Hopefully you were blessed by the Sunny Sunday!

Words are an important part of life.  It is important to speak and hear the blessings of the Bible.  Hearing helps to put the words into the mind.  Speaking firms the words deeper into our minds and gives us hope.  The best part of all is memorizing the words.  That way, when we need it the Lord can pull the words out of the depths of our memories. 

Numbers 6:24-26

New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

 

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+6:24-26&version=NIV

 

Today I remembered the words, "make his face shine on you" as I worked in the gardens under the beautiful sunshine.  When I came in, I needed to look up the words to see how it fit together.  It is God's promise of faithfulness.  He will bless us and keep us.  It would kill us to look upon God's face but he promises that the light from his face will shine on us and be gracious towards us. 

 

Gracious, that is a word that we don't use much anymore. (See definitions below.)  I am guessing that it would mean the obsolete usage that he will be godly towards us.  He is our God and we can have confidence in that relationship.  Most important in this blessing we are promised peace. 

 

May God touch you today, where you are in your struggles.  May his light shine upon you and give you peace.  Give him control because after all, he is the only one with the power to make it right.

Definition of GRACIOUS http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gracious

1. a. obsolete : godly

 

b. archaic : pleasing, acceptable

 

2. a : marked by kindness and courtesy <a gracious host>

b : graceful

c : marked by tact and delicacy : urbane

d : characterized by charm, good taste, generosity of spirit, and the tasteful leisure of wealth and good breeding <gracious living>

3

: merciful, compassionate —used conventionally of royalty and high nobility

— gra·cious·ly adverb

— gra·cious·ness noun

Birdie, birdie in the sky...

Oh wait, that's not right.  This little blackbird and its sibling fell out of the tree the other day. There were some pretty high winds so I'm not sure if they blew out of the nest, if the nest blew out of the tree, or if the neighbors removing shrubs around their house, disturbed a nest.

The other bird is laying under the tree close to the trunk and looks like it broke its neck. The baby bird in the picture seems to have survived.

I have seen it being fed by the mother or father.  When I walked up close, a bird swooped down at me. I obeyed and stepped away. The neighborhood stray cat was hanging around the other night but I saw the bird in the morning. My Jenny got up close a couple of times and I told her, "leave it!"

I'm not sure what will happen to the baby bird, but I'm doing what the parents want, leaving it alone and keeping My Jenny and Duchess away.

Thank-you

Thank-you everyone!

May 2013 was the highest month of readership for my blog since May 2011.  Sometimes I share fun and simple ideas while other times I rant and rave.  I shared in the beginning that I'm an eclectic person and hopefully the variety of topics have not let you down. 

When something that I write about or share hits your heart or makes you smile; share, share, share.  I do hope to reach a point of over 100 readers a day and begin having some contest giveaways.  That is my goal for us.  Your comments are always welcome.  At this point, I review the number of times a story has been read to see which ones are of most interest. 

This month the topics you have read the most are about:
#1 God
#2 My new book "The Man I Was"
#3 Doberman puppies.

I am a person of random thoughts.  Unexpected ideas pop into my head at unusual times.  Many times I don't know what I'm going to write about then all of a sudden "WOP!" the idea pops into my head and I think, oh, I really need to share that!  I hope that you enjoy the topics and for the more serious issues, I hope that they help you through a difficult time.

Life is a journey,

that we take one step at a time.  Sometimes we are walking up a hill and getting very tired.  Other times we are walking down a hill and you know that is actually more tiring.  Trying to keep going forward without  taking off full-speed in a downward spiral. 

It would be nice if we could maintain our lives at an even keel.  As  people that is not who we are.  Even, level, straight is boring.  We strive for excitement, new things, better things, different things. 
I signed a letter of intent today for the publication of my second Novella, "The Man I Was".  I received the formal contract that I have been reviewing. 

I feel excited, scared, nervous, anxious, pensive, hopeful, just to name a few.  My feelings today have been going up and down those hills from one extreme to another.  It is difficult to make a strong solid decision when emotions feel like they are roller-coasting out of control. But I've noticed that is often the times when we are expected to make the most difficult decisions. 

