Reflections

12 May

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

 

 

What does a mother say to her children
at the end of her days-
Those she has loved in so many ways?

 

“Oh, what joy I felt in my heart
when I was informed that new life
had its start.

 

Each of you was a blessing from above-
a gift of God-
the symbol of love.

 

Each is unique-
Not one is the same.
You are loved and admired
for who you are; what you became.

 

Your talents are many-
Thank God for each one.
They will nurture your being
when the day is done.

 

God will supply the strength
to face each new day-
I will be with you in spirit
every step of the way.

I Love you.

Mom”

 

 

Footnote:

Quote from Max Lucado:

“God knows that we are only pilgrims and that eternity
is so close that any “Good-bye” is, in reality, a
“See you tomorrow”.

 

 

 

 

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Life is a Whirlwind

11 May

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Since we arrived in the mountains, life has been a whirlwind. We took a weekend trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains to meet up with some cousins. This bunch of cousins are the children and grandchildren of a sister my mom was particularly close to and I adored. There seems to be a generational love. On Saturday we went to an old resort named Shatley Springs for supper. There were 16 of us. Family from Winston-Salem drove up to join us. It was a two hour drive for them. When it was planned, I didn’t know that we were reviving an old family tradition. It turns out that an aunt’s family and one of these cousins would drive to Winston- Salem and then all would go to the resort to eat. It was like slipping behind the veil of time for a brief moment.

Apparently the resort’s spring waters are famous for healing properties and they allow people to take it home in jugs for free.  I drank a lot of it with my meal!
Tuesday of this week our son underwent surgery. It had been scheduled for at least six weeks. To my surprise and delight we learned that one of our breakfast buddies would be having surgery the same day and at the same hospital. We couldn’t have planned this, only God could. We sat with his wife in the waiting room, entertaining each other as the hours passed. Both of our family member’s surgeries were successful and they are on the road to healing.  I love how God provides for us.
I am looking forward to a visit with friends from Florida. This weekend Franklin holds its annual Airing of the Quilts. I have my fingers crossed that the forecast of rain will be wrong. I think there is a 50/50 chance it will be!
This is from last year.

Quilts lined street.

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Peru and Amazon River~Part 5

9 May

A Time to Live

Melody Hendrix

 

 

Huacachina, an oasis Huacachina

 

 

Our next adventure took us to a real live oasis. Just like in the movies. As we traveled there to see it, we passed mostly very poor living conditions and such a harsh environment. It was for the most part, sand, heat and dry.

 

We arrived and were greeted with locals renting four wheelers to have a blast riding in the sand. We passed on that.

 

 

Huacachina is a village in southwestern Peru, built around a small oasis surrounded by sand dunes.

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According to local legends the water and mud of the area is supposed to have curative powers and both locals and tourists often bath in the waters or plaster themselves with the mud in an attempt to cure ailments such as arthritis, rheumatism, asthma and bronchitis.

5

 

Water stopped seeping into the lake in the 1980s and this has now started to become a threat to the lagoon. Recently, private landowners near the oasis have installed wells, which has reduced the level of water in the oasis. To compensate for this water loss, and preserve the oasis as an aesthetically pleasing destination for tourists, a group of ten businessmen devised a plan to pump water from a nearby farm into the lagoon.

 

 

The actual process of artificially pumping water into the oasis began on April 2, 2015 and since then more than 73,000 cubic meters of water has been pumped into the lagoon raising the height of the water by as much as 3 meters. The governor of the region was highly appreciative of the effort. It was announced in 2016 that the Peruvian scientist Marino Morikawa, who created a nanobubble system to decontaminate lake El Cascajo, will be given the project of restoring the Huacachina lagoon.

 

 

I wish him well. It is an amazing place, I was in total amazment that such a place could really be possible. As far as you could see were hills and beautiful hills of sand. Just sand.

 

 

Follow me next week. Our adventure will take us to the Nazca lines. A mystery to this day.

 

 

 

 

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.
Melody

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31 Days of God’s Comfort~Day 25

8 May

Painting and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites

 

Day 25,

Life

Ecclesiastes

 

Beloved,

Life is short-

No one gets out of it alive.

Consider yourself blessed and privileged to live at all.

Enjoy your days the best you can. I will help.

Do the work I give you to do.

Take the comfort I give and be grateful.

You will have enough of whatever you need.

Don’t put your desire into earthly riches or pleasures.

Instead, know that I am your resource for everything.

Spread the blessings around

When you feel lonely, remember the people I have placed in your days.

They are there to treasure and care for you.

You also may treasure and care for them.

Above all, put us: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit first.

That is the only way to live the good life you seek.

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Memories of New Mexico~Part 11

7 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

 More Random memories of New Mexico…

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico from the time I was nearly four years old, until Fred and I married, and we moved to Fort Worth, Texas.

There were several movie theaters in town – surprising for a town the size of Albuquerque at that time. I remember the nearest one to me was the Lobo Theater – it was also close to the University of New Mexico (UNM), and their mascot is the lobo, so it was probably named for that. After closing in 2000, it was purchased by a church.

