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You have what it takes to get through this season

30 May

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

Reblogged May 30, 2020

May 22, 2020

I applaud my hubby. His creativity to fix anything in the house leaves me in awe. But his method is not to run out and get a new part or new material or a replacement. Instead, he finds a way to use what he already has within his reach and voila! Repair completed.

Our world also seems to be broken on many levels, but like my hubby, we have what we need to fix our own broken plans, to repair what malfunctions and to put together our confidence that’s falling apart.

It’s all doable because in Scripture, we have the blueprint to begin the mending. To work on a new start, overflowing with expectations and anticipation of something better.

That’s because the blueprint of God’s Word showcases details for us to follow, to count on and to sustain us through the worst of times. With these three steps, we can have the boldness to defy the gloom:

1.  No matter what we face—the dwindling of our bank account, the delay in our unemployment check, the virus with no cure, the uncomfortable change in our routine. All seem to be against us.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:29-31)

He’s for us. He’s on our side. And He fights the battle. He brings on the defense, the weapons and the victory. If God is truly with us, why do we worry about what seems to be against us?

2.  How often, in the silence of night some of us asked: Our plans are broken, Lord. What will tomorrow bring? 

Here’s His answer in Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

“We’ll never go back to normal,” many say. But God’s promise for a future still stands. “Life will be harder when all this is over,” some complain. But God’s future could be better than we ever expected. And if that future God promises is His own design, why do we worry?

3. Thoughts of loneliness must be deleted. And notions of abandonment need to go into the garbage disposal of life because God says:

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So, we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

No government can bring the assistance we need. God is our divine helper. No amount of economic bounce back compares to God’s supernatural help. And no predictions from experts will provide the hope we need. God is the one we call our divine helper who will never abandon us…that’s why we cannot and must not fear.

Let’s Pray

Thank You, Lord for reminding me that in You, I have all it takes for me to live confidently, reassured and comforted by Your promises. In Jesus’ name.

How does this message apply to you?

Janet

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Did you know I wrote a book filled with words of encouragement, uplifting thoughts and illustrations of real-life triumph to empower you? Its title, Trials of Today, Treasures for Tomorrow: Overcoming Adversities in Life. You can get it HERE.

CLICK HERE for a one-minute inspirational video.

Looking for a speaker for your upcoming event? A great speaker makes the difference between a so-so event and one that shines with impact. I invite you to view one of my two-minute videos HERE.

Feel free to share Janet’s posts with your friends.

Janet Eckles Perez

Some say she should be the last person to be dancing. Her life is summarized in this 3-minute video: http://bit.ly/1a8wGJR

Janet Perez Eckles’ story of triumph is marked by her work as an international speaker, #1 best-selling author, radio host, personal success coach and master interpreter. Although blind since 31, her passion is to help you see the best of life.

www.janetperezeckles.com

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Life During Covid-19 Part 15

28 May

Waiting on the SpaceX Demo-2

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I wrote last week about my disappointment that our return to the North Carolina mountains was delayed. Within frustration comes positives, especially if we are open to accept them and one of them was being in Florida for the historic launch of the SpaceX Demo-2 launch.

Foto: NASA clipset.20minutos.es

Our town is on the banks of the Indian River which is directly across from Kennedy Space Center and the launch pads. Due to Covid-19 the local media advised the locals to stay home and watch the launch from their yards. I was good with that idea. Our area has a low virus rate and the thought of mingling with people from all over the country kind of freaked me out. But…our daughter writes novels about the space program and she has followed the progress of SpaceX from its infancy and was determined to be at the river.

Our usual viewing involves parking at a church near the river, then walking to a good viewing spot. Once the launch is over, we quickly move to our car and beat the traffic.

We left home around 1 pm for the 4:33 pm launch. We had packed lunches, water and chairs. We drove past the park we love (photo on left) and it was packed with cars.

We continued driving north and ended up at large park. We easily found a parking place and backed into it.

HINT if you ever have the opportunity to view a crewed launch, back into your space.

And then we sat in the car for three hours. With no internet on our phones. And it rained.

I don’t know if you have noticed but there is a huge societal battle going on. To mask or not mask. Sitting in our vehicle my first thoughts when I saw people walking past with masks, were give me a break, people. You are outside with way more than 6 ft distancing.

After thinking on the masks for a time, I reverted to my usual wear or not wear attitude. People were here from all over the country and may be following guidelines to which they are accustomed to.

