Today, I want to be serious about something important that’s been on my mind and in my heart.

This past Sunday, our minister had an exceptionally good sermon from Proverbs about being wise about our families.  He stressed that we should lead Christ centered lives within our families and that doing so is THE most important thing we can do for our children.  If we fail in that, we have really failed in all, and I truly believe that.

In discussing how we should structure our family’s lives, he used an analogy I had never heard used before, and deemed it excellent.  He spoke of our country having U.S. Embassies all around the world on foreign soil.  Yet, when you walk into any one of them, you are considered to be on American soil and under the dictates of America’s laws and structure.

Likewise, we should each consider our own homes to be a Heaven’s Embassy, where a taste and touch of Heaven is found, rather than a war zone.  This resonated with me.

I have never delved much into my distant past here in this blog, nor am I going to do so today.  However, I will share this with you.  For years, I felt as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders always.  Even when I was in our house.  Often, it was a war zone.  In fact, I will never forget the overriding feeling I had the afternoon after my younger son, Mark, and I moved out of the house we had lived in for more than 14 years and into a tiny apartment in the same town.

More than anything else, when we came in the apartment amidst boxes and piles of things and I shut the door and locked it, I felt relief and a quiet calm that Mark and I were safe.  It was peaceful.  The entire world was outside!!  We were inside and this was truly our home!!  It was a place of rest and relaxation and love and spiritual solace.  It was a bit of Heaven.

I’ve felt that way ever since.  That was 34 years ago in January and my home – our home – has always been a God inspired respite from the world since.  I have not allowed satan (I refuse to capitalize his name or pay him any honor) to come in to cause division or turmoil or strife between any of my family members, and certainly not to reside.

I’m not saying we haven’t had troubles and trials and even tribulations.  What I’m saying is that when we close the doors to our home, the world is left out.  God is with us through all and in all and leads us in all things.  He is our protector and shield.  We war not with each other or ourselves.

Think about this today.  About making your OWN home an embassy of Heaven.

What say ye?

God bless each of you today!  Cheers!  And have a great weekend!  Dee

And since Tom’s been home since his surgery a month ago, we decided to brighten up our back porch and deck with some hanging baskets of flowers, as we sit out there several hours a day, some days.  This is our view from our old white wicker furniture nestled up next to our living room windows out back.

Here are some closeups of our new stand with the four shepherd’s hooks and some of God’s brightest petunias and miniature petunias.

The big window you see there is our bedroom, which faces south across the deck.

And here is a close up of my geranium I bought last spring as I’ve found geraniums to do well for me, the least green thumb gardener I know.  I call them happy plants, as nothing I do to them – or fail to do – fazes them.  They always bloom brightly, and this one is this year, more than ever!!  Thank you, God!

This photo I like, in particular.  It shows all of the bright blooms at their best, despite me breaking off and breaking back bunches of overgrown limbs from the plant last winter.

Finally – I want to share with you a wonderful glass hanging we bought on my birthday/our anniversary March 2.  It is hanging in our breakfast area in one of the windows facing west and southwest, so as to reflect the afternoon sunlight.  Isn’t it terrific, bright & beautiful?!  I hope that I can shine as much as God’s blessed child as all of these lovely things do in our home.

Here it is full length, filling our long window.

There was no sunshine that afternoon, but my kitchen was still filled with color!

It is stormy out here today and dark.  Many across Tennessee are suffering from flooding rains and tornadoes, but we pray God will look down on us all with grace and fill our lives with loveliness.

Cheers!  And many blessings to each of you today!

Dee

I only had two (com’n guys, what’s up?) “official” responses.  Greg guessed that it is a locust in the “vertical” (inside joke, there – you’ll have read his blog post of last week “The Fence” – it’s hilarious) position, while Cecil guessed it is a scorpion.  They were both terrific guesses.  (Anyone want to chime in now with a guess in comment below before reading any further? Com’n!  Be brave!)

My sweet friend Michelle clicked on the image to enlarge it to see it better and saw my description of it, so emailed me to decline guessing, since she read what it was.  I commend her for doing so.  She thought that some of you (are you reading, Greg?) might also enlarge it to see it better and then send in the “correct” guess without telling me you already knew what it was.    Nah, I thought to myself.  None of MY friends would do such a thing.

