I Is For...

I is for Independent.  To a fault.  I don't know for sure but I bet I was one of those babies who said, "me do it!"

I wasn't always this way and I'm not sure how I got to this point.  But I really want to be able to do most things for myself.  And I like being alone.  Now I don't want to be alone all the time but I do want my quiet time.  No, that's not right.  I NEED my quiet, alone time.  Actually I do know how I got to be this way.  I turned into my mother.  Has that happened to anyone else?

H Is For...

H is for homemaker.  That's all I ever wanted to be really - a wife and a mom.  I wonder if that came from those television shows we watched in the sixties?  I guess I wanted to be June Cleaver.  :)

I didn't get to stay at home when my children were small but I wished so many times that I could.  Now that I don't work outside the home I can assure you that it is everything I always dreamed it would be.  Isn't that a wonderful thing - to have a dream fulfilled.  Not everyone experiences that and I'm so grateful that I have.

Ponds, Herbs, Fabric and Bathrooms

I'm traveling this week and mid-trip stopped at a beautiful state park at Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, to walk around the pond.  Isn't this a gorgeous place?

This small lake is formed by a natural spring and flows down to a dam and makes a beautiful waterfall.

Another reason I like stopping here is because of the herb garden.

I love herbs and this garden has several that I don't grow, like comfrey, and many that I don't recognize at all.

Because it's a visitor center it has wonderful clean bathrooms...but I don't use them any more.  I don't go in at all because they always ask where I'm from, where I'm going, and how many are in my party.  I explained once that women traveling alone shouldn't have to announce that in the middle of a crowded room of strangers but I guess they need to know for some reason.  One of my blog readers told me once to say "my Father and I" which would be totally honest and true.  Isn't that a great solution?  However, I've found an alternative situation that works great for me:

This is a wonderful discount fabric store in Thayer, Missouri, about 3 miles from Mammoth Springs.  The people are so sweet, Henry Glass fabric is $3.99 a yard, and they have a bathroom.  :)

G Is For....

G is for grateful.  I don't know quite how to explain this one except to say that my life could have gone in lots of different directions, most of them not so good.  There were difficulties in my childhood and traumatic events in my teens that could have sent me spinning off into space.

Even though I didn't know it at the time God was in control.  He steered me toward good friends and good role models who started me down a different path.  He orchestrated the way I met my husband and He pointed out better choices.  He let me serve others in my work and He encouraged me to be more than I ever thought I could be.

Grateful doesn't sound like much, but it really is huge.

F Is For....

F is for flexible.  Not my body.  It's not very flexible at all!

But personality - you bet!  I'm good at "going with the flow".  Remember the Slinky?  It went from side to side, shifting and changing when it needed to so that it could either balance or go all the way back to it's original shape.

When I was teaching the catch phrase of the day was "monitor and adjust."  And it meant just that - if something you were doing wasn't working, you switched gears and did something else.  You tried different things until you hit on the one that worked with the kids you were teaching.  I learned a lot from that....I learned to do the same thing in life.  I learned that if you keep on doing what you always did you will keep on getting what you always got.  Read that somewhere - and it's true.  If you're flexible you can take advantage of opportunities that pop up, you cease to be rigid and you learn to bend without breaking.

Being flexible is said much better than I could ever say it in Ecclesiastes 3 - To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.  Embrace your season.  That's being flexible.

He Is Risen!

Matthew 28:1-10

New International Version (NIV)

 ¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
 ⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them,“Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”