An extremely heavy line of storms moved in on us. The trees were whipping and the rain was coming down in sheets. Our cell phones were not able to access data so we didn’t have any idea what was going on. Once we were back home, I saw this on Facebook.

Mims is about 5 miles from where we parked. It was a small tornado

Finally around 3 pm the rain ended although the skies remained dark, although there were patches of blue. My daughter and I decided to venture out to the river bank and stake out our viewing space. My husband stayed in the car. He’s not rain tolerant. I was impressed that few people had left during the rain. There were a lot of soggy clothes but many had come prepared with rain gear.

A brave group of kayakers paddled past. A boat is an ideal viewing spot but the hassle of getting ones boat to a dock and out of the water afterwards is not worthwhile for us. Been there, did it once. Now the kayakers are brilliant. No boat dock needed!

In Titusville we have “The Bridge” It is a lovely bridge that crosses the Indian River and connects Titusville to Merritt Island on which the space center is located. “The Bridge” replaced an ancient structure that used a bridge keeper to open and close the draw and each side of the bridge has a generous walking lane. It is a thing to walk “The Bridge” ( Yes, a local boutique sells T-shirts bragging about walking the bridge)

For the launch, the bridge is closed to traffic and is a prime viewing area.

The rain held off and patches of blue peaked through and around the clouds. As the time of launch drew close, my husband joined us. We were ready for the rumble! Then, without warning, people around us began gathering their belongings. People began streaming off the bridge. The dreaded word, scrubbed, could be heard. We couldn’t believe it. The sky was almost clear. But not clear enough. Less than 15 minutes from life off and it was over.

I was outraged! Pre smart phones we would have been listening to transistor radios, then later, boom boxes, getting updates from mission control. All I can assume is the crowd overwhelmed the cell tower capacity.

The launch is rescheduled for Saturday. Hopefully we will finally be back in the mountains. It was fun being a part of launch day, even if it didn’t launch. One thing was missing though…conversation. Usually there is an atmosphere of camaraderie, sharing stories and launch experiences. I missed that. I hope social distancing does not become the permanent normal.

Our daughter is on her own for Saturday. I wonder if she might rent a bicycle. Post launch traffic is a bear!

I love this picture Rebekah took of children enjoying the rain puddles.

Hopefully, next week I will be writing from the mountains!

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Magnolia Bees

4 May

A Time to Live

Melody Hendrix

Yesterday after the rain, I noticed that the magnolias in the back yard were blooming. I knew there would be bees after the pollen that falls conveniently in the cup shaped pedals of the magnolia blossom. The bees love to collect it and take it back to their hive. I set my phone on slo mo and enjoyed seeing honey the bees. Little did I know some drama was happening.

There are three bees. Two of them have collected lots of pollen in their pollen basket on their legs. The third one has none. Instead of the third one getting pollen itself, it is trying to grab it off the legs of the other bees. So amazing, we miss so much in nature in this hurried and noisy world. 😳

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Life During Covid-19 Part 8

23 Apr

We Are So Blessed

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

We have toilet paper, hand sanitizer and paper towels. Two months ago, these items would not have made my thankful list of blessings. Coronavirus has changed our world. We definitely spend more time together.

Saturday night we watched the 25th anniversary of Phantom of the Opera from the Prince Albert Auditorium. It was free on You Tube. I am not a huge fan of the show but Mike and Rebekah love it. The best was the finale. Andrew Lloyd Webber and his wife made an appearance along with the original Phantom. Sarah Brightman sang an except with the original Phantom then with great drama several actors through the years joined them onstage to sing. It was magical.

On Sundays we eagerly tune in to a couple of our favorite churches online services. During the week we each have favorite churches and ministers that we listen to. If nothing else, this virus has created in us soul hunger.

Sunday night we watched Hope Rising, a group of Christian singers and speakers on Facebook.

Over 3 million people watched and worshipped together. Our churches are closed but our hearts are praising. The concert was to raise money for Samaritan’s Purse and their medical team. It accomplished so much more, inspiring all with a sense of unity in Jesus. As of Tuesday 1.6 million dollars were donated and this was a zero budget production!