 

Credit to Google search – The Lobo Theater in 1938 photo courtesy of Dom Otero

Here’s a story I gleaned from Google Search:

Ms. Blanche Hatton, as the family story goes, was the manager of the Lobo. For about four decades.

Miss Hatton was closing the Lobo late one night (she was alone in the theater) when, with the “petty cash box” in hand, she was met with an armed intruder in the Lobo lobby.

“Give me the cash!” the robber demanded.

“You want the cash?” Miss Hatton asked. “Here,” she said, “take it!”

Miss Hatton hurled the cash box at the intruder. The weight of the contents of the box was sufficient to knock the pathetic, hapless robber unconscious. When the cops arrived, the bad guy was arrested, and Miss Hatton deposited the receipts early the next morning. By the way, she was close to eighty years old when she took out the punk who was 60 years her junior.

 

There was also the Hiland Theater. It was more “uptown” and closer to my high school, which was Highland High School. Seems like I remember going to movies there quite a bit in my high school years.

 

Credit Google Search

 

And there was the Sunshine Theater, which was right downtown. Downtown’s main street was Central Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 66. Yep, right through the middle of Albuquerque was U.S. Route 66. We really enjoyed when the song came out – I Got My Kicks on Route 66. It felt like we were part of history, or something.

 

Credit Google Search and Joe Vogel

 

The Sunshine was opened on May 1, 1924, and was Albuquerque’s first big movie palace. By the looks of those cars, this photo was taken about that time.

Another theater where I spent a lot of time, was the State movie theater. I’m not even sure this theater is still in existence. One comment I found said there was some water damage to the floor of the building and it was closed temporarily, some time ago. But it was a nice building when I was young, and a great place to spend an afternoon at the movies.

 

Credit Google Search and Don Lewis

 

Next time I’ll talk about one more movie theater – and one of my favorites in Albuquerque, so…..stay tuned!

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

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Four ways to turn your life around.

6 May

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

    

I turned toward a new friend seated beside me during a writer’s conference. He’s got to be kidding! Did I hear him right? Did he say what I thought he said?

Those questions ricocheted in this crazy chica’s head when I heard him describe what he did on the side. I let out a quick gasp as he related, with a matter-of-fact tone, that he made jewelry out of, are you ready? …moose droppings!

I pinched my nose. “Tell me this is a joke,” I said.

“Nope.” (Friends, check the pictures above to prove it.)

Being from Alaska, he explained the process. And I tried really tried to understand this craft. My imagination went wild with not-so-pleasant images.

But, amigos got to spill it all. This brought to mind the yucky droppings of trials that had paraded through my days—blindness, my son’s death, the struggles of sorrow—all gave my life a bad smell of heartache.

But viola! God turned the trials to triumph as He saw beyond the pain, the sin, the ugly scenes and transformed it all to a shining jewel for His glory.

No, amigos, don’t you think for a minute I’m saying this chica is a jewel. But the triumph God ushered certainly is.

Your triumph is waiting for you too. In the horrible, ever-present battle you’re facing, He’s got his tools and is at work too. He is at work to clean, shine and make it glow.

And during the process, all you have to do is:

  1. Receive the joy for the moment. The joy that comes because you know He’s in control. The joy that resonates even when we don’t see the end result.
  2. Choose gratitude in expectation of what He will do.
  3. Look back at ways He transformed other smelly circumstances in the droppings of life.
  4. Spray the perfume of repentance on that smelly sin. When He’s done He will showcase His victory in you.

Life sometimes does stink. But no matter how unbearable the stench of sin or sorrow is, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Father, from a discarded soul, tainted with sin, smelling of pride, you polished life, beauty and sparkle through your son Jesus. Thank you that our life now has a glow of salvation, of freedom, of joy and hope. In His name we thank you. Amen

  • What painful situation stinks in your life now?
  • What will it take for you to allow Him to turn your trials to triumph?
  • What keeps you in the same rut?

Janet

Source: Four ways to turn your life around. ~ Janet Perez Eckles

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The Red Light Will Change-Be Patient

5 May

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

 

 

We suffer when we are not in control.
It affects our very being.
“Lord, I really wanted a sunny day,
but fog is all I am seeing.”

 

We are prone to create our own little world.
The old “normal” has to fall apart.
“We can’t go forward, Lord.
unless we have a change of heart.”

 

Accept the present moment.
Be patient, the red light will change.
God uses those “waiting moments”-
Our circumstances He will arrange.

 

Religion is one of the safest places
to hide from God.
Ego wants to be in control.
Forget about rituals and man made rules.
Make communing with God your goal.

 

How comforting to know
God doesn’t love you because you are good.
God loves you because God is good.
That’s why I love Him so.

 

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Peru and the Amazon River~Part 4

2 May

A Life to Live

Melody Hendrix

Yagua Village’s Rum distillery and sugar cane fields

 

 

 

Our next adventure was to see one of the Amazons distilleries. This one produces rum from sugar cane, but others in the rainforest offer a variety of products including ethanol a biofuel made from sugar cane and other crops, which are a cleaner source of fuel, but still has a huge negative impact on the rainforest .

