It Came and Went, Virtually Unnoticed!

This is my 1013th post. That means that my 1000th post, the one I wanted to celebrate, came and has gone without me even noticing! It could be cause I hit a blogging slump. It could be because I've been focusing on other things. It could be a simple little oversight on my part. Still it passed and I missed it. One thing I know, though, is that just BECAUSE it passed doesn't mean I cannot celebrate it! So, here are some thoughts about hitting this blogging milestone:

* When I started this blog, it never dawned on me that I'd still be writing it four years later.

* Certainly it never dawned on me that SOMEONE or ANYONE would want to read it!

* Mainly I did it to reconnect myself with the thought of journaling and thinking via my words.

* I remember my Dad asking, "WHY would anyone ever want to read the blog of a total stranger?" And I didn't know the answer. But I am HAPPY to say that several of the "strangers" I read are now FRIENDS! I've even met SEVERAL of them in real life.

* It has been a unique way to communicate with my children. Most, if not all, of them read my blog. I think it's given them a glimpse into who their mother is and the thoughts that often fill my head.

* Still it holds the therapeutic benefits of a journal. It has made me consider my writing and my thinking and the ways I should (and sometimes should not) communicate a message.

* Although I've hit a few lulls in posting over the years, this has been something that has remained pretty constant for me.

To sum it up, I think blogging has been quite good for me in so many ways. I'm thankful for the amazing avenues it has opened up and for the many ways it has helped me to grow. Soooo....here's to the NEXT 1000 posts!!

When the Songbird's Annoying!

Like most people, I love the sounds of the outdoors. I like the rain when it falls gently outside my window. I like the chirp of the crickets and croaking of frogs at night when I'm going to sleep. It is relaxing and makes me feel like I'm being lulled to sleep by nature.

We have a pond in our backyard, so we get to hear many of these noises during most nights. Summertime is especially busy as we go to sleep. This year, we have a new sound, though.

It's a songbird. Well, I don't know if it's REALLY a "songbird"...but it's a bird that is singing. LOUD!

The problem is, it doesn't happen as the night creeps in. It doesn't even happen softly as I lay my head on the pillow. No. She "sings" starting around 4am and goes for at least an hour and a half! This morning, while laying awake again and listening to her song, a thought occured to me. At any other time of the day, and even some of the night, I might find her song enjoyable. For me, at that hour, it's not. It's the right song at a very wrong time.

There's a lesson in there for all of us. We have all been giving a "song to sing"--a life to live. We have to make sure that our song is not annoying and/or delivered at the wrong time, however. So today rather than thinking of ways that I could go outside and shoo the songbird away, I whispered a prayer. "God, thank you for the lesson of the songbird. Help me know when to "sing my life's song" and when to be quiet. I'm sorry for those times it's just noise to those around me. Help me be in tune to you and your timing more often." And, then I thanked Him for using his wonderful creation to teach me yet another lesson. Unfortunately, though, I did "think" the P.S.: "P.S. God, could you PLEASE help this little songbird move on to someone else's tree tomorrow morning??"

Yep, I still have more to learn.

What's a Little Rain??

If you've read my blog for any time at all, then you know that our church is all about getting out into the community and "being, doing, and giving" through random acts of kindness. Sometimes these are simple little projects and other times they are larger scale. Today was one we've been preparing for a while. It was a hot dog cookout and giveaway on the beach.


We bought 300 hot dogs, chips, and drinks to give away this afternoon. We assembled a team of seventeen people and planned to meet at the beach around 3:00pm today.

DH told me the weather was going to "go bad" as there were storms moving in. I told him I didn't want to hear it. On my way into the parking lot, I prayed for a "weather miracle". Literally as I unloaded my car, the sky was getting dark and black. Still we unloaded.
It wasn't long after DH started cooking the hotdogs that the storm rolled in with wind, driving rain, lightning and thunder. And there we were huddled under this little "gazebo"/tent like a bunch of sardines. And I'm telling you, all I could do was LAUGH!

Here's the funny thing though. Many people huddled under there with us. It almost felt like the United Nations as we really had several different languages represented inside that tent! Though we were getting wet, people were happy to have a hot dog and water while they waited out the storm.