Our daughter has been fortunate to not be furloughed from her job as most of her team have been. Monday was her first day of working from home. We rode with her to east Orlando (Any reason for an outing!) to meet a coworker and receive the “work” phone. She will be working 3-1130 pm. A shift in our family dynamics, but not a bad thing. Before The meet up for the phone was set in the deserted Chilli’s parking lot (Which felt kind of like a drug hang off. ) Before the meet up we went to the drive through at Culvers and got their cashew chicken for our supper. We really enjoy Culvers. And I love not cooking!

It’s warm in Florida but Wednesday there was a steady breeze that held a hint of cool. Any day now, the winds will shift and feel like they are coming off the equator. After a grocery run to Aldi, my daughter and I decided to sit out on the patio. We have an abundance of birds at the feeders and in the trees. Much more than usual. I choose to believe that God is providing them to enliven our days as we enjoy watching them. Rebekah put up the patio umbrella while I made each of us a granita.

I modified the recipe for the granita, which is an icy coffee drink, from one that I found on Cooking Keto with Kristi. This is a good blog if you eat low carb. Currently she is sharing 10 days of sheet pan meals using meats and foods one has on hand.

As I was writing this, the radio reminded me that SpaceX would be launching in two minutes with a payload of satellites. These satellites are set to create a new internet delivery system. I should have remembered that the radio is on delay. The rocket was already speeding on its journey by the time I grabbed my camera.


Later I went outside to take a picture of the Town Home construction across the street. The construction has been clogging the road making backing out of the drive a pain. Of course the trucks weren’t there. I am choosing to be thankful the crews are working and people will be getting new homes. It’s easy for me to choose thankfulness. I’m not the one who has to back our truck!


This week as I mentally list the good things happening as a result of what I call The Pause, I also feel guilt. There are heartbroken and frightened people around me and I can’t fix them. Thanks to the masks, I can’t even smile at people or receive a smile in the store, unless my eyes send the smile. Families are being separated at the hospital and die with only the staff at their bedside. This is brutal. I pray that those alone are surrounded with comforting angels. I don’t know it that is Biblical but I am praying it.

I am reminded of a favorite Bible verse, Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.

I’m counting on this verse!

I almost forgot! Did you see this fun video on Facebook?

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Daily Life During Covid-19 Part 3

23 Mar

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

It occurred to me today, that I appear to have a need to write about our daily experiences during this virus. Which is odd since coming up with one blog a week is a challenge.

The whole Coronavirus experience seems surreal. How could daily life change drastically in such a short amount of time? Of course this happened when we made the decision to not stuff the refrigerator freezer full to the point I had no idea what was in it.

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

On Saturday I placed an online order with Sam’s Club, a warehouse store. I couldn’t choose a pick up day or time, but was assigned Monday from 9am to 10 am. I had the best experience!

The main item in my order was gloves. I have been hand sanitizing like crazy and am over it. When I presented at the pick up station, the worker informed me they were out of the gloves. I was bummed but reminded myself to be nice and not rant. I thanked her for my order and began making my way toward the pharmacy hoping to score some hand sanitizer. I hadn’t gone far when the worker tracked me down and handed me a package of gloves! She had a big smile and told me she found some gloves!

Photo credit Mountain Side Medical

I made a quick sweep through the store looking for things I was running low on. They had toilet paper! I was thankful we didn’t need any but I wanted to tell the world they had it. In the meat section I was able to get a package of chicken breasts. It should give us two or three meals.

In the afternoon we had to drive to Melbourne for my husband to have a medical test. On the way home, would you believe he asked me to go back into Sam’s, risking my life, to get him some eye drops? I grabbed a sanitizer cloth on the way in and used it at the checkout for punching in my card code. It was encouraging to see cashier type people wiping down the terminals after each use.

Thank you, God for people who are working to keep food on the shelves. I pray health and blessings over them.

I am excited to see all of the sharing of information on Social media. With schools being closed universities, NASA and Disney are providing free educational opportunities and I am certain many others are as well. Museums and zoos are providing virtual tours and even the film industry is providing paid streaming options. For the younger ones, groups are offering downloadable coloring pages. Even in this scary time, I see so much good around me.

And how cool is it that distilleries are switching from alcohol production to hand sanitizer? At first I heard of one or two small ones and then Anheuser- Busch volunteered to switch from beer to sanitizer as well. I knew they switched during natural disasters to provide water, but this is way cool.