Anyway . . . here is the rest of the story.  Kay’s story.  She lives in Houston, a sultry – okay, extremely hot and humid – place with lots of water around.  She was trying to work with her clay, but pesky mosquitoes kept buzzing around pestering her.

If any of you are from the south, have ever lived in the south, or have ever even visited the south – in the summer – after it’s rained – and every container around, including old tires strewn about the more lovely southern home yards filled with brackish water – you will experience the “joy” of swarms of mosquitoes buzzing and biting you.  Sometimes, even in the mountains (further north than here in south Mississippi, for sure) and woods (we have lots of those) they are killers.

Out of aggravation, and inspiration, Kay decided to make a “Mosquito Vase” with lid.  Whether out of revenge or respect, I do not know.  I do know that ours sits on top of our fridge in our air conditioned home, where it’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  And dry.  With screens on all of the windows, and screens all around our large back porch.

We learned from our house before over in Louisiana that you cannot go out to sit or enjoy in any way an open back porch/patio when it is not screened in to keep the myriad of mosquitoes at bay.  When we had the chance, we screened ours in.  We loved it.  We had music out there.  We had a double  hammock out there where we would fall asleep many evenings on a quilt, with the porch open to our den.

Thus, when we were able to build a small home here two years ago, having a big screened in back porch was a top priority.  Tom wired in music in it and we have old white wicker furniture out there where we will sit until deep dusk some evenings, as we did one night last week.

We watch the beautiful cardinals and tufted titmice eat at the bird feeder hanging on the edge of our deck and watch for hummingbirds at their own feeder.  Mosquitoes aren’t too bad here, really, because we are high on the hill above the creek.  Except on occasion.  But even one biting us is too much, we think.

They carry deadly diseases that have killed dozens of people in our state, and many more across the south.

We think of those millions of poor people in other countries who have no such protection and pray for them (and help where we can) because so many of them die every day from mosquito borne disease.

So, our mosquito vase has a couple of stories.  Ours and Kay’s.

May we each think of others today and deeply appreciate the blessings God has blessed us with in this country.  May we do all we can for those who are so much less fortunate, by chance and circumstance.

God speed, my dear friends.  God speed today.  Dee

It is kiln fired and glazed.  It has an interesting motif carved in the clay which is carried out around the orb.  That motif has a story of it’s own within this story.

Our part of the story is Kay gave us a beautiful earlier piece of her pottery in aqua blue-green that we loved dearly.  It was up on top of our TV cabinet, out of harm’s way, we thought, until we were gone for three days and our two cats jumped up there to peer out the front window, knocked it over and broke it in smithereens.

We were so saddened at the loss, that she gave us this one instead.  Our cats are now gone and this piece sits atop our side-by-side refrigerator where we both see it all the time, as does anyone else who comes to visit with us.  For, you know, our living, dining kitchen area are all open to one another.

Kay came to visit with us in our new home several months ago and said she would design a special piece for us for this place we’ve made our home.  I hope one day she will do so.  Being a visual, hands on artist, she was very appreciative of all the “little touches” we had put into making our home such a special place.

As for Kay’s special story about what she carved into the jar’s circumference and why, I will leave you for today with a puzzle (and tell you the “rest of the story” next time).

What is the insect you see carved on the side of the jar and why do you think Kay chose that for her lidded jar’s theme?  Comment with your guesses and we’ll see who comes closest or “gets it.”  (But, no, Greg or Judy, no one will win the jar as their prize for the best guess!)

Please continue in your prayers for me and my family.   May God richly bless each and every one of us today and through this beautiful fall weekend.  Much love to you all, Dee

I don’t know about y’all, but I spend a lot of time at my kitchen sink.  A lot.   At least, it seems that way sometimes.

Of course, I used to spend a whole lot more time there years ago when my children were small and growing up.  But even now, it seems I’m often there while cooking, rinsing dishes, or washing up a few dishes, pots & pans that won’t go in the dishwasher.

Do you have a kitchen window?  If so, where is it in your kitchen and what do you see when you look through it?

Me?  For years and years I had a window over my kitchen sink in four different homes and loved looking out my kitchen window to see what was going on.  In the first home – for 14 years here in Picayune while the kids were growing up – I saw woods out my window, past our oyster shell, circular front drive and small front yard (huge back yard with pond beyond).  Our house faced east, so I saw the morning sun shining through.

