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

She’s not been writing so much lately, with trying to keep up with not only Mark and Zoe, Hannah & Kayci, but also several little ones she babysits.  I’m always amazed at how much she DOES get done, I’m tellin’ ya.

But, today is her dad’s birthday and she had some thoughts that just HAD to come out!  She wrote the blog post below on her blog today and I was so taken with it, I asked her if she would be my guest blogger today.  She agreed, and I am SO glad.

So, here it is.  It is beautifully and eloquently written and delves into the mind of a mature woman, wife, mother, daughter, friend, who is MY friend for loving my son & my granddaughters and for much more.  I love her dearly.

I think you will find below much to think about and ponder.  It is important and wise and uplifting.

Thank you, Lynn, for sharing with us today!!

With all the birthdays that have happened of late, I began thanking about what I like to call, the timeline of a birthday.  It begins when you are a child and can understand what the word ‘birthday’ means to you.  Not so much the gaining of another year, but the celebration of cake, presents and friends.  This continues to build, in story-like style, until it reaches a climax…usually with the gift of something big (like a car or huge blowout party–vacation style).  Let me say that I HAVE had some parties in my time but never to this degree–for which I elaborately mourned over at the time…however, in retrospect, am extremely grateful for what I did have. Perhaps age is a great teacher…or perhaps our perspective changes as we age…or perhaps it’s both.

However, I found that with the passage of a ‘milestone birthday’ my birthday perspective began to radically change.  I found that not only was my list of desires becoming  more practical in nature, my birthday was beginning to mark some physical changes as well.  Changes that I might add were not particularly what I would call desirable in nature.  Of course getting married and having children could factor into some of this; but, I could not deny that birthday’s were an irreversible part of this whole process.  Like a book’s decline into resolution and ending, I had found that I too, had finally reached that climax, and passed it (although just barely;) as to anyone you ask I am still 29 and holding)

It was with the approach of my father’s birthday, which is today Happy Birthday Dad!, that a chord was struck within me as to my current view of the ‘birthday timeline’.  As I observe birthdays of all ages I began to see that within each, a story was being written, like a painting across the Sistine Chapel, our own life is being poured out in vibrant and sometimes violent color and brush strokes. Each day, each hour, woven into a tapestry along with the other lives we touch.  It occurs to me that perhaps it is the process, more than the destination, or in my case the desperate cling to that ‘magic year’. The one which it appeared to me that all was perfect; or, that like in the days of Columbus, any forward movement would sail me right off the end of the world.  When I look at my dad, or anyone who is older than me, I see life poured out for something and in pursuit of something, not a vain or empty effort.  I see lessons learned, experiences made, and relationships formed.  I see a road of possibility and promise.  I see that there is life to those years not just years in that life!  Perhaps that is the greatest gift of all, God’s gift to us, living and experiencing.  Not that our destination is not of utmost importance as well; but, that He wanted all those little experiences for us along the way.

So, I guess all these birthdays around me have taught me something.  Don’t get me wrong, as I am still 29 and holding.  But perhaps I won’t hold as tightly as I don’t want to miss a minute of this beautiful, wonderful gift given to each one of us….LIFE and living it every day!

Happy Birthday Dad, thanks for sharing your life with me. I love you!

Thank you, Lynn, for sharing this with us and we hope your dad has a terrific birthday, today.  Happy Birthday, Roy!

Many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

The Finding Direction Judges have been busy pouring through the excellent entries and have made their decision.  As usual, the ersatz publisher, editor, reporter, photographer, accountant, financier and general flunkie of Finding Direction will accept high praise for their (sic) finely honed judging skills, but accept no flak from disappointed would be winners.  (There are never any losers here at Finding Direction, as you know, except in the minds of some of the disgruntled entrants, who must be placated at all costs by fellow would be complainees.)

And, as usual, all decisions are final, although an appeal process might be considered in the event of an extraordinary oversight by the FD Judges, which is highly unlikely but let fairness abound.

Finally, as usual, the intro into the announcements of the winners is taking entirely too long (the Judges like to read their own words way too much, obviously) so let the announcements begin.

If you remember, and most probably don’t it’s been so long ago, the theme for the contest this time was “Summertime & The Livin’ is Easy.”  All winners have been chosen based on their adherence to the theme.  The first few winners were close, but not quite there.  However, do NOT let that detract from the impact of their photos and their eye for photography.  These are all works of fine art and are to be respected as such, say the Judges.  (Amen, says the reader.)