All over the country businesses and manufacturing are volunteering to switch over from their normal products to make whatever is needed, ventilator parts, respirator masks etc. The outpouring of “we can do this” is heartwarming. I even saw a Facebook post for people who use the Cricut machine to make face masks!

https://jennifermaker.com/face-mask-patterns-cricut/?fbclid=IwAR0JGK4i4NSOb-vsnu_ZYy3cHd97hFIgMaYzgpzs08_8lx5ucAmPWOIhYGc

It brings to mind WWII stories of women rolling bandages for the war effort.

Getting back to hand sanitizer, we don’t have a lot, one of the reasons for getting the gloves. Yesterday I placed an online order with Publix Supermarkets as they listed it on their online store. I didn’t want to pay $7.99 for delivery but it would be worth it, if we could set the sanitizer. An hour before delivery today, I received a text that the store didn’t have it. I was bummed. I wanted to cancel the rest of the order but felt that would be penalizing the InstaCart shopper.

This was my first experience with delivery. I have learned online ordering for pickup, doesn’t guarantee I will get my items. I was kind of shocked by that. The same goes with delivery, I guess. I imagine if one doesn’t order something in short supply, a suitable item would have been substituted.

We don’t have an Ikea near our home in the mountains so when we are in Florida, I like to shop there. I am a confessed Snapware addict and Ikea has some nice ones for very reasonable pricing. I really like the ones that are glass bottoms with the snap tops. I had planned to purchase more of them while in Florida. Ikea, like most stores except groceries is closed but open to pick up. In an effort to keep the economy healthy, I did my part and ordered. Our daughter works near Ikea and agreed to pick them up. She said they had an efficient system to maintain social distancing. Cars were instructed to pull into every other loading bay then an Ikea person brought the order to the car.

I think I now have enough food and supplies for two weeks. I’m still searching for hand sanitizer so if anyone locates some, let me know!

Until next time,

Onisha

PS… I am praying that the drug combination trial being started in New York will be effective and we will see the end of this pandemic.

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We Are All Sinners

21 Mar

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

This Coronavirus crisis is scary and I am not ashamed to admit that my courage is weak but I am thankful that God is strong and true.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says:

 … “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

A popular and true slogan is that first responders run into danger when others run away. They make that choice. We can make a choice as well. We can run to God in our uncertainly and experience His rest or we can run from Him and know fear and exhaustion. Some might ask, why would God care about me? I am a sinner.

Well, we are all sinners.

Church services have virtually been suspended here in the US. To stay connected and to encourage each other, many will either be live streaming on Facebook or on their webpage. Traditional service time is 11:00 am, ours is 10:30am. Larger churches have multiple online service times. I encourage anyone who feels uncertain or lonely to find one of the live streams.

If you know of a church in your area that you have heard good things about, look then up and see if they live stream or have an App. I am going to list some of the churches I know.

The Grove, Titusville, Fl Contemporary service https://www.facebook.com/thegrovechurchfl/videos/206574347077265/ Link to past services https://www.thegrovechurchfl.org/media

Gateway Community (my church) https://www.facebook.com/GatewayTitusville/

Indian River City Methodist IRCUMC has multiple times https://www.facebook.com/IndianRiverCityChurch

First Baptist Orlando 10am https://www.facebook.com/FirstOrlando

Cornerstone Church, Athens, Ga https://www.cornerstoneathens.cc/watch

Park Avenue Baptist, Titusville, Fl (Canadian pastor) 11 am live stream https://www.facebook.com/ParkAveFL Webpage https://parkavenue.org

Cowee Baptist Church, Franklin, NC. Contemporary service 11 am webpage http://coweebaptist.org/sermons/crossover/ Traditional service is 8:45 am http://coweebaptist.org/sermons/traditional

I’m all the way a Southern girl but I frequently listen to Times Square Church in NYC on their App. They have multiple pastors.

We will make it through this time. Let’s pray for the ones who are sick, the ones out of work, the business owners who can’t open their doors. Let’s be kind and sprinkle love and encouragement. If you can, volunteer to deliver food or help health care providers.

Ending this with humor. A call has gone out for retired healthcare workers to volunteer their skills. Doctors, nurses, maintenance, clerical, all hands on deck. Do they not realize the retired are in the age that is vulnerable and suggested that they stay home and avoid close contact? LOL

If you have a church to suggest, leave it in comments.

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Something of Interest…to Us at Least-Part 5

8 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

This is the last segment of the pictures of the “oddities” that we found at Disney Springs.  These pictures have really interested us, and we hope you have enjoyed them, as well.