Then for two years, my son Mark and I lived in a “tree house” (the first floor up 16′ on pilings) off the beach in Long Beach, Mississippi, and I saw the tops of majestic old oak trees out my kitchen sink window, which faced west.

Tom and I got together and moved to Slidell for me to go to law school in New Orleans.  The view from our little duplex was of the kitchen window of the neighboring duplex far too close for comfort.  The kitchen window over the sink faced east, but I wasn’t there much to look through it for three years.  My nose was stuck in law books the entire time.

Law school graduation brought the means (although we were very frugal – and very blessed by God) to be able to move into a house in Slidell, in which we lived happily for another 14 years.  There my kitchen window – and breakfast area window – faced north on the side of our house, toward our favorite neighbors (two in a row, the first our minister at Bayou Oaks Church of Christ!  Talk about pressure to be a good neighbor!  ha!).

I won’t count our apartment while building this house.  (Although, it had a kitchen window facing west.)  Instead, I move on to our beloved home of two years now.  Here, my kitchen sink is on a bar between our kitchen and breakfast area at an angle.  At the sink, if I look straight ahead, it is toward the southwest.

But, as most of you know, I have three windows to look through surrounding our breakfast area, facing southwest to west.  The view is wonderful, full of hummingbirds, the plants on our back porch, including my bright red geraniums, and the back deck beyond, with southern cardinals and many other birds at our bird feeder.

What, you say, do all the different views from my kitchen sink over the years have to do with “story tellers?”

Here is the connection:

These two images are of the same view from my kitchen window here in Picayune in a different house many years ago, the lower one drawn by my older son, David, when he was 11, in 1975, and the upper one photographed by me as a silhouette for my college photography class the summer of 1984.

Here is 11-year-old David’s up close:

And, here is mine, some nine years later:

As you can see, the plant is different, and David’s representation is much more minimalist, but they are obviously depictions of the same kitchen window.

Today, they both hang in our breakfast area, where I can view them when I stand here at my kitchen sink.

Thus, the past and present merge to give me one coherent view.

This is one of the stories of my life.  My view from my kitchen sink.  From this I learn that the best of the past should be kept, remembered and treasured, while the residue thrown away as dross.   God stays with me always and is captured in my view of service from my kitchen sink.

What is your view?

Many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

We were showing her something and telling the story behind it.  She turned to us and said, rather in awe, “It’s neat.  Everything in your house has a story.”

It’s true.

Some people decorate their homes in the very latest styles, always perfect to the last little accoutrement, but also all purchased from stores and always changed about by the next latest and greatest fads.

Some people don’t really decorate at all.

We “decorate” around things we love and cherish, each in it’s own way.  I have several “collections” of things I’ve found and that have been given to me as gifts by friends and family who know me – know us – and know what we like.  I can tell you where nearly each piece came from, when and how I came to have it as mine.  How Tom came to have his.  How we came to have our things together.

The individual pieces and collections have changed some over the years as we have changed.  We are now here in our “Home Complete,” as the tab at the top of this page states (although it is still a work in progress, with me not having put all the pictures in of our “finished” home).  We have less room than we did before, so we had to carefully choose where each of our favorite story things would go to show them at best advantage.  Some are stored away, but beloved still.

Today’s story I call “Texas Angel” and you shall see why – and understand the name in a moment.

It is a photogram I created when I was taking a photography class one summer in college (you have to remember I was a “non-traditional” student at 37).   A photogram is an image produced without a camera by placing an object on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light.  I did mine in a dark room.

We were working in black and white only, learning how to handle long rolls of film, cut the film, develop it, then create our own photographic images in the dark room.  I absolutely loved every second of that course and spent long hours in the dark room all summer (also burning up boxes and boxes of good quality, expensive photographic paper).

We then had to mount our creations on 11″ x 14″ black boards for grades all along, with a 3 picture w/copy (words) piece on a 16″ x 20″ for our final.*  (I made an “A” for the course.)

Here’s one of my photograms I have hanging in our home.  It is in our living room and I call it “Texas Angel.”  Look closely at it and you will see the profile of an angel in the bottom right corner reaching out and holding up a stalk of cotton, with one open cotton boll “puff” on the left and one closed boll at the top.  They are all three actually cotton bolls, of course, but I immediately saw the angel and having grown up on a cotton farm where God is always in control of the crop in the end, I had to call it “Texas Angel.”