The winner in the first category, “Reminds Me Most of Home (Texas) In The Summertime Award,” goes to amateur photographer and new to the blogging scene blogger, Heather Welch with her windmill scene, shot in Texas, appropriately.  It must be said by the FD Judges that living in Texas gave Heather some advantage, but not so much as to interfere with the other entrants, as numerous awards have yet to be named.

The next award goes to reader Marilyn Hughes of Poteau, Oklahoma.  It is the “Best Summertime Nostalgic Field Scene Award,” which reflects the rural life that most Americans used to enjoy and live.  Most now have to rely now on photographs such as these to recall the simpler, gentler times in this vast country of ours, now given over in the most part to urban sprawl, spoil and squander of the land in the worst of ways.  How sad I feel for those who have never lived on a farm and been close to the land.  Having grown up on a cotton farm in West Texas, I have great respect for those who still strive in this day and age to provide food crops and needed goods for us all to enjoy.  Here’s Marilyn’s winning photo:

The next award is the “Most Patriotic (4th of July) Summertime Photo” and it was entered by our fair Janice Evans-Lauder, a/k/a JEL-My Place, a long time blogger and magnificent photographer in her own right.  She lives in her grandmother’s little house in Missouri, which is heated in winter only with a wood burning stove and cooled in the summer by nature.  You can only imagine, then, how well this photograph might help fill her summertime livin’ easy plan.

The “Summertime Photo From Farthest Away Award” goes to reader Darlene Morris, who lives in Lubbock, Texas, who entered a photo of two of her grandchildren, Kellen & Sam, taken on a mission trip with their parents in Tegucigapa, Honduras, in central America earlier this summer.  It’s a neat photo and one I think you’ll enjoy – seeing how summer looks on a rainy day in the tropics.

The next award is the “Most Makes Us Think of Taking A Summer Afternoon Nap Award,” which goes to reader and somtimes commenter, Marilyn Hughes, taken across their fields out from Poteau, Oklahoma.  In fact, looking at this photo is making me sleepy right now, since the weather outside the judges’ window is nearly identical to the photo.  (Except for the kinds of trees, of course.  And the fields.  And, uh, the, uh . . . Oh, never mind.  Nothing much is the same except for the feeling of needing a nap.  Would you like to join the judges for an hour or two?!)  (Just kidding!  Read on!)

The next award is arbitrarily given during each Finding Direction Photo Contest so as to keep the FD judges in good standing with their spouse – the esteemed Tom Andrews.  Thus it is that the “Special Tom Andrews Best Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy Award,” goes to . . . duh . . . Tom Andrews.  This is one of his daughter, Kristine, and his two granddaughters, Veronica & Hayley, taken on his sailboat.  Don’t they look like they are having a whole lot of fun.  It is a great photo, you have to admit!

Moving on . . ..  The winner of the “Best Depiction of Violation of Child Labor Laws in the Summertime Award” goes to none other than grandchildren abuser, Greg England, of “Why Soitenly,” the blog that ranks right up with the “bestest blogs” around.  If you haven’t been partaking of his puns, humor and outright wonderfully presented posts, you must indulge.  In the meantime, check out this classic “Grindaddy with the 18 month old twins, Logan & Lilly and older brother Jackson” photo.  It’s priceless.

Not to be undone by Greg’s classic “Grindaddy” photo above, Patrick Mead (see also: Tentpegs) had to enter one of his grandson, Lucas, which wins the “Most Blatant Attempt to Addict A Young Minor Child to Doughnuts in The Summertime Award,” which was caught in that wonderland called Krispy Kreme, with the effects of the child’s very first sugary doughnut showing on this poor, unknowing child.  What hope is there for the future of thin American children.

One of the most cherished awards in the Finding Direction Photo Contests is the “Special Judges’ Award for the Most Creative Entry That Always Stretches the Limits of the Theme Chosen.”  This contest’s winner is Janice Garrison for the following photo of a big garden spider outside her window.  You decide whether this is stretching the theme of “Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy.”  Maybe from the spider’s perspective it is, ya think?

There was a tie in the next category.  The “Best Use of Color in Composition For Summertime & The Livin’ is Easy Award” goes to our own Janice Evans-Lauder for this beautiful photo . . .