As with most Florida rains, the storm passed quickly. It wasn't long until the rain stopped and people SLOWLY started trickling back out to the beach. And the hot dogs were going like HOTCAKES!

We even had a team hit the beach and take food/water out there where people were sitting. And, as usually happens with our servant evangelism outreaches, people ask the BIG QUESTION: "WHY?" They want to know WHY on earth people would be giving them something for FREE. I mean NOTHING is free in this world!

And that's when we are able to answer, "It's our way of saying 'God loves you'." His love is always free for everyone. Most of the time people are simply left speechless by that. There are no strings. There's no pressure. There's no more conversation than that--unless it's initiated by the recipient. It's a perfect way to make an impression that will last. Besides that, it's plain old FUN!

Book Review: My Sister's Keeper

A few weeks ago, some friends from work were commenting that they'd read this book, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult. Then I found out that it was a movie. I decided to add it to my summer reading list. For those of you who read primarily Christian fiction, this is not that kind of book. It is, however, a book that left me pondering the choices I would make, and reactions I would have, given the same situation.

I have never read any of Piccoult's work, but I've heard good things about it. She is quite a writer! Her use of simile and metaphor caused me to stop and think on more than one occasion.

This is the story of the Fitzgerald family. Brian and Sara have three children: Jesse, Kate, and Anna. Kate, who has leukemia, was diagnosed at the age of two. Anna was genetically conceived to be a donor match for her sister.

Now, at the age of 13, Anna has hired attorney Campbell Alexander to medically emancipate herself from her family. Campbell, though reluctant, takes on this case pro bono.

I love this description from the back cover: A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning moral parable for all time. It's true.

This book has an ending that will shock the reader! In fact, in an interview with Piccoult recorded in the back of my copy, she admits that her own twelve-year-old read the book. When he finished it, he was weeping on the couch. She said he wouldn't even talk to her for a while! When they finally did sit down to discuss it, he asked "Why? Why did it have to end like that?" Piccoult tells him this is not an easy book and has no easy answers.

Piccoult does an amazing job of getting inside each character's thoughts and feelings while facing a very difficult and grueling situation. Each one is faced with some serious soul-searching. And each one emerges different at the end of the book.

Very rarely do I say a book is a "must read"...and this is no different. I will say, though, that for me, this book just may be a "read it again" book!

Routine or Not?

I don't think you could hardly consider three blog posts in a row, routine. But the fact is I am making the attempt to come back and get to the writing again. Of course, though, life sometimes gets in the way of that. My DSs 3, 4, and me are heading out to go scalloping this week.

For those of you who have no idea what that is...I am going to leave you with a recap post (with a few updates) from a couple of years ago:

OK, I've had a couple of people ask, "Just HOW do you scallop?" Sooooo...for anyone who is not from the Gulf Coast of Florida, here's how:

1. You must have the proper "equipment". This includes a snorkel, mask, fins, and mesh net or bag. You must also have a red "dive flag". Water shoes are helpful for the "ewwww" factor when you step into underwater grassbeds--if you don't wear fins. We like to use "noodles" to float on as well occasionally. I also use a small net for "scooping"...but the rest of my family just grabs them by hand (I'm getting ahead of myself.).


The photo on the left is my Dad and DS 3 showing off their "scalloping gear". DS 3 was four or five years old at the time. He's now 6'2" and almost 15! Aren't they a fine looking pair?

2. In the Gulf, you cannot start scalloping until July 1st. The season ends Sept. 10th, but let me just say the waters are CRAWLING with people scalloping during the first week of July. The picture to the right shows my DSs 1, 2, and 4 in 2000 going out to the Scallop grounds in Steinhatchee which is Northern Florida.


3. We go about a mile or two out into the Gulf where the seagrass beds are in about 4 - 8 feet of water. The trick to catching them is to FIND them! On sunny days, the sun seems to shine on their eyes which are all along the inside of their shells. Otherwise, they can blend in with the grass pretty well. Once you see one, you scoop it up and put it in your bag. The bag allows you to stay under water for quite a while so you can collect several.

