanuel Full Interview" on Spreaker.









So soothing, so truthful, so nice to let the Lord, our Father speak to our hearts through this beautiful song and music.

Take care and let's not let anything steal our joy!

Psalms 91   

Let's keep our comments kind please.  I've never enabled comment moderation and would hate to start now.  In my life and this blog I don't have time for senseless debate and dislike immensely any  obtuse deflections from a heartfelt message. 

May we encourage one another and lift each other up in Christ Jesus. 

~Amelia at My Forest Cathedral 

Victorian Woman in a Garden at Dawn  ~Photograph by Lee Avison

Memorial Day Remembrance: Our Al, a Candid Message..And of Course, Niceties

Photo by Robert Stock


All is well on the homefront.  The above is a photo of me the past year with our first grandbaby, our grandson when he was more of a little infant.  I'm wearing one of my MiMi dresses, this one is of space babies in a wonderfully delightful vintage print reproduction.  It has space ducks and little animals along with the hooman space babies..I had also made a pillow for each of our little grandsons to match.  Timmy here is wearing his little nautical romper I also made, and now I've seen Jimmy our next to be born little grandson wear it too!

  Jimmy

  Timmy now. (Wearing the Charlie Brown and Snoopy shorts I made)

I've been very engaged lately sewing Little Dresses and Little Britches for Africa and just reading some good ol' books.

We've had Memorial week and it made me think of not only my dad but my precious, precious step dad, Al.  



The photo above was taken when we moved into the home pictured, he and the girls planted the tree there.  Al was a wonderful PaPa to our girls and was such a sweetheart.  He fought in WWII and gave unselfishly.  He had earned a medal and I'm researching that now.  He loved the girls so much, he would carry Baby Zuzu around over his shoulder and she would sing in her baby language. Here he is with Janie and Joycie before Zuzu was born, poor little Grace never knew him and Zuzu doesn't remember him, oh that is so sad to me.  He and mother lived in a humble little house in the middle of Houston, he would walk Janie and Joycie to the corner store and he'd buy them little goodies to eat and drink...So cute.  Those were some precious times...   He was an extremely talented sculptor and sculpted Dr. Cooley's marker.  He would crack me up, he was from an old Italian family from the Bronx, New York and I would get so tickled because he did not like it when the southerners would joke about the New Yorkers!  He was so sweet, you would get tickled even when he was aggravated!  When a heart attack took him suddenly it really did me in.  The hospital sent my mom home in a taxi with his clothes over her arm that night.  Me, being home, my little ones safely tucked in bed already I was horrified, running out in the yard looking up at the stars as if I could call him back somehow, my cries were so hard that they were silent,  standing outside in the pitch dark in the very yard pictured above, in a big, long yellow Garfield tshirt nightgown...Horrified.  In shock.  I remember being in tears bringing his suit and tie to the funeral home, I was so choked up I about threw those beautiful clothes at the stone-calm (like water off a duck's back) receptionist before running out, two young men my age there for a loved one staring as if they were to say We're so sorry...I still remember all of the faces.  That was back in 1990.  Little Joycie said her best friend had died.  Baby Zuzu would run to men at the grocery store with silver hair and put her little arms around their legs...  As you can see or read, I'm part of the Companionship of Brokeness and if you are of the Companionship of Brokeness  then you are probably a kindred spirit here.  ...And I really do miss Al many a day...many a day. 






I have lots of little goodies to show you, my pretty garden and such...I've been a little stressed, my mother fainted at the table again on Mother's Day so prayers are always appreciated for my mom and me.  My adult daughters are a huge help too as well as my loving husband.  

I'll be back soon with some eye candy.  I'm praying for our country and I hope you are too, our Victor's Wreath will be in the prayer closet.  And may we be that Watchman on the Wall and use words to warn if necessary.  I have what you would call a counselor or a healer personality, I have mercy and prophet both, so please oblige.  Do I sound like the book, Please Understand Me?  (smile).




Here's something I thought I would share, it's something a radio commentator played this evening:


A Warning from 1965 from Paul Harvey:





In closing:

One distant shot of my ivy gardens and Lilac tree last month...More to come.  I'm discovering my gardens are one of my happy places.