I’ve always thought that someone at Disney really does have all that “imagineering” mind on them.  There are so many of these little touches that just make up Disney.

And so, here we go:

All around the “new” part of Disney Springs, we found different motifs, such as this one:

Guest Services now has a building all its own, all the better to serve the customers/guests.  It even has a porch with rocking chairs where guests can sit and relax a bit.

Even the fence has an interesting design:

There is a mosaic on the side of one building:

Description: Florida mosaic

While this grouping isn’t “new” at the Springs, it is pure Disney.  And it stays there, year round.

Description: Disney's Days of Christmas - Happy Holiday

One of our very favorite stores – the Christmas Store.  Everything Christmas and Disney, all in one store. Amazing!  Notice above the “Days of Christmas” sign, in the black and white, is a sleigh and reindeer running across the sign.  See?  Little things…

Description: Disney's Days of Christmas

One of the most popular stores at Disney Springs is the Lego store.  Here are a few of the Lego examples – all made from Lego pieces:

Anna, Elsa and Olaf

Description: Lego store - Anna, Elsa, Olaf

The Hulk makes his fearsome presence known:

Description: Lego store - Hulk

Of course, BB-8 had to be there!

Description: Lego store - BB-8

Buzz Lightyear and Woody attached to a rocket

Description: Lego store - Toy Story - Copy

On a wall near the store – made up from Legos

Description: Lego store - wall art

Maleficent has been there a while.

Description: Lego store - Malificent

As long as we’ve been going to Disney Springs (originally Disney Village, then Marketplace when they added Pleasure Island, then Downtown Disney when they added West Side), Nessie has been in attendance – courtesy of Lego.

Description: Lego store - Nessie

Near the Earl of Sandwich (a really great place to eat!!) is the Tinker Toy.  Wow does that bring back childhood memories!  (Notice the wet pavement?  There are “pop-up” water spouts there.  The little kids LOVE to run through it!)

Description: Tinker Toy

And another popular eatery and a draw for children is the T-Rex restaurant.  Built by the same people who do the Rain Forest Café.

Description: T-Rex

That’s all of the pictures we’ve taken of Disney Springs.  This has been a fun jaunt through the “park” and we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.  When you are in Orlando, be sure and head to Disney Springs.  The parking is free; you don’t have to buy anything unless you want to, and you get a good amount of walking exercise at the same time.  It’s one of our favorites.  Come join us!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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SOMETHING OF INTEREST…TO US, AT LEAST Part 1

9 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Two things first of all:

1)        Fred and I really enjoy Disney – all things Disney.

2)        We like to notice little “touches” of things while at Disney.

Okay, that’s out of the way.  Now…on January 25, 2017, I wrote a blog titled “Tied in Knots” and the entire blog was written because I had seen the little boats at Disney Springs tie up to the cleat at the dock.  I still get a chuckle over that every time we are at Disney Springs and ride the boat from one dock (West Side/Marketplace/The Landing) to another.  (Just for your information, Downtown Disney is now known as Disney Springs.  I don’t know why they changed the name – perhaps “Disney Springs” rolls off the tongue easier than “Downtown Disney” does.  Whatever…) 

We were walking around Disney Springs recently and it occurred to me that lot of the door “handles” on the newer stores there have interesting and unique handles.  Now, we had noticed these before, but it didn’t occur to us until just that moment that my readers might also enjoy seeing those door handles.  And yes, one set of those door handles are cleats!  And just for information purposes, most of the stores I have photographed for this posting, are NOT Disney – they are just on Disney property.  Some of the names are quite recognizable, but others are not – at least not to either Fred or me.

Therefore, we’ve taken pictures of the ones that interest us the most, and present them to you now. These are some of the little “touches” at Disney that we enjoy.  We hope you do, as well.

The Disney Springs logo is interesting:

Ron Jon Surf Shop is self-explanatory, I think:

The Art of Shaving is a unique store dealing with everything “shaving.”

We were amused to see the door handles are “barber poles”, as well as the barber pole off to the side – even if it is not red/white/and blue.

Tommy Bahama is fairly well known.  All types of clothing.

                        The door handle is quite unique.

Sephora is a cosmetic store – and a large one.

The door handles make an “S”

Melissa is an unknown brand name to us, but love the “M” of the door handles.  But both doors must be closed to see the rounded “M”

Alex and Ani is an unknown store to us.