4. When you catch them, you put them on ice so they will open up. Some are more"stubborn" than others and open very little if at all. The limit in Florida for whole scallops is 2 gallons per day per person---or 10 gallons per boat. The limit for shelled scallops is 1 pint of meat per day...think about that...2 gallons with the shells is roughly equal to two small "school size" milk cartons! The photo on the left shows DS 4 "dumping" our catch into the cooler when he was probably 2 or 3 years old.


5. Now the "FUN" part is CLEANING the darn things! DS 4 loved exploring them as a child.

6. You can open the scallop by sticking a spoon or a knife at the back part near the hinges. You kind of slide the knife around the opening carefully and it will "lift away" the shell. If you hold the dark side up, you won't ruin the meat inside.


7. The "innards" look like this:


This is the "tricky" part. If you take your knife and gently pull the "gross" stuff ...that's the dark brownish/yellowish "junk"... away from the muscle that's in the middle of the shell...it's possible to pull it off in one fell swoop (as Grandma would say). And speaking of Grandma, the photo just above is my Grandma and me scooping the GUTS out of the scallops while DS 4 looks on. Doesn't she look THRILLED??


8. When you get the "goop" out, there is a nice white muscle left. It looks like this:



You just scoop it out and you're ready to COOK them and EAT THEM!



It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too. If you want to skip steps 5 - 8, and just do the "eating", then you can pay for someone at a dock to do them for you. They are FAST and sometimes it's worth it.



So, if any of you are in or near the Gulf Coast of Florida from Homosassa up to Steinhatchee from July 1st though Sept. 10th, you can go "get yourself some supper"!



{Note: I borrowed the close-up scallop pictures from this website. I just thought I'd go ahead and paste them here to preserve my directions for years to come! Plus that, I thought I'd send my extended family into total shock that I would post this little "how-to" manual!}

Until I return...

In my yard...In my life...

Things have been crazy (as usual) around my house this Spring/Summer! The kids are all busy with different things and I DO want to give an update. I just had to share these other pictures first.

We have been watching these little baby sandhill cranes for a few months now. In the photo below you can see how much they have GROWN! It's been fun to watch them change. Each time the four of them "drop by" for some food, I am amazed!

OK to update you on the family:

DS 1 finished his Basic/AIT training for Army National Guard. He is home now and will start school at University of Florida in the fall. He looks great and I LOVE having him here! I'll tell ya' though, he came home a different young man. Not that there was a lot to change, but it's a pleasure to know he's on a path that he is enjoying.

DS 2 just finished a very intense week of acting/modeling/talent competition. He got six call-backs and may be doing some local work for advertisers here in the area. It was a fabulous experience for him! DH and DS 3 accompanied him for the week-long event. Their day started at 7:30am and they were rarely done before 10:30 or 11:00 at night. It was an amazing event for all of them. DH and DS 3 went to classes and served as an extra set of eyes and ears for all the learning that took place. It will be neat to see where this takes him.

DS 3 is doing quite well. I don't know if I blogged it or not, but he was selected the sophomore class president for next year. Hard to believe that the first high school year passed so quickly. He flew with DH out to DS 1's graduation in Texas and had a great time.

DS 4 is doing quite well also. He was selected as a news anchor for our school's morning news next year. It's amazing to me that this little man (who was just a baby when I started working there) only has one more year of elementary school. He won a fishing charter at our end of the year carnival. DH, DS 1 and he went today. He caught a redfish and was so happy to be out on the water.

I wish I had photos of all of them to stick in here, but I don't. I'm between computers and I'll need to dig up some from other computers. Soo...the cranes and DS 4 will have to do. I'll add more as I can.

Perception Perspective

I think that the concept of perception and perspective is quite interesting. Have you ever been around someone for the same "event" and then heard them describe it totally different than you would? Years ago I had a friend who always saw things much bigger than they were.

There were people mad at the church and her words would be, "Everyone's saying __________." Reality was there were one or two people that she knew saying something and suddenly it felt, to her, like EVERYONE was doing it. Or she'd proclaim "NO ONE wants to _________." And I'd ask who didn't want to ________. She'd respond with a small list of names. At first I thought she really was "off". As our friendship went on, I realized that this truly WAS her perception.

