They Laughed

I was reading in the Bible today about Jesus raising the little girl from the dead. (Mark 5 35:41)
I've read the story many times and this time two words jumped off of the page......they laughed...(v. 48).
Here was the Lord God Almighty, making an amazing declaration - in his calm, quiet way - that the child was only sleeping.....and they laughed. Two seconds before they had been mourning.....and wailing.....and saying... "Oh, woe is me!" (My version.) then an impossible- to believe- statement is made and their tears turned to laughter.
I was so mad at those people!! How could they laugh at MY Jesus???
Then that still small voice said....."Beloved, you laughed, too."
At first I was stunned....then my memory went to work. ..... A friend saying, "God has a plan" when I was mourning, and inside I said, "Yeah, right!" ....Then there was the time(s) when I decided to 'do it my way' instead of giving it to Him.....And so many more instances that I can't even count. While I may not have physically 'laughed' at Jesus....I did worse....I dismissed Him.
I've had times when I didn't think He was big enough to help. And times when I thought that my 'stuff'' was too small for Him.
How ashamed I was at this realization! I prayed for forgiveness and asked Him to never let me forget that I was in that house, also ...... I was laughing, too ..... and I was dismissing Him.
And I also prayed that if you have ever felt the same.... that you would go back with me to that day, stand in that crowd and instead of laughing....say to the Lord God Almighty....."Yes, Lord, she is only sleeping!"

Cadie Elizabeth O'Hern

My first and only granddaughter turned 10 Sunday. I can remember like it was yesterday ... the day she was born. Amy had labored all day and the doctor decided that a C-section was in order. James and I huddled in the waiting room praying that all would be well.....then Dr. Damrich came out and told us our little girl had given birth to a 10lb. 2 oz baby girl! Joy took on a new meaning and love took on a new depth.

Cadie lived in Alabama the first 2 years of her life before they moved so far away. She was in love with "Barney" then......now the cast from "High School Musical" has taken his place......but one thing has not changed since that first day 10 years ago.......our love for this precious gift named Cadie Elizabeth!! Happy birthday, angel!!! God bless and keep you!!

End Of Summer

It's not official yet ...... but summer is starting to fade. Now to many people that's a good thing.....to kids and students.....not so much. But as for myself........I bid it a FOND farewell!

This summer brought with it a summer cold (as 'opined' in previous chirps) -that turned into a summer plague -that kept me away from too many things to count!

But I have not lost heart!! I can almost smell the odor of burning leaves in the air! And is that a slightly golden leaf on a tree in my back-yard? .....It won't be long until the sound of the Hayden High School Band will come drifting through the window on Friday nights! And the little signs that show the way to the 'Pumpkin Patch' will be out on the road very soon!

You know, my favorite place to stand...... is on God's promises..... and He's promised us a change of seasons......how awesome a God is that!?!?!

Summer Colds

Even the term 'summer cold' is an oxymoron. Well I've been visited by this particular, 'moron'....and now that my temp is no longer 101 ......and since I can sit up without feeling dizzy, nauseous or otherwise 'yucky'.......I thought I'd chirp about this subject.

First a question or two..... How are you supposed to get under the covers and ward off the chills when it's 100 degrees outside? How are you supposed to force down chicken noodle soup when you are drenched with sweat ....not from fever....but from 'summer'?

I mean, come on, flannel gowns, thick socks and down comforts do not WORK in August in Alabama!!! At least Gatorade heps.........

O.K. ...... Enough belly-aching (ugh! don't even mention THAT word) ..time to make lemonade..... here goes...... The Olympics are starting! And football!! And I think I hear the whisper of autumn on it's way! God's so good!!!( and Tylenol is such a wonderful equalizer!)

Edna

There's an antique store near my home that is going out of business. A friend and I stopped by to check it out. Now it's been a while since I've been in an antique store.....mainly because I love them so much and want to buy nearly everything.... that my pocketbook (now THERE's an antique word!!!) won't allow me to go inside the store. ( And most of you know....I carry a BIG pocketbook!)

However, we did go into this one......and I was amazed at the loveliness of old craftsmanship! I was automatically sent back to a time when life was slow......where letters where the way to communicate.....where diaries and scrapbooks where kept and cherished. I could smell the lemon oil from ages ago and imagined a mother showing her daughter how to correctly take care of the furniture that had been handed down for generations. I touched the hand-embroidried pillow slips that took hours of love and perfection to stitch (and were now 1/2 price.)
There was a magnificent, large, detailed, framed painting of angels around the cross. Inserted was a perfectly hand-written card that said .....in long forgotten caligraphy..." In loving memory of our beloved daughter Edna...." and then, the rest was too faded to read. On the price tag was written "Mourning card...circa 1900". My heart was moved. Did that family ever imagine that someone in the 21st century .....would be standing in a little shop ....feeling - fresh -the loss that created such beautiful art?
I didn't buy it....(my pocketbook again!) ....but I, too mourned the loss of Edna. And not just Edna ....but a part of me mourned the time in which she lived. The closeness of family. The sweetness of tradition. It's almost gone from this world and the fast pace of living is to blame. But being the 'lemonade' kind of person that I am..... I grasped a ray of hope! For I realized that even though we don't keep diaries or scrapbooks or mourning cards anymore.....our spirits have found other ways to keep the old ways .....new!!!! We blog (or chirp!) and email and have pictures of those we love (and mourn) on our "blogspots". So. you see, INSIDE we aren't that different from Edna's family. God created us to love and while we've lost some of the details of life......we refuse to lose each other!!!

Well, this chirp was different!!!!! Hope your day is blessed and full of laughter!!

The Scooter Commercial Revisited

In response to my musings on the Scooter......A freind sent me the following:

(Now I know where I am on the 'wheel'!!!)

The Scooter Commercial

You know you are getting old when everything you watch on TV has the 'Scooter' commercial in it! I bet I saw that man say "you need to order the Scooter......" 20 times this morning! And the bad thing is......that Scooter is starting to look pretty good! Don't be surprised if you see me zipping around Hwy 160 on my new bright red scooter!!

Anyway..... I thought I'd share that with you.....

The summer is getting hotter so it must be time for the kids to be getting ready to go back to school....Wasn't it just last week when they were getting out??

Remember when summer lasted a full 3 months and the first day you went back you wore your new plaid wool jumper with the red sweater to match??? I have pictures of me on the first day of school with my jacket on OVER the sweater......now I KNOW I'm getting old......next I'll be saying....:When I was a kid.....we walked to school four miles in three feet of snow on the first day of school!!! ' My mother would be so proud!!!!

Gotta go.....Game Show Network might be showing my favorite commercial.................