An oldie…but such a goodie!
Source: Smoky Mountain Wanderings, First in the Puzzle Pieces: These United States Series
This is a lovely tribute to the authoress’ home state of Tennessee…it highlights so much of the uniqueness that is within America! Enjoy…
Browse our library of video tutorials to help you get going on WordPress.com.
via Get Started on WordPress.com with Video Tutorials — Discover
OK, I admit it…I wanted this on my blog so I could find it again…and to share it with my son, Josiah, who is just starting out with his own blogging voice–as someone who’s on the Autism Spectrum & a Passionate Outspoken Christian. Check him out here:
This is Josiah from a few years back…a fitting picture for his blog title, hmm?
Josiah with Clarissa, Nathaniel, & his twin Brandon–what a bunch of hams!
Josiah running Track for his High School, about 5 years ago…
Josiah peeking out of his then bedroom window (he’s got half our basement now) during an air-soft battle with sibs & Dad a few years back…
Josiah Skywalker battles his “lookalike”…kind of like Luke in that cave…
from a Bing.com image search for “U of M Hospital”
So my son, Josiah, and I returned to the University of Michigan Hospital today because I’d rescheduled his MRI of the head (aka Brain Scan) from yesterday afternoon to this morning, so he could participate in a special needs social event last night. We rarely have back to back hospital runs so this was kind of “fun”…
from a Bing.com image search for “U of M Hospital”
from a Bing.com image search for “who heals you of all your diseases scripture”
As you can see, even a “simple” day at the hospital can get pretty involved…and exhausting. Josiah & I both did decently and had an overall good time, which was capped off by the blessing of Skyline Cafe, a pretty rare treat for us nowadays…
Well thanks for stopping by and sharing a bit of our experiences. Blessings, Valerie
from a Bing.com image search for “who heals you of all your diseases scripture”
PS Please consider keeping Cameron & his family in your prayers as they travel a new special needs pathway…I’ve written more about their situation here if you’d like more details:
http://www.carepages.com/carepages/JournalingForTheJazzman/updates/3856615
from a Bing.com image search for “gently leads those with young scripture”
Source: Prayers For Conner
This is an older post but tells of some of the details of a young family experiencing their baby’s heart surgery. The minutia are different from our experience, yet in many ways the story is the same. I’m so thankful that other writers share from their hearts their experiences and their perspective. This “Prayers” posting was written by Conner’s grandmother–and what a loving, godly heart she exhibits…
“Added note. To all who were here with us when my grandson Conner had his heart surgery almost two years ago now, who have asked so frequently how he’s doing, I added his picture. Yep, he’s one of the next generation of fearless daredevil boys in the family. His favorite thing is climbing and jumping, which he’s in the process of doing here. Thank you all for remembering him.”
This update on Connor, and his picture, is from his Grandma’s recent posting (that is also well worth the read) here:
Thank You God, For Men. Real Men.
Image is from a Bing.com image search for “heal your heart scripture”
It is a blessing to me, and hopefully to you as well, to be reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness in delivering other people out of their challenging circumstances. I know nothing of this family beyond the two posts referenced here…but I know the Joy of seeing a heart surgery child running, climbing, and in general just being a boy!!!
Blessings,
Valerie
Image is from a Bing.com image search for “heal your heart scripture”
Update June 23, 2017
Please check this post at my son’s new blog for further info about Conner & his family in the Comments Section. Thanks!
https://josiahsfreakshow.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/josiahs-first-post/
This is all the advice I wish someone had given me when I was sixteen.
via Advice for the Young and Penniless Who Want to Travel. — The Shooting Star
Although the age part is not applicable to me, but rather to my children…the budget part sure does apply. When I was in High School I was a member of American Field Service (AFS), an international student exchange program and was selected to go on a Summer AFS exchange. Unfortunately for me there was literally No Place in the Entire World that wanted me…wow. I did get very close to the International Exchange students at my high school during my senior year, especially Monina & Edgardo from the Philippines, Astrid from Germany, and Veronique from Belgium. Veronique & I even had fun on an outing in downtown Detroit & Greektown where I got the chance to practice my fairly rudimentary French skills in conversation with her.
I plan to return to the above blog post to check on some of the authoress’s online recommendations…and to share her insights with my more adventurous kids…and perhaps some of their friends. My husband has done his share of armchair travelling using Google Street View and Google Earth…something I have yet to try but hope to at least apply to genealogical endeavors, as in getting a digital glimpse of an historically significant place…at least from a family history perspective eventually…Blessings, Valerie
Bing.com image search for “the earth is the Lord’s”
Creative artistry captured timelessly…Love it!
I’m just starting to go through and upload my photos from the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. This is my 10th year of shooting and it was one of the best. It is so much fun. Street photography is always about humanity and the Mermaid Parade is the coolest parade in NYC and a whole lotta fun. This is number 1, the first and only processed yet! – 17 June 2017.