  Bethany.  I have restored her, repairing a fracture and a little hole in her poor little face, and broken pieces from a cruel fall... and then repainting her with her little child on her lap.  I think Bethany is so peaceful and represents motherhood so well.



   Jimmy's little handprint.  This was our first art project!  Little Jimmy presented this to his mommy, Joycie that very day.  So fun.  Zuzu and I did one with little Timmy the other day. 

  My little birds I also restored, one was fractured and missing part of his tail.  I made another tail with a tissue and school glue, repaired the hole in his poor little chest and touched up the paint so he is happy now.  They guard my window and tell each other little secrets through the day, they also guard my coffee stash.

  My pitcher of hibiscus tea...I enjoy drinking this iced through the day.   I still am using my cloth 'napkins'.   I still keep them in a shiny glass bowl there and grab those even before I'll grab a paper towel.  They are so much softer and there is somewhat of a comfort in my little 'napkins'...Who wouldn't love these little doggies on this one?

  Well, Loves, I hope you are all faring well.

Take care now, signing off from My Forest Cathedral.   ~Amelia

This is BEAUTIFUL and it's TOMORROW ON EASTER!

I can't wait!   ANDREA BOCELLI  LIVE AT DUOMO CATHEDRAL, MILAN, ITALY.  TOMORROW.  EASTER.  LIVE ON YOUTUBE.

My Italian grandpa, Vincent Oddo was an opera singer in New York when he arrived here in America as an immigrant with his cousin, Jerome Trapolino.  My husband is a musician and we both have a love of music so this is just very touching and exciting to me.  A Gift.  On Easter.



“On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honored and happy to answer ‘Sì’ to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan. I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now. Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride. The generous, courageous, proactive Milan and the whole of Italy will be again, and very soon, a winning model, engine of a renaissance that we all hope for. It will be a joy to witness it, in the Duomo, during the Easter celebration which evokes the mystery of birth and rebirth” Andrea Bocelli


Fall on Me, Andrea Bocelli and his son, Matteo Bocelli.  I think this is so beautiful...


I know I posted the video above, 'Fall on Me' last entry, please oblige.   I've been enjoying this song in our kitchen as I prepare our evening dinner.  Our evening dinner is just Jem and I these days and my quiet time in the kitchen is my grandma's hands preparing our dinner...I see my hands and I see her hands.  I hear this song?  It is God speaking to my heart.  God the Father.  

Fall on me with open arms...Fall on me where you are...


He is there with us.


My daughter tells me the concert will be 12pm our time.  We are in the south in the U.S.    It's live, so please check your particular time in your part of the world.  



I'll close with Doctor's Orders, I recently saw:  
Micah 6:8
1.)  Do justly
2.)  Love Mercy
3.)  Walk Humbly


    
Me with Jimmy, our secondborn little grandchild.   


In Christ,   He is risen.   What would I do without the Father?     ~Amelia

Edited: "Heartwarming Moments. Quarantined Italians Sing Together from Balconies" An Example. My Grandpa.

My daughter, Joycie sent me this and I just loved it:



The bald headed man singing Puccini reminds me of my Grandpa Oddo.  The way he picks up the little boy at the end?  Yes.  That was my grandpa...He so loved children and he and my grandma lived simply.

It reminds me of this quote, and you can easily substitute he instead of she:

What constitutes success?  She has achieved success who has lived well;  laughed often and loved much;  who has gained the respect of intelligent people and the love of little children;  who has filled her niche and accomplished her task;  who has left the world better than she found it;...who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty, or failed to express it;  who has always looked for the best in others and given the best she had.     -Bessie Stanley



My grandpa was from Bisaquino, Sicily where Frank Capra was from, my grandma was from Naples.

My grandpa sang opera when he was young and when he would sing to us even in old age he sounded like the man singing Puccini.  When Grandpa immigrated to New York around 1915 with his cousin, Jerome, he was hanging his clothes out of his apartment there.   He sang so beautifully that a lady walking down the street from the opera heard him and asked him to come sing in the opera.  He did until he was called to this southern state to unite with his family who came to America later.  He was so proud to become an American!  