I had saved money for a self-publication and was willing to take the risk of nearly 100% loss.  So really what is the big decision?  Have you ever applied for a job that deep down you felt was over your head and after several interviews they actually offer you the job?  I think that this is a step up in the publishing "ladder".  As I write this I realize that there really isn't a decision.  It is the excitement that YES! this IS happening.  Wooo-hooo!

Soap Box time again!

In case you were wondering NOTHING has changed in the public school system in the last 40 years.  Okay, maybe the word nothing isn't fair but despite all focus and reports about bullying in the public schools, they still aren't doing much to deal with bullies.  If this were a news headline it would read, "straight kid bullied in school fights back with bat"

I've mentioned before that I was bullied in school.  A neighbor boy and his brother were two of the school bullies.  At the bus stop, on the bus, in the hallways at school, anyplace he had the opportunity he would act up.

Today, the buried memory surfaced in the middle of a conversation.  To my surprise the words just popped out of my mouth, "I've lived through that.  When I was about that same age, a bully was picking on me and I had enough! I turned around and let him have it.  I don't remember what he was doing or how I reacted.  But I do remember being in the principles office and telling my mother it wasn't fair that the bully gets away with picking on me all the time and I'm the one in trouble." 

What brought this up was a story that I was sharing with my boyfriend.  We had been told about a grade school child that was expelled the last couple days of school.  Through out the year, this child has been bullied and the parents have done the "right" thing going to the school principle to deal with it.  The child didn't feel like there was a "safe" adult to go to when being bullied because one of the people actually bullying him was the teacher.

All off the situations were reported to the principle.  The teacher's inappropriate behavior on several occasions. The students that acted up on the school bus, in the classrooms, in the hallway, the bullies were supposedly "dealt with" but it kept happening.

At a school event, the kids were standing in line. No one will ever know for sure if the bully pushed on purpose or if he tripped.  But the bully hit and knocked down the young child that had been bullied all year long.  It was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Bat still in hand from the softball game, pushing the bully off from on top, the young child came up hitting; bat in hand.

The police were called. The child was expelled for doing what the school would not do; protect the child from the bullies.  This child has the biggest heart and will come to the aid of anyone that needs help and is currently terrorized at the concept that the other children may think s/he is the new bully on the block. For a change the bully got what he deserved.  Although some bullies are what they are because they come from dysfunctional homes and it is their way of acting out what they are taught from home. 

Hey principles out there!  It is time to be politically incorrect.  Stop those bullies.  You will be doing them a favor and the nice kids who finally get pushed too far and turn on them. To be honest, I am totally amazed that there aren't more episodes in schools of excessive violence.  Maybe there are?  Seeing how much bullying is being covered up maybe there is more that is being hidden from us.  In the 40 years since I've stood up to a bully, what do you know; kids are still being bullied to the brink of breaking.  Breaks my heart!

Publishing - the next step!

Second-Hand Tuxedo was self-published.  The publishing company that did that printing gave me a quote a couple of months ago. At the same time, I was shown a publisher that did co-publication.

With self-publication, I pay for all the set up and all the printing. All the marketing is on my back.  With co-publishing, I pay for the set-up and the printing of the books that I can sell. They pay for the books they print and sell and I get a royalty. 

I have an offer with five options: three are co-publications and two are self-publications. Hardcover, paperback, 100 copies, or 10,000 copies are just a few of the choices. 

I had saved some money to invest in a self-publication effort. So now I need to decide if I want to risk more than that on one of the co-publication offers.  There are options within and very slightly over what I have saved.

Pray for me as I make the decision.  And get ready! Coming soon, "The Man I Was"!

Many more than two tulips!

I need to do some minor repairs on a section of the foundation and the former owner planted tulip bulbs right next to the foundation.  As I dug them up, I thought that I should take a picture and call it "101 tulips".  I have a few pictures to share. One is the old cat litter box before I started. Another is after I sorted bulbs for an hour to show you what is left and to the side there is the shoe box of bulbs. 
Take a guess....   101? Do you think that I hit my 101 bulbs????

(Higher, guess higher!  Keep going higher!)  I did a rough count and so far I am about 365 bulbs!  And I am not done separating them yet.  I can't tell if I am halfway yet.

Do you need any tulip bulbs?



101 (?) Tulips

Tulips about half processed

Six flowers equaled about thirty bulbs