And, for most people, their perception is their reality.

I've been thinking about a situation that I've witnessed recently where my perspective tells me one thing, but someone else's perception is totally different. From my vantage point, it's easy to see that they (sorry for this usage of "they", I am choosing NOT to be gender specific here) have made choices that have caused the events that have happened around them. But in their mind, "everyone's picking on them" or "choosing to be negative" or "rejecting this person" or whatever the issue of the day happens to be.

I don't know how you change someone's perception. I don't know how you help them see the world through different eyes. Different heart. Different soul. With my friend I used to reflect back when she'd use those absolute words like everyone, noone and everything. I'd ask "how many?" "Who?" And often she'd start to see that perhaps she was making things bigger than they were.

My Bible reading has been WAY off kilter for some time. Part of my time this summer has been to get a grip on it once again. And, though I find it a bit odd, I've been hovering in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, as you may know, is sometimes called "the weeping prophet". The message that he had to deliver to Israel wasn't a happy one. He had to tell them they were wayward, they were off track...their perception: that all was OK and that they were living ok and making right choices and life was fine...was seriously off.

And they didn't listen. Jeremiah delivered this word for FORTY years! He faced opposition. He was thrown in jail. Again and again, he would speak truth to the people and again and again they would refuse to respond to it.

So it is with perception sometimes. I think it's our job, in some moments, to help people see the truth. It's hard because sometimes it hurts. And it's also our job to check our perception against what is really happening too. It's our job to say, "This is what I THINK I feel, see, hear, touch, perceive."

Still, the words of God speaking to Jeremiah are quite a comfort when we consider those "off moments". God continued to say "I have loved you wtih an everlasting love. I have drawn you with lovingkindness." (Jer. 31:3) It doesn't matter where you've been, what you've done, or anything else....GOD LOVES YOU and me with an EVERLASTING love. It is there whether we're in a pit or on a mountain. And, that my friends, is REALITY!

Summer Time Reading Continues

To say my blogging has been slack would be a serious understatement! I've thought about deleting it all together. I've wondered what I should do with it. Try as I may, though, I cannot just "do away with it". I don't know where it will go in the future, so I will take it one day at a time. One blog post at a time.

I thought I'd start with what I know I love to talk about--and have neglected so much the first 6 months of this year--BOOKS! I have finished two books recently that I want to share:

The first is written in my favorite genre: memoir/biography. It is Michael J. Fox's Lucky Man. This book is his story. It begins in a Gainesville hotel during the shooting of a movie, with the story of the "twitching pinkie" where Michael first really remembers noticing something was "off" about his body. Then it rambles back into his childhood to explain to the reader from "whence he came".

Fox paints a great picture of his journey into show-biz and some of the lessons he's learned along the way. Then, he poignantly tells about his inner struggle and physical battle as he is learning to live with the dreaded Parkinson's disease.

I loved Fox when he was Alex P. Keaton on the show Family Ties. I have enjoyed his performances in several movies and always found him quite interesting. For that reason, even when the book made twists and turns that were hard for me to follow, I pressed on. And I'm glad I did. His story is a powerful one.

My second "summer read" is a fiction story by Karen White called The Memory of Water. This book is the fictional story of Marnie and Diana Maitland who experienced a childhood tragedy on the South Carolina shore. Here is a bit of the back cover:

On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood.

After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstable mother, and he is refusing to speak. In order to help the traumatized boy, Marnie must reopen old wounds and bring the darkest memories of their past to the surface. And she must confront Diana, before they all go under.

The story is one of sorrow and loss. It gives great detail what it is like living with someone who has been diagnosed manic/depressive or bipolar. White paints a beautiful picture of love despite this cloud that surrounds this family. The book is written in first-person narrative from each of the four main character's perspectives. I love that. And the ending caught me totally by surprise!

Both of these books were enjoyable for me. While I wouldn't call them "must reads", I'd say they are "worth it" reads if you choose to do so. Now I'm off to find my next book and to read some of your blogs. I've got a lot of catching up to d!