Blessed better than I deserve

Another year wiser...I pray.
Blessed better than I deserve. Rich with family, breath, friends and a warm home. Any food I could dream up, shoes on my feet and cars that faithfully take me about.

As a continual act of worship I count my gratitude with a posse of other women over at Ann with out the fanciful 'e''s place. Join us... Grab and run

♥

# 325-341

• Comrades that become sisters then love on my family
• Friends that will drive 150+ miles to celebrate my life
• Mascara that promises great things
• Dress up and makeup
• Making cute blogs HERE

along with

• Free Pretty Things for your blog
• Cakes that look like cupcakes
• March snow
• The Buffalo Exchange
• Portland at night
• Funny glasses and hats
• "Do you have any questions"..."Yes I was wondering where your dressing room is"..."Oh I don't work here I was just wondering if you had questions"....lol
• Pretty necklaces
• Pay it forward cards
• "Honey, when I said to bring over a hot dish, I was not talking about a green bean casserole."
• Flowers Flowers everywhere
• Colorful tissue paper

A Gritty and Grainy kind of love

1,000 Word Thursday

The above photo touched my heart because it's just family. Being together, silly, loving and living life.
It was taken by someone dear to my heart and just happens to be one of my favorite photographers,
Emily Bell.

You know, that area in the very back of the store? It's not very well lit, there are no fancy headings, colors or subcategories. In fact this section of greeting cards is not even labeled. There are no elaborate pictures on the outside nor rhyming words in. There is no organization.
It appears almost drab as you walk from the bright pinks and reds of the Valentines section at the front of the store.

As you pick up and open card after card, articulated inside are mistakes made, tears poured, patience lost, voices raised. Love striving to find uncondionality, anger, disappointment, grief and did I say tears. Sleepless nights, worry, jealousy and sometime white hot fear. The last few you pick up speak to addictions and loss.

~~~~~



As we approach Valentines day reflections of beaches, flowers, sunsets,  private slow dances under twinkling lights, stolen kisses, soft music, the warmth of intertwined hands, and all sorts of amorous notions fill my mind. These musings are awash with rapturous couples in love. The kind of love that commercials and greeting cards are made from.

There is a "kind of love" that we too oft do not see displayed in the "Valentines" section at Hallmark.  I would call it the

"Gritty and Grainy Love"

isle.

Jesus example of true love is not pretty. His gift to us was anything but pink and red balloon bouquets. His gift of love was filled with brutality and blood. It's the things real life and real love are made from.
His was and is the perfect example of true love.

Full circle, finds contemplations on even deeper places.

F A M I L Y

~~~~

In the Gritty and Grainy card section you also find cards conveying such things as forgiveness, concessions, kindness and truth. Morning breath and passing gas at the dinner table and raucous laughter. Some on illness and serious knee time. Self control and keeping no record of wrongs are nestled together near the top.
Expressions of true love and it's willingness to give ones life for it, just under them.
Cards reflecting, commitment, persevering and protecting just to the left. Did I say forgiveness? You pick up a couple on your way out that express prayer and holding a loved ones hand as they pass to Jesus arms. 
As you turn to leave, your arms full with new perceptions, you see that though Gritty and Grainy, this section really has the best to offer.

~~~~

I still believe in sunsets, slow dances and love making.

In fact I believe that we start somewhere in the well lit decorative and well mapped out section of the card store. With all the hearts, kisses, bells and whistles.

However it's just the beginning...

Twenty Twelve

Ahhhhh I can barely bring myself to write out 2012. It sounds so futuristic for some reason.
But here it is.
We started it out with a bang. Some dear friends swept us away to a night of dancing to bring in the new year.
I can't even remember the last time we have done such a thing. It's just not our norm. Small town, children, jobs, parents, middle age... all prevent it.
What an exhilarating, freeing, healing time.
2011 was a year of loss and valley experiences. None of it without hope and strength from the One we call Daddy, but tough nonetheless.
Have you ever just sat and watched a person dance?  Especially a child, no inhibitions or worries of being cool.
I've long loved the quote:

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
- William W. Purkey -

May Twenty Twelve be a year of dancing, loving, singing and living!!

Hospitality, a matter of the heart not the architecture.

Wednesday's Word

I 've read a lot of awesome posts this year. Really I have. Many times I've found myself gasping and looking around the room for someone to read the words aloud to.

I found myself doing that this very morning, glad my Becca was handy so the words could be freed from the screen to the surrounding. It was perfect and my favorite thus far this year. Even she said, "Mom those are good words for you."
Thank you Lisa-Jo

It touched a nerve!

An ongoing goal for me: To be as comfortable sharing my home as I am myself.

Three years ago when we opened our home to care for our in-laws I experienced immediate anxiety regarding ENTERTAINING.

You see my mother in law has always played that role.

She had the fine china, REAL silverware that lived in a velvet lined box. Fantastic food from scratch and made with love. Her home was clean and finely decorated. Her table long and elegant seating for many much like an episode of The Walton's.

We live in a mobile home, small and... I'm not fancy. As I've said before I liken myself to a Proverbs 32 1/2 kind of woman. 




I do love to decorate but outside of that I have an eclectic set of dishes and glasses because I can't make up my mind what I like. I buy them individually at Ross or Goodwill. I love fancy coctail glasses and we enjoy having milk out of martini glasses.
It depends on my mood for the day.

My silverware go from picnics to the table. My dishes are chipped and cooking is always an adventure. If something doesn't seem to be working right this southern girl just adds butter because butter can fix anything.

Just ask Paula Deen.



Anyhoo moving my in laws in to provide care meant that I (the unlikeliest of hostesses) would become the hostess to the entire family that lives all over the country and descends in droves on holidays...hungry and expectant.

Arrrghh

Here I sit three years later, even as I type, this little mobile home is full. Twenty people come to pay respects to their fathers first Christmas in Heaven and fellowship.
Oh I create some things, my son has become an amazing chef and saves the day as others donate their favorite yummies. It's a group effort.
We have found a rhythm for the most part and when I need a moment to breathe and be still I find my way to my bathroom and just sit on my toilet to hear the rolling of dice in the "near" adjoining room.

So as I said up there at the top =) Read it, read her blog and I'm sure if this too rings true to you, you will be blessed.
Click the link to travel to her blog as her photos add so much, or be content in this space below.

Your House is Only as Big as Your Hospitality

Thanks Lisa-Jo
"I am a reluctant renter.

The size of your house, my friends, is entirely in your own hands."