From my heart ...

From my heart ...

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Storybook Islands & Heaven

Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Edgartown:  Storybook-like islands Joe and I visited last week, accompanied by delightful new friends we met on our Holiday Tours trip.



With relative ease, I can envision myself living in Edgartown (my favorite) peacefully contented for the remainder of my life. 

That is, if money grew on trees.

Alas!  Its only a dream.  And, likely a dream that hasn't even a glimmer of a chance of transforming into reality.  But, I'm okay with that - simply because digging up my North Carolina roots and transplanting them in Massachusetts would surely diminish my opportunities for a "grandkid-fix."  Its doubful I'd be successful in convincing my kids to move there just so this gramma can spoil her grandkids - rotten.

And, to my knowledge, my kids and kids-in-law haven't stumbled upon any money trees either. 

Edgartown's cottages are beyond adorably quaint.  If you're on Facebook, check 'em out - I've posted pics.  Our afternoon stroll was surreal, like we were smack dab in the middle of a storybook, as tranquility saturated our entire beings.

And to think strolling along the streets of Heaven is going to be even better. 

Glorious!

Lovingly, I recall years ago listening admiringly as my dear Grandma Ghiata (who now lives in Heaven with Jesus) played her pump organ so beautifully while while singing a favorite old hymn.  The chorus went like this:

Oh, that will be glory for me,
Glory for me.
Glory for me.
When by His grace, I shall look on His face,
That will be glory,
Be glory for me.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Nutritional Therapy


Dieting ... Ugh!  Back at it once again ... for about the gazillionth time.  Well, a gazillion might be a stretch of my own imagination, but there's no denying that dieting is a pastime of which I am intimately familiar.

Of all the years I've ridden the dieting roller coaster, my best guess is that I've lost nearly 500 pounds ... altogether.  No joke!

Out of curiosity, I looked up the definition of "dieting" this morning.  What did I discover?  Get a load of this:
  • nutritional therapy
  • sustenance
and ...
  • abstinence from food
  • starvation
What?  Abstaining from food is nutritionally therapeutic?  And starvation sustains you?

I might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but ... again - What?

Nonetheless, I will begin this new day abstaining from food (well at least the three c's ... chocolate, chips, and cookies) and enduring that starved-to-death feeling in an all-out attempt to regain my girlish figure ... for the gazillionth time.

Psalm 107: 9 - "He (God) satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness."

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Silver Linings

The older I get and with each passing day, I become increasingly aware of the existence of silver linings in my life.

No!  Its not what you're thinking. 

Instead, I'm referring to those thin, silvery, way-too-shiny annoyances that multiply at a too-great speed on my scalp.



Whatever happened to the days when I would spot only one random silver (let's just totally avoid the word gray - ugh!) strand amongst my dark brown hair and simply pluck that baby, leaving no evidence of its having shown up where it didn't belong?

Those days are gone.  Gone for good. 

Why?  Because they are no longer random.  Now, they have friends.  In fact, they're making an abundance of new friends rapidly ... daily.  Not that I have anything against friendship, but c'mon - this is a little over-the-top.  Who needs that many friends? 

Apparently, my head thinks it does.  Its like a party up there!  Silver "friends" showing up here, there, everywhere, and out of the blue.  Word's apparently getting around that the top of my head is where its all "happening."

What's more ... these guys don't even bother to wait for an invitation or to make reservations - for sometime in the far distant future.  Nope.  These irritating party-crashers just show up whenever they feel like it, on a whim even, then take up permanent residency ... without even asking my permission.

Pluck 'em?  No-can-do!  Tried that.  Wasn't a good plan. 

You see, since I've reached the stage of hosting multitudinous silver guests at this too-crowded party on my head, plucking now could potentially lead to LPB ... Lori-Patterned-Baldness.  I'm not that accomodating of a hostess!

Tried coloring the gray (Oops!  I mean, silver).  Turns out, not all my silver guests accept color. 

Discrimation!

On the flip side, Proverbs 16: 31 says - "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory."

A crown!

Hey!  I believe I'm wearing four of those.  Crowns, that is.  Namely:  Lindsey, Audrey, Samuel and Anderson.

Proverbs 17: 6 says - "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged."

Bring on the silver linings!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Speaking Engagement Winners


The Speaking Engagement Winners (from the Care Net Conference in Grapevine, Texas) are:
  • Save A Life, dba The Women's Resource Center - Mobile, Alabama
  • Human Life Services - York, Pennsylvania
  • Crossroads Pregnancy Center - Milledgeville, Georgia

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Spring In My Step

Summer's end is closing in.

Hallelujah!

Those of the menopausal female persuasion can fully identify with my exuberance when it comes to heat relief.  Not much else is more of an annoyance than pesky hot flashes accompanied by a 110 degree heat index.

With open arms and perspiration-free armpits (eau de armpits), I welcome the arrival of Autumn.  At long last, I can enjoy the great outdoors again ... liberated from profuse sweating, nauseating irritability, dripping makeup, and really bad hair days.

I'll have a spring in my step again ... once Fall clocks in.

Winter?  Even better.

Where's my Snuggie?

Monday, September 13, 2010

Out On A Limb

I'm pretty stubborn.

I'm pretty certain I was born that way.

I'm equally certain stubbornness is a trait that refuses to leave its host. 

Consequently, those who love me - and those who don't - can count on my being stubborn.

At least they can say I can be counted on for something!

Going out on a limb is one of the too-many things I'm awfully stubborn about.



Just give me a limb ... any limb ... and, I'll climb out on it.

I'm even okay with being knocked off the limb.  I'll just pick myself up, shake off the dirt, find another limb, and wind up stronger in the end.

Matthew 10: 14 ... "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet ... "

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Speaking Up

I've got a pretty big mouth. 

Its not entirely my own fault.  I've got a hearing disability that appears to have been passed down from my mother to her children and grandchildren.  And since I don't hear well, perhaps I talk much louder than what might be socially acceptable.  Perhaps!

But, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  At least I know no one can ever say they didn't hear what I said.  How in the world could they miss it, with a mouth such as mine?



I like to be heard.  (Don't we all?)

Of course, I particularly like it when others respond positively to the words that I try my darndest to choose very carefully.  But, even at those times when positive responses aren't immediately obvious, I'm fairly certain that my verbalizations have the potential to cause others to, at the very least, give my ideas thoughtful consideration.

From time to time though, I feel like a voice in the wilderness. 

I'm not too fond of those times when my voice is lonesome ... when my voice desperately longs for the company of other voices.  That would be music to my ears (via my hearing aids). 

Loneliness envelopes my voice on occasion, and drags it into the wilderness when I'm speaking up for the unborn.  Not always, but occasionally.

Nevertheless, I will passionately continue to open my big mouth wide in a deliberate pursuit to save the precious lives of Jesus' little ones.

Jesus loves His little children.

With purposeful determination to make my actions speak even louder than my words, and my unwavering pledge to be a voice for the unborn - a very loud voice - I'm leaving Saturday for the Care Net Conference in Grapevine, Texas, where I'll be exhibiting for four days and selling my book, "Pregnant at 16."

Thank you, Jesus, for my big mouth.

Outta Control

I'd like to think that I'm far from being a control freak.  I'd like to think that I'm more than willing to allow others to ...