I am half Italian and half German.  *big smile*   My husband is also of Italian descent, we met at an Italian wedding! 

So there you have it.

Have a blessed Saturday and Sunday as we concentrate on the Lord and rest in Him.



Let these great Italians be a good reminder of how we can make lemonade out of lemons, right?

Love to all,    ~Amelia in the Forest.

P.S.  Grandpa and Grandma?  You would be so proud, I'm living out in the country and gardening too!

Peace Be With You...

The other early evening I walked into our master bathroom and I heard the most beautiful song on khcb, our traditional Christian radio station, it was as if Christ was giving me soothing refreshment to my soul, it was an ethereal feeling.  I was almost stunned and stopped in my tracks.  I closed my eyes and just received the refreshment.

Later the announcer made an announcement of the song and specific artist on the variety cd.  I now have the cd, Scripture Lullabies, Hidden in my Heart Volume I  to play in my kitchen..I also play it on my channel master on youtube on television and it goes from one song to another.  There are several volumes, this is the first.

I just wanted to share the Beauty and Peace with you all.



This second selection is just gorgeous, remember when you were a child and there was a special movie on around Easter time?  Or just something that struck your soul...a miracle of sorts?  This music is the kind of music that would describe that feeling or moment...  Enjoy.  I like the ten hour version but there is also a single selection by Samuel Barber on youtube as well.  




I have the above playing now as I type...



Closing with some special recent photos here.





Cardinals are very special to me, they are God's messengers and comfort.  Here is one I spotted through my back screen porch perched on a bird feeder I made with a dollar tree cup and saucer on a metal hook-hanger also from dollar tree.






This is Liesl yesterday evening, she is the sweetest, most affectionate and loyal dog we've ever seen I think.  Look at the love in her eyes...She had gone from one home to another and my daughter had her but the surroundings were not large enough so we are so very, very blessed to have this most precious fur-angel here...  And she is that, a fur-angel.



Wherever we are, she is there. Whether it's on a walk or a precious heartbeat at our feet in the living room, her sweet little head resting on our knee looking up at us...She is there.  Even if the little Dachshund takes her treat she lets him...Oh if humans would learn to be like Liesl.  (And yes, I give poor Liesl another treat.) 





More photos from yesterday evening and night.  It's hard to capture the peace and solace the forest brings...  Sometimes I stand and just quietly and being very still...Take it all in...



I saw the moon last night as  we sat in the living room watching an old black and white movie.   I couldn't let this pass me by...I grabbed my phone and stepped out quickly to capture the Beauty.


Well, I hope things are going well for you dear ones.   The nutritionist will be sending an email soon letting us know if further testing through yet another doctor is necessary at this time for my mother.  We have a very good report on my mother's heart.  She is 90 years old and her heart is in very good shape, the sweet cardiologist with a Christian staff tells my mother...Oh my goodness, you cannot be 90!  You are very unique!   Thanks be to God.   So we'll see how the arteries on her neck are doing and I'm a firm believer in doing things the most natural way possible.

These kinds of things have the ability to be very trying for me emotionally, I've had my feel of bad people in medicine, no, I wasn't always like this, I have good reason to be this way believe me. I know they are not all bad but I have heard some personally, and I know some, some good and some bad.  There are a few angels but many are in the system.

I think all the testing is emotionally trying for my mom too and is even causing her to have faint spells even more.   I pray that the nutritionist-doctor will get down to the bottom of things and that will be that!  *gentle smile*

Prayers are appreciated and special thanks to those of you who have prayed, it blessed my heart and I am grateful. 

I do know many of you have experienced the same or similar and the same moon that shines over me shines over you too.  It's a comfort isn't it?  To know that brothers and sisters all over the world go through these things?   I'm very blessed to have good daughters and a good husband to help me with this situation who aren't wired quite like me; in such a delicate way or who haven't been through things to make them quite like me.  I do know God works things for His good, if we have been through things?  I think it's to help others and to be that understanding one.

God is our refuge.

Thanking God for each one of you!  Your comments are a Blessing to me.  I think God works greatly through blogs, I really do.  

Have a sweet evening, Loves,   ~Amelia in the Forest