. . . and to Patrick Mead for “Passing It On,” below:

Janice Evans-Lauder also wins the “Most Beautiful Summertime Sunrise Award,” for which she had to arise much earlier than the Finding Direction judges ever would.  Thus, it is a special treat for them to acknowledge this award. 

The winner of the “By Far The Most Realistic View of Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy Award,” is our own beloved blogger, Greg England for the following photo entry.  It shows a 6:09 p.m. temperature of 106.7 hot summer degrees Farenheit. (Cain’t nobody say tweren’t hot this summer, ya know?!)

And, that photo was taken earlier in the summer before the 117 degree temps hit out in the desert of southern California, t00.

The winner of the “Most Dramatic Summertime Clouds Award” goes to reader, Pat Baker, who is the sister of reader, Marilyn Hughes.  You have to admit it gives one chills in thinking about the magnificence God displays in our heavens each day.

If you will note from the picture, she shot it right in the middle of this summer, too!

Finally . . . the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  The top award winners.  Although, all of the awards are tops in the minds of the Finding Direction judges!  Never forget that, because each of you is very special to the FD judges!!

Third place winner(s) – there was a tie – in the Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest, with the theme “Summertime & The Livin’ is Easy,” goes to (1) reader Darlene Morris, of Lubbock, Texas, for the following entry of two of her grandchildren, Kellen & Sam:

That photo is poetry in motion with little kids enjoying the cool pool in the heat of summer.  Congrats, Darlene Morris, on your winning entries in the FD contest!!

Winner (2) in Third Place is Patrick Mead for the following photo of his little grandson, Lucas, in a photo titled “Whoa!”  You can see why the photo is called that and also why it is a big winner in the FD contest, based on the theme “Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy.”

Congratulations to Patrick, one of the top and most prolific Christian bloggers in the blogosphere.  He & Greg are the judges’ bestest two buddies, but that connection in no way interfered with the unbiased judging in this contest.  The judges attest to that and it is true.  May we all be so unbiased in dealing with each and every person who crosses our path daily.

Second Place in the Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest goes to brand new reader and not “too old a” blogger, either, Joe Tudor (his blog is titled Parapet Safety, which you’ll have to check out!) for his fantastic photo entry which brings out the strongest yearnings of the FD judges in thinking of past summer vacations in such places (Orange Beach, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida) where it’s “Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy.”  The ambiance and laid back feelings evoked in the photo are marvelous.  The smells of the scrubby brush next to the gulf among the sand dunes and the days spent out in the water and along the water’s edge collecting shells come rushing back to the judges’ inner hearts and minds.  Congratulations to Joe!  Terrific entry for the theme!!  The photo is appropriately titled “Sea Oats.”

Isn’t that just a marvelous photo, y’all?!

The FIRST PLACE winner in the Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest is Heather Welch, fairly new to blogging and to photography, but very talented in both, with her entry on the theme “Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy,” that is untitled.  The judges absolutely loved the delight evidenced in the children in the photo using their hands, mouths and all other means by which to down some ice cold watermelon in the middle of a hot, hot summer.  It evokes, without words, the theme “Summertime & The Livin’ Is Easy!”  What do y’all think?  Don’t you love it?!  I mean, watermelon everywhere, but do they care?  Geez, no!  They’re washable, right?!

The FD judges are awarding a $25 gift certificate to the First Place winner this time, so will be in touch with Heather to convey that gift to her.  All of her work sent in was good, as were all of the rest of the entries, and she is entitled to be the First Place winner!

In conclusion . . . thanks to each and every one of you who participated in this contest and to all who stop by to read on a regular basis.  Without your support and constant encouragement, not only would this be a rather dull place to hang around, but also the less for not having all of you as friends.  In the past, Finding Direction has held summer and winter photo contests, so we’ll see this coming winter if perhaps we can revive that schedule.  It all depends on the Lord, on whom all our lives depend.

May God richly bless each and every one of you who stops by here!  Dee

]]> http://deeandrews.net/2010/08/31/winners-announced-and-featured-in-the-finding-direction-summer-2010-photo-contest/feed/ 8 http://deeandrews.net/2010/08/23/as-photo-contest-judging-continues-practice-patience/ http://deeandrews.net/2010/08/23/as-photo-contest-judging-continues-practice-patience/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:10:08 +0000 Dee Andrews http://deeandrews.net/?p=3849 The  judges in the Finding Direction Summer 2010 Photo Contest are busy, busy pouring over all of the entries.  In all, there were nearly 70 entries (I missed several the other day – sorry about that.  Nearly left a couple of people out, and certainly don’t want that to happen) and it’s taking time to peruse and critique each one.  (Plus, the judges have ongoing busy lives that keep interfering with the judging time.)