But the door handles are unique.

Most people are familiar with Kate Spade, for one reason or another…

While the door handles aren’t unique, the “spade” is everywhere!

One of our favorite store “handles” is for the Johnston & Murphy men’s shoes store:

If ice cream – and chocolate – is your thing…here is a store for you!

Love the door handles!

And then there’s the Disney Ticket Center…

With rather unique door handles…pure Disney!

Much more to share – so until next time…..

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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God’s Creatures~Part 2

4 Feb

Melody Hendrix

A Time to Live

Photos from the zoo.

Zebras!

MelodyWelcome! I’m so glad you stopped in to visit. I am retired and enjoying life. My hobbies are my 5 grandchildren, son and daughter, and my loving husband. I am a photographer and extreme nature lover. I love spending time in my garden or in the wilderness connected to God my Creator.
What a beautiful world we live in. We all have that in common. Natural beauty is everywhere, but sometimes we are not connected until we see a picture, taken just right, that makes it really come into focus and be admired. My passion is to make a connection between the lens and your soul. Photography is my passion.
 
My photography passion began when my Father handed me his old Ricohflex box camera when I was 12.  It was love at first sight. I still have it. My hand was never empty of a camera since.
 
I am a native Floridian. I am so lucky to call it home. I was born in Orlando BF (before Disney). My family moved to the Winter Park area when I was very young. Central Florida was so simple and quaint at that time. I wandered the streets barefoot with my friends, never worrying that something bad could ever happen. My Mom used to pick the sand-spurs out of my feet. I still go barefoot. It grounds me to earth and connects me to nature.
 
I have extensively explored Florida and its diverse beauty. So much to see and so little time. I would love for you to join me in my travels through the images I have taken. I wish you could hear the sounds, smell the fragrance and feel the breath of it. But for now we must be content with exploring with our eyes and only imagine the rest.
 
Thank you for your interest.

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A Letter From Ivan

20 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

While Ivan was in the Army, he and Dora, like most married people in WWII, kept a running conversation going through the mail. Here is one letter from Ivan when he was in water purification training in Austin, Texas on the Colorado River.

 June 20, 1944 Tuesday Morning

It is about time I wrote. Most of the other Boys wrote yesterday evening and this morning, but I have been pretty busy fishing and swimming and working. We have a trout line set with about 15 hooks on it. Have been busy moving it around trying to find a good place. So far we only have two nice cat fish about a foot long.

 We have our own boat and we go run the lines every so often. I have a line set right here in front of my tent. Boy there is a big old turtle over across the river. His neck is about 6 inches long. But every time someone goes after him he dives in the water and gets away.

I received your lonesome and most welcome letter last nite. Someone brings our mail out every day. Sunday nite on the way out it was raining like hell so after we left the paved road and started down to the river the roads were slick and we turned a trailer over with a complete water purification unit on it. But it didn’t do much Damage. We winched it right back up and took off. 

Last nite we went for a swim and then went to sleep after running the trout line. If you ever had a turkish bath you will know how hot it is here. Until midnight you just lay there and your whole body is soakig wet with sweat. The bedding even gets all wet. You have to sleep without your underwear because it gets wet enough you can wring it out and that makes it hotter. 

I’ll see you afterwhile, as I have to go and run my lines. 

 Here I am again just after Supper. Had quite a nice afternoon. But haven’t caught any fish. We went swimming and I had just got out and had my shirt and pants on when the sergeant  waded a bit too far from the bank and the current took him down over his head.

He couldn’t swim a lick. But I thought when he hollered he was just fooling. I didn’t Know he couldn’t Swim. So when he bobbed up and down a few times, I pulled my shirt off but didn’t have time to get my pants off . I jumped in off the bank which is about 6 foot from the water level into about 7 foot of water. Took off my pants underwater while I was coming up. Then I had to swim down stream a little ways as the current is pretty stiff and had washed him downstream.

Well finally I got him to the bank and a couple of other fellows pulled him up the hill and worked on him. When I got on the bank, I spied my pants going down stream so dove back in and retrieved them. The sarge revived in about 5 minutes. Then we went up on the highway in a truck and got some ice and cookies. Going to have some cold cokes tonight. Just had one. It was swell. Well I had better close now and send all my love and I do mean all.

 Love, Ivan

Coke, Coca Cola, Drink, Drink Box, Lemonade

Author, Poet and Artist

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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