I gave one to my mom and dad that was similar.  (Each photogram – and photograph, for that matter – is going to be different, of course, because of all of the variables, even with the same setup.)

What say ye?  Can you “see” what I saw as a “Texas Angel?”  I hope so, because it has great meaning to me after all these years (I did it in the summer of 1984).

That’s my story for today, with a little background first.  Most of my stories won’t be nearly this long, I promise.  I hope to share them with you for a while, about once a week, until either you get tired of them or I get tired of telling them!  I sure have enough material here in our home to tell you these stories for a long time to come.

Many blessings to each of you today!!  Dee

*Note:  After all the photography classes in the entire journalism department had completed their courses, the professors and all students judged the works and mine was chosen the very best work against not only advanced classes, but the color works, as well.  I was very excited about that award!!  One of my all time favorite awards!

I used it, again, in a final I did in a graduate course, in which I made an “A,” also! I still have my work, but it is rather in dismal shape and in a closet.  But I cannot bear to part with it.  I’ll show it to you when you come over, hear?!

We saw the neurosurgeon in Birmingham (a gorgeous city, by the way – at least the south side where we were) on Monday about 1 p.m.  He was very thorough and excellent, we thought.

As he walked into the examining room where Tom & I were waiting, he looked at me and exclaimed, “Ms. Andrews – You have one messed up neck!”  That did not portend well, I thought.  He then talked with me about my history & current symptoms, had me get up and walk all around the room, checked my posture, etc, and checked my reflexes all over my body.

He then invited us into the next room where all of my MRI films and x-rays were hanging in front of a light wall.  He went over each and every one of them with me (us), showing us in detail what he saw and what it meant.  He marked up my x-rays with a red grease crayon and did the same on my MRI films, explaining each marking as he made it.

His conclusion was that my pinched nerve is most likely coming from between my C4-5 vertebrae, which is where I had the one pinched nerve before in 1982 – some 27 years ago.  That was where I had guessed it might be coming from, and he said I was correct.  That point – on the left side between C4-5 – was where he saw the most narrowing of the space where the nerves are.  Through the intervening years I have developed a lot of arthritis and bone spurs, which could be at least part of the cause of this current problem.

He said that because all of my reflexes appear to be normal, he thinks I will fully recover in time, continuing with the cervical traction I’ve been doing 2 or 3 times a day.  (He tweaked that some, adding some more weight for a shorter period of time.)  In the meantime, he is sending me here for a steroid epidural injection in my neck to relieve the pain (hopefully) and to calm the stressed nerve (my words).

I am going in for that a week from Monday (July 6).  Hopefully, I will be able to stop taking pain medications then.  I’ll continue to rest, use traction, take pain meds as needed until the pain goes away, hopefully.  I’m using the word “hopefully” a lot here, but that is a good word, you know?  To have hope!!  I did not have much, or any, for the first six weeks of this ordeal.

He asked how long it took for me to recover from the first pinched nerve and I told him several months.  He thinks it will be the same with this one.  It’s already been nearly 3 months I’ve been dealing with this, but I’ve only been using traction about a month (which is the only thing that’s helped, and he agreed was the only thing he thought would help).

He does not think I need surgery, nor does he think I’ll need to come back to see him, but they all assured me there that if I had any further problems or questions, to call.  They gave me his card to keep.

I don’t think I have to tell you how elated Tom & I were to get that good news!  You all have been a treasure to me in praying with me and for me in this – as you’ve done in all things I’ve had health problems with.

[Note:  Tuesday afternoon - Randy Wray of Theobloggers has gotten my photo upload/download problem fixed, so below are some photos of our bedroom & view out the South facing window.  Enjoy!  I will also be adding these to my tab at the top of the page here "A Home Complete."]

Many Blessings to you all today!!  Dee

Our "beachside looking" master bedroom

Our master bedroom window faces the South, out over our deck.

Here is a closer view of the deck and woods beyond.

Here's the view (looking North) from the deck into our bedroom.

Saturday was our second full day at home together and another day full of fun, too, thanks as always to Mom.  It was a busy one, but not too.  We tried our best to rest and relax in between "fun stuff," but then, it was all fun!  Although looking back, I think this was about the time the pain first started in my left shoulder blade. 