However . . . do not be dismayed.  The judges expect to have the winners’ post up and ready for your oohs and aahs by next week – not promising which day yet – but next week.  So, keep checking.

In the meantime, practice patience and remember why it is we all gather around each others blogs.  We do so to find and make connections; to learn how to live, laugh and love better; to see life in a new and better way; to come to greater understandings of each other.

In my Friday blog, I talked about my “big garden of friends” that I have gathered through blogging and the internet.  It’s been inspirational to me!  You all have lifted me up many times when I was really, really down!  And, you’ve shared the fun times and even joyous times with me.

Before this blog gets to maudlin, let me leave you with some fun thoughts on grandparents.  Some of you are grandparents, some of you aren’t, but you’ve had grandparents and hopefully one day will be one yourself.  Regardless, these are sweet and funny.  Till next time!  Dee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday.
He asked me how old I was, and I told him, “62.” He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “Did you start at 1?”

********************************************************************
After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old
slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she
heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin.
At last she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings.
As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, “Who was THAT?”

*******************************************************************
A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like: “We used to skate outside on a pond.I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods.
The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this in. At last she said, “I sure wish I’d gotten to know you sooner!”

*********************************************************************

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?”
I mentally polished my halo while I asked, No, how are we alike?”
You’re both old,” he replied.

*********************************************************************

A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather’s word processor. She told him she was writing a story.
“What’s it about?” he asked.
I don’t know,” she replied. “I can’t read.”

*********************************************************************
I didn’t know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something
and ask what color it was. She would tell me, and always she was correct. But it was fun for me, so I continued.
At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!”

********************************************************************

When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from
attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, “It’s no use, Grandpa.
The mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights.”

*********************************************************************

When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure, “Look in your underwear, Grandma,” he advised.
“Mine says I’m four to six.”

************************************************************

Children’s Logic: “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher.
The small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.”
The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.
Sure,” said the young boy confidently. “It means carrying a child.”

*********************************************************************

A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids home one day when a fire truck zoomed past.
Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog’s duties.
They use him to keep crowds back,” said one youngster.
“No, said another, “he’s just for good luck.”
A third child brought the argument to a close. “They use the dogs”, she said firmly, “to find the fire hydrant.”

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
_________________________________________________________________

I haven’t done one of these in over a year, but inspiration has struck me (thanks to Greg over at “why, soitenly,” although I still have him booked as the “Ex-Rev’s Ramblings”) and I’m now on a roll.

For those of you who may be new, the quickest way to get up to speed is to check out my Categories on my right side bar and go down to the entry, “Finding Direction Contests,” where you will find all of the “rules” (slack though they may be) and entries of each of the categories, which are determined by moi at some point along the line.

I held five Finding Direction Photo Contests, in the Winter of 2005-06, Summer 2006, Winter 2006-07, Summer 2007, and Winter 2007-08.  So, y’all have had lots of time to collect photographs to enter.

I don’t have the time right now as today is Monday – Laundry Day – but when I do have a bit of extra time, I’ll put the links here to the winners blog posts from the five contests, along with the “rules,” – don’t worry if you don’t know any of them, it doesn’t matter.  Doesn’t even have to be your own work!

Okay – here’s two from Summer 2006 and Winter 2006-07.  I went back through all the winners’ blog posts and found that the photos  were all missing, so I’m going to have to check with TheoBloggers to see if their expert/genious status can pull them up for you all to see.  But, do go back and read some of the entries under that category – Finding Direction Contests, because then you’ll see how much FUN we all have “competing” in these.

Love you all!  Sorry I’ve been so long in posting.  We were out of town most of last week gone to a Tri-State Press Association convention in Tunica, Mississippi, just south of Memphis.  It was for Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, and we had a great time.   I’ll post a photo later.

Cheers!  And many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

Many of us are making “holiday” plans for this three day weekend starting tomorrow, including our president – our erstwhile “Commander in Chief” – who is going off for enjoyment, rather than going over to Arlington National Cemetery to lay wreaths among the fallen soldiers of this great land of ours.  I don’t know about you, but that really bothers me.  A lot.