 

 

This was truly a primitive distillery. We all tasted four types of the rum. The pure sugar cane rum is called agua gente meaning burning water.

 

 

 

We also tasted rum mixed with molasses, rum mixed with molasses & ginger. This is often used for medicinal purposes. The natives often mix different medicinal or healing herbs with the rum. One mixture of rum and seven root is called jungle Viagra or underwear breaker. They use the molasses on cake or bread. This distillery makes about 1200 liters a year.

 

Next week, we will be going to Huacachina, an unbelievable oasis in the middle of the desert.

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31 Days of Comfort~Day 24

1 May

Painting and Paraphrase by DiVoran Lites

 

Day 24

Deliver Us from Evil

Matthew 6:13

 

Beloved,

“We may lawfully pray to be spared the trial. If it comes, there is yet room for the prayer: deliver us from the power of him who is our enemy and Thine.” Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

 

Beloved,

The world holds false perceptions. Do not follow them.

I deliver you from evil as you stay close to me.

You see; I’m not easily ignored.

I want you deeply.

I must have your love and cooperation and oh, then we have a glorious time together.

You are conscious of your own weakness,

It is not your goodness that protects you, but your dependence on Me.

And so as you to stay in the circle of my love and protection,

I reward you by keeping unbelief, bitterness, and despair far from you.

When you let My Holy Spirt guide you every moment.

Your faith is allowed to triumph every hour of every day.

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Memories of New Mexico~Part 10

30 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 More random memories….

 

I remember going to what is called “Old Town” in downtown Albuquerque. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It has become quite a tourist attraction.

 

Credit Google Search

The official website states:

Centered around the plaza, Albuquerque’s Old Town encompasses about ten blocks of historic adobe buildings.

 

Just to be technical, this is what the back of this postcard I’ve scanned says:

Founded in 1706 by Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes, he honored his patron saint, Francisco Xavier and the Duke of Alburquerque, Viceroy of New Spain, by called the villa San Francisco de Albqurquerque. The first “r” was later dropped, and the town became Albuquerque. The official website states: Square at the point where Spanish Governor Cuervo y Valdes officially founded Albuquerque in 1706.

 

 

There is a “plaza” in the center of Old Town with a gazebo – that is occasionally used as a bandstand. According to the official website: Plazas were a common feature of Spanish colonial towns.

 

 

The back of this scanned postcard informs us:

This view of Old Town Plaza shows the bandstand and the famous San Felipe de Neri Church, founded in 1706. The original adobe church was destroyed by fire. This church was built in 1793 and still serves the spiritual needs of Albuquerque.

 

 

 This scanned postcard tells:

Built in the early 1700’s, shortly after the villa of Albuquerque was founded, San Felipe still serves the spiritual needs of Old Albuquerque.

While the gazebo is at the center of a small “park,” the park is ringed with shops and eateries (and the church) that were former houses made into shops.

 

Karen and Janet in a shop in Old Town

 

There were two Mexican restaurants there, side by side, that were my favorites. It seemed like there was always a running competition between them. And at point in time, one would have the best food, and then later, the other one would have the best food. And we would never be able to tell which one was running high at the time we wanted to dine there.

Each of them had wonderful Indian/Mexican artwork on it’s walls. I seem to remember that both of them had living trees growing in several of the rooms. And I remember that, in the corner of the main entrance to La Placita (the Palace – actually it was the Governor’s Palace for a while), there was a small fireplace. They usually burned pine wood there, and the fragrance was wonderful! Perhaps they added something to make the smell so good, but that is a fragrance that I looked forward to inhaling.

The other restaurant was La Hacienda. I remember the Native Americans sitting under the canopy of the restaurants, along the street, with their beads and silver jewelry on display for sale to any and all who walked by. Perhaps this is not unique to the Indian/Mexican culture in Albuquerque (I think this tradition is also in Santa Fe). This scanned postcard tells us: Indians display their good for sale outside the famous La Placita Dining Room in Old Albuquerque.

 

 

 

 

They had some really beautiful things there, too. Here is a photo that I took, just before we headed to Germany for our second tour. It was June 1979, and our girls were quite young. In any case, this shows how the items for sale were arranged.

 

Janet looking at some Indian wares

 

Another event that took place in Old Town happened on my 18th birthday. It was on a Sunday that year, and we had gone to church, as usual. Following the service, there was a world-renown violinist that was to give a concert in our church that evening, and he was practicing in the sanctuary. Mom and Dad wanted to stay and listen for a while, since they would not be able to hear the concert. We stayed for 15 minutes or so, and then headed out. They asked me to drive from the church to Old Town, and we had planned to eat at La Placita. I let them out to get a table while I parked the car. When I entered the restaurant, the host led me through several rooms until we found our way into one of the larger rooms. As I turned the corner – about 12 of my best girlfriends began singing “Happy Birthday” to me! I was in shock! What a surprise my parents had planned for me! But a happy surprise, for sure.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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