Comforts of Grace

I tucked a mental note away first thing yesterday morning as I pondered the Joy Dare suggestions for January 10th. Almost immediately, without a conscious effort of my own, a mental rewind button was activated and quickly stopped at a memory nearly twelve hours earlier. Yes, there in the kitchen, I saw myself busy loading the dishwasher when one of my adult sons approached his mama. "Here Mom," I remembered his deep voice saying while handing me a tiny green foil package.  "You'll really like this." I paused briefly from the dirty dishes for an interruption that seemed important to him. "Uh... thank-you," I replied politely as he paused to soak in my reaction.   "I'll eat it later."  I placed it on the hutch and turned to stuff another dirty plate in the dishwasher. I remembered thinking to myself as my son left the kitchen ... "I don't want chocolate.  I'm still trying to shed those pesky Buckeye and Christma

As a new year begins, I'm inspired by a beautiful video from Ann Voskamp I'd like to share. Won't you consider a Joy Dare this new year and begin counting your One Thousand Gifts along with me? Click on the link below for yesterday's inspiring message from Ann: http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/01/how-to-know-gods-will-for-your-life-the-art-of-fully-living-giveaway-for-dslr-camera/ Here is a January list of daily Joy suggestions Ann has provided.  Just pick an easy one to get started.  Then work your way through the list and/or simply record your own 3 gifts each day. I would love to hear about YOUR gifts in the comments below.  Please don't hesitate to share! Happy counting your way to a Joy-filled 2014!

The Ramsay Christmas Tree - 2013 A family tradition we've enjoyed the past 32 years is decorating a live tree for Christmas.   If the family's schedule was especially hectic or kids were sick, we purchased pre-cut trees.  Other years, we braved the challenges of cutting our own tree with kids in tow.  Oh what fond and funny memories have been made over the years! This year, two of our grandkids joined Papaw and Nana for a road trip to Booth's Christmas Tree Farm in Orland, IN to select and cut a tree. Horse drawn wagons carried us to various fields of pine trees planted by size and species on the Booth Farm. Papaw,     Haylee-age 11,     Nana,     Kayne-age 9      Enjoying the wagon ride. We were dropped off at the 9 foot Scotch Pine section to begin our search.   We learned that pine trees typically grow one foot per year.  This section of trees was planted about eight years ago and is the first year for cutting in this field.  So we had many to choose

"Dear God," "When You are ready for my Granny, could You please take her to heaven while she sleeps comfortably at home?"    I prayed this granddaughter request often. God answered my prayer on October 30th...just the way I requested. Her small, simple, pre-arranged funeral last week in Southern Indiana mirrored how she lived and died...without fanfare. The picture below was taken in front of her "pretty little house" as she called it on September 21st, 2013 during our last visit with her.  She was 97 years old. Granny was looking forward to the family reunion awaiting her in heaven.  She had out-lived her only child ~ my dad, plus two husbands, five brothers and sisters, her parents and many friends. I won't forget a conversation we shared recently about death.  She said, "Sissy, when the time comes for me to go, just think of this story I once heard at a funeral.  Imagine me on a great ship on it's way to heaven.   As the ship

 Ahhhh... fall has arrived with lumbering tranquility.   The robins and other birds have already departed for warmer winter retreats.  It's so quiet and still.  My steaming coffee mug serves as a hand and nose warmer now as I bid farewell to summer from the serenity of the screen porch. I wince at the sight of my spent flower gardens.   Yet ... there ... in the front row of summer's lead performers ... is one small pink chrysanthemum premiering brightly among her aging sister plants.   That 'lil mum there, well, she and I have enjoyed a special bond ... a comforts of grace bond. After years of failed attempts to grow perennial mums, I'd almost given-up hope in my quest for much needed fall garden color.  However, last fall, empowered by internet research and a determined spirit, I purchased two pink and two yellow hybrid mums as soon as they arrived in the garden centers. As suggested, I promptly plopped them in the ground in hopes of encouraging root

All this is for your benefit.  And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.                           ~ 2 Corinthians 4:15