I mean – we have plans, too, but quiet ones.  Nothing ostentatious or celebratory by any means.  In fact, in looking for a photo to place here on this post while ago, I found several images that had superimposed over them the words “Happy Memorial Day.”  I find that offensive.  Since when is a day of remembrance of men and women of valor who died for the cause of their country to be a “happy” day?  I think not:  in any way, shape or form.

Tom & I just finished watching the 10 part HBO series “The Pacific,” about our fathers and other elderly relatives, fewer every day who remain living, who fought in the Pacific Theater of World War II.  It was horrific, both in presentation on TV, and even more so in reality.  They talked with aged veterans at the beginning of each episode and the interviews were hard, even now, for some of them to do, all these many years later.

By the time the series closed; when we got to the 10th and last episode, I could barely stand it and cried most of the way through the hour for these men who came home changed forever.  The series had followed the lives of real soldiers who fought real battles, who had families they left behind, who had plans and dreams for the future.  Some of them didn’t make it home at all.  For many of those who did, it took a long time – if not a life time – to get over the nightmares of their experiences.

What made me cry the most is that their story has been so long in being told.  Some of the guys in the group had written books about their lives in war.  Others kept journals.  They were part of one company, so knew each other in real life.  But, most of these real life soldiers have already died.  Some as long as 20 or 30 years ago.  Just a couple of them remain alive today, and both are very elderly.  The majority did not live to see the respect and tribute that some among us so wanted to give them, including Steven Spielburg and actor, Tom Hanks, who produced the movie.

Nearby in New Orleans resides the National WWII Museum, which is magnificently done!  Tom Hanks had a lot to do with it, as well.  It began as the National D-Day Museum (exactly 10 years ago next week – June 6), a dream of author (now deceased) Steven Ambrose, who wrote of WWII in several books.  The museum was so well done that people flocked to New Orleans to come experience that important time in our history.  Thus, they expanded it to cover all of WWII, not just the European fronts.

I urge you all – any of you who can – to come to New Orleans and go there.  You will be forever changed by the experience, which includes listening to and watching oral histories of every day people who lived through it here in America, as well as soldiers who went overseas.

This is my “sermon” for the day.  For the weekend.  I hope to participate in remembrance activities on Monday and to stop and reflect on all who have served and fallen from the very beginning of this country of ours.  May we ever seek God’s favor and grace on us as we live as Christians in the freest land in the world, at least from its inception up until now.  And, may we NEVER forget.

God bless you all today, and God Bless America.  Dee

Can any of you identify?

So . . . I’ve . . . been . . . stressed.

But, at the same time I’ve been reminded this week by others (thanks, Heather, for reminding me that dial-up internet on a rickity laptop is better than none at all!), in some cases, to be mindful of the little things in life that make our lives better.  I need to be “shook up” sometimes to appreciate all I have.  Me – the one who just wrote about “The Girl in the Woods” last time (this past Monday, that now seems eons ago) to remind us all to look around and really observe what we see.

I want to share with you a couple of photos we have of some beautiful birds who live here in Mississippi.  They are Mississippi Swallow-tail Kites, and Tom saw one flying above him on the way home from work one afternoon.

Isn’t this the most beautiful, graceful bird?

Here’s another one soaring above in the heavens.  Would that I could be such a bird in flight!

My spirit and my soul DO fly high above into the heavens when I remember my God, my creator . . . and I am refreshed and replinished in heart and mind.

Thank you, Father, for such beautiful little things in life that are not so little after all when we set our hearts toward heaven and toward You.  Help us to always have hearts of gratitude for the good you give us in such abundance, even in the little things around us, if we will but look and truly let our eyes SEE.

Give us hearts of compassion to always cast our look and Your love upon all we meet and know.  Give us hearts of forgiveness toward all others as You have forgiven us.  Forgive us when we do wrong, or fail to do good in Your name.  Help us to DO good in Your name at every opportunity; to always have a smile on our face; to always look into others’ eyes straightforwardly to smile at their souls.

We ask all of these things, and thank You for all of these things through Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior and Your Son, in His Name.  Amen

She was 19 years old and married to a small thin man in his late 30s or early 40s who looked to be twice his age and was crippled up in his left arm from a working accident some years before.  Thus, he was disabled and unable to work any more, at all, although the work he’d done before was just as a laborer.