I was pretty hyper, still, from the trip and did too much, with trying to make sure everyone was having a great time and that all went smoothly.  I knew it at the time, but did not realize the toll it was taking or what the consequences would be.

My blood sugars were crashing on a regular basis, sometimes as many as four or five times a day.  I must have drunk nearly a case of Cokes during that two week period.  I could not keep my blood sugars up.  It’s a wonder I didn’t gain about 10 lbs., but I didn’t.

The first thing on the agenda for the day, which didn’t start too early for any of us, was coffee, of course, with a light breakfast, and then grocery shopping.  I had not been to the grocery store in over a week and needed fresh produce and some things for cooking while company was here.

So, Laura and I headed off to town to Walmart.  That’s always a challenge and especially in Picayune on Saturdays when I think the entire county’s population comes to town to shop there.  This day, it was particularly difficult to not only park, but shop, because the entire store was under major renovations with everything in the store out of place and no new signs up to point you in the right direction.  None of the employees had a clue, either, to where anything was, so it took us forever to get groceries (and a lot of money, since I was buying a lot more than usual).

By the time we got home, put everything away and had sandwiches, it was nearly 2 p.m. and we had yet to start to Slidell to the mall for some more shopping.  The plan was for us to go to Penney’s to get some cute shirts on sale -  cheap – and then go by Sam’s to get some steaks for Tom to grill for dinner. 

What we had not planned, was for Mom to pay for our shirts (we girls, that is – poor Tom was just our driver everywhere!).  But, she insisted on buying us all the shirts we wanted when we got there (and they were cute and on sale for only about $5 bucks apiece!! – Mom even got a couple).  She laughingly told us we’d better stock up while she was in such a generous mood spending all of her kids’ inheritances.

While Laura & I protested, she began sharing her philosophy of life at 87 and began telling us . . .

[Note:  Y'all - I'm tired today, and especially this afternoon, so think I'll stop right here.  Be sure and come back, though, because I think you will take away much wisdom from this lovely, delightful mom of ours.  Here's a couple of pictures for today of Mom, Tom & Laura eating key lime pie on the back porch that beautiful April 4th afternoon.  Isn't our back porch just the neatest place ever?]

To Be Continued . . .

I’m afraid I must once more apologize for being so slow in getting more "The Great Road Trip of 2009" posts written and published.  I’m hoping to work on the next one tomorrow, Lord willing.  If I feel better than right now.

So instead, I want to offer you 3 more photos that will be included in our "home tour" at the "A Home Complete" tab at the top of the page.

Last time I showed you the front of our house, which is rather "plain" and ordinary, I suppose.  We tried to make it a typical Southern home with the pillars & shutters, etc.  Here is a picture looking from inside the front door toward the back, where all of the "action" is.  The focus of our home is toward the back wall of windows looking into the big screened in back porch.  Look see:

Next is the view into our dining room (which we do use, btw) which is to the right of the front door. 

And last is a view in our living room looking back toward the front door with the dining room on the left.

You will notice that I’ve managed to share with you several pictures of our living area without yet showing our 60" HDTV to the right side in the above photo.  That, my friends, is an accomplishment!

I hope and pray you each have a great weekend ahead!  Please continue with me in prayer concerning my pinched nerve.

Much love to you all!  Dee

Thus, I offer you here today a couple of the photos for A Home Complete and you can begin to read in that tab about each photo as I add them.  I’ll let you know when the series is complete, as well.

Here first is the approach to our home.  We have lots of green grass, but absolutely no formal landscaping as yet, as we ran out of money!  The Lord has graciously granted us a beautiful setting, so we concentrate on those "free" features, instead.  I think you’ll really enjoy the series of A Home Complete once I finish it.  

  This photo shows our beautiful leaded glass front door with my wreath on it and a "Welcome" sign to the right.  Welcome guests!  Into our home complete!

On another note:  Please join me in a season of prayer as I seek medical opinions and options for my cervical spine/disc/pinched nerve problems.  Tom is going with me to meet with an area neurosurgeon tomorrow afternoon to begin with.

  I’ll keep you informed how things go.  Right now, I’m still in pain bad enough for meds about 1/2 to 3/4 of each day, which is a bit better, but not much after 6+ weeks.

Many blessings to you all today!  Dee