Toodling around today at Word Press various other bloggers’ postings have loosely inspired these thoughts on being rooted…At our Memorial Day Weekend trek to/from the family Cottage in Gaylord, Michigan my husband & I collected a number of plants from the property to transplant to our own yard in Metro Detroit. We actually left a few plants in Gaylord accidentally & they were kindly transported South by my parents later!
Bing.com image search for “fragrance of life scripture”
Previously we had transplanted a couple of Lilac “bushes” and they are doing really well in our yard. Those lilacs were individual woody stalks, possibly decades old, that had held on in the harsh climate and poor sandy soil conditions of Northern Michigan and now flourish as expansive bushes in our backyard. In fact, our newly married son wants to take a transplant from our transplant(s) so that he & his wife can have some familial lilacs in their yard too. These transplanted lilacs are very special to me because they come from my grandparents’ property and remind me of them, and their love, whenever I look at the bushes or smell that amazing lilac smell. Also while growing up there were a few lilac bushes outside my bedroom windows and that heady fragrance always takes me back to those carefree days just a bit…
From a Bing.com image search for lilacs
For years I’ve wanted to get further lilac transplants from my great-grandparents’ property that’s just a few blocks away from The Cottage. The Cottage flowers are a light purple, aka Lilac!, color, but some of the lilacs from my great-grandma’s garden are white & some of a darker purple, or so I thought. If we don’t do the lilac gathering during the Memorial Day trip we have to wait another year to confirm the location and/or color of any potential transplants, and this concept minus action has occurred many times.
from a Bing.com image search for “cottage turret”…this is about the right size as the historical family cottage…
This year we encountered the latest owners of one of my great-grandparents’ cottages, the one with a turret that is near the railroad tracks. We had a lovely chat with them, were able to view the recently renovated & gorgeous interior of that cottage, and get permission to get some of my great-grandma’s lilacs! We ended up digging up a couple smallish single stalks from the white bush and they are definitely taking root in our flower beds!
From a Bing.com image search for lilacs
We also got to see some photos of their cottage as it previously existed as a Texaco gas station. According to the new owners this little gem of a building, one storey with an interesting octagonal turret, started its life in Detroit. They showed us a photo of the alleged first cottage owner but he did Not appear to be my great-grandfather (Rowland Edward Thompson). We shared what tales we could recall about the gas station cottage with my Dad & Aunt (they both spent Every Summer of their respective childhoods at the Gaylord Cottage) to see if the tales lined up with our family lore. According to my Aunt Pat, Patricia Kay Stoddard Armstrong Ziemba, she was actually there when my great-grandmother, Florabelle Mansell Thompson, negotiated a purchase price and bought the gas station cottage. Pat swears the gas station was in Gaylord, and she remembers where it had been located and observed it being moved to its present location. Mysteries here…
From a Bing.com image search for lilacs
Well there weren’t appropriate Dark Purple lilacs at the great-grandparents’ cottage site so we searched further afield. There had been an amazing bush in a neighborhood flowerbed near where our Gaylord home was located, but we couldn’t find it on this trip. We did, however, discover an even larger Deep Rich Purple lilac bush near an intersection in town, so we can easily recall its location. Now we just need to track down the property owner to get permission to dig up a couple of new starts…Can’t wait!
from a Bing.com search for “myrtle lily-of-the-valley”
We also took several starts of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, forget-me-nots, and some purple “weeds” that can happily grow in our grass to help fill in a bare patch in our backyard under a spreading maple tree. There are also some long leaved plants interspersed with some lily-of-the-valley plants to fill in some of the barrenness between our trees between the sidewalk & the street. Myrtle & Lily-of-the-Valley grow along the house & driveway in my parents’ yard (the home I grew up in) and we had already transplanted some Myrtle to our front flower bed a few years back and it has filled in things beautifully. These two species seem to spread easily so will need some attention to keep them in check, but honestly I love both of these flowers so much, and they remind me of my childhood home & the Cottage so much that the maintenance is worth it!
from a Bing.com search for “myrtle lily-of-the-valley”
Each of these plants are a tangible representation of the gift of life…a heritage passed down from my great-grandparents to my grandmother and indirectly from both their yards to us. They also are directly and indirectly from my parents & grandparents and are likely to continue on to my son & his wife. We’ve received the gifts of physical & mortal life from our forbears and they’ve also blessed us with the heritage of faith–the seeds of eternal life in Christ Jesus. We’ve passed those gifts on to our children & look forward to them continuing to be passed on to the generations to come…just like so many of the flowering beauties that unify & connect our hearts & all of our earthly properties.
from a Bing.com image search for “Ephesians 3: 17”