She had four little girls of her own, although she was just a girl herself.

They were destitute.  They lived in a small shack consisting of three room, with no bathroom, far off the nearest paved road among the tall, matchstick pines.  Being summer, it was swelteringly hot and humid, but they had no air conditioning, of course.  Nor did they have much furniture.  In fact, other than in the kitchen, I recall none.  The three little girls and baby all slept on bare mattresses reeking with the strong odor of urine.  They may have had diapers for the youngest, but the nearest place to do laundry was in town, and that cost money they didn’t have.  Neither did we see any clothes, anywhere.

Their only transportation was an old dilapidated pickup, and it was not there when we arrived.  The doors were wide open, so we went up the flimsy back steps to the kitchen and went in to look around.  We saw a small table with bowls on them, a couple of chairs and some cheap bent spoons.  The small refrigerator’s door did not shut well and it was full of big ants, but very little else.  Ants crawled all across the tiny kitchen, including on the counter, where we found the remains of their pitiful lunch.  Water gravy and water Koolaid, with a bit of sugar in it.  There were no signs of anything else to eat.

We had wanted to see them to visit, but instead we just left the big boxes of food, produce, milk and staples, for them to have when they got home.  We left some small clean clothes, too, for the girls, and took note of what else they needed.  It was a long list, because they needed everything, beginning with a habitable place to live.

We were not only saddened, but sickened at what we saw.  The wretchedness of the place; the poverty.  But, for the moment we had done all we knew to do.

We found out later that the reason they were not “home” was because all of them had driven to nearby Lufkin to the welfare department to try to receive a bit more financial help then what he was getting.  The girl told us that what we saw in their shack was the very last of the food that they had.  The water gravy and Koolaid.  They had nothing else.

When they returned home, completely dejected and hungry, they were overjoyed to find the food we brought.

My friend, a young Christian mother of four, herself, in her 30s, and I – just a married college student, myself, with a little one, David, who was two years old, had driven back into town by then.  I pondered what I had seen and experiences.  I deeply identified with this young girl, as I was expecting a baby soon, and would have two little ones at 21.

We lived in student housing in a small two bedroom apartment that was $67 a month, which we could not afford, either, but we managed the the four married couples’ buildings around our square and that paid our rent.  My husband went to school full time and worked all kinds of odd jobs at night to help with bills, too.  One job, sitting in a chicken house where the incubators were all night long to keep the eggs from burning, paid 33 cents an hour.  It was a miserable job, but we needed the money.

Yet, when I compared my life to hers, and she was a brand new Christian, I felt deeply blessed.

We did not leave them as we found them.  Charlotte, my friend, went back repeatedly to help them and even got the girl a decent paying job in town soon after.  Charlotte made sure she was able to come worship with us and bring her little daughters.  The girl dressed them up as best she could with the hand-me-downs and they looked shiny and sweet.

They are able to move into town and the church helped them greatly.  Their lives improved very much due to the love and care and benevolence of the compassionate Christian community there in Nacogoches.  It was inspiring to me to see true Christianity in action – Jesus love – and the impressions of that girl’s life have stayed with me until now.

This did not happen during the deep Depression of the 1930s.  This happened in 1966, and happens still today in many places all around us here in America, if only we will take the time to really open our eyes and see as Jesus would have us see.

My daughter, who lives in an a far suburb of Dallas told me a few years ago that she did not know any poor people.  (Although she lives out in the country and has trailer homes on both sides of their property.)  I was stunned.  I told her she would find them all around her, even there, if she would just look.  She took my advice, and did.  Since then, she has been involved in ministry with her congregation of Christians and on several mission trips outside this country, even.  We financially supported her in doing those things and have supported her morally and in every way we could to encourage her in her work.

Tom and I live in a very poor area of the south here in Mississippi where people such as the girl in the woods live, as well.  May I ever seek out those I can help in some way – as God’s child – a Christian – and not forget they are all around me too.  To get to our house in the woods, we drive by dozens and dozens of run down trailers and trailer parks that look like junk yards.  They are here.

I hope you will be encouraged today to look more closely around where you live to find someone you can help – in Christ’s name – to show them the love of God and Christ even in their lives!

Many blessings to each of you today.  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

Dee Andrews, April 21, 2010