Overflowing Love

 

On Monday, October 19, the miracle of birth happened again in our family!  The new addition, is another girl, personally, I think she should have waited to be born on her grandmother's birthday (mine), but she is healthy, and welcomed in to the family with open arms!  Big sister, Izzie, is very protective, and dutifully helping as much as she is allowed.

As a long distance Grandma, I have to be satisfied with pictures and Skype calls until we meet, but, unconditional love abounds from this house in Windsor! Uncle Paul is also very proud, and I'm sure that our dog, Thomas will be just as gentle with the new addition, as he is with Izzie.

It is at times like this that I am overwhelmed with the Power and Glory of God's Perfect Love.  I came across this quote in one of my daily readings:

"Every child born into this world is a new thought of God, an ever-fresh and radiant possibility."  Kate Douglas Wiggin

A short post today,

Have a Great Day!

Phoebe

Vows

A little while ago, my lifelong friend, Maggie found out her granddaughter, seventeen years old, had ovarian cancer. She has had one ovary removed, and now faces several hard rounds of chemeotherapy.


A couple of weeks ago, Maggie and her granddaughter made a day at the hairdressers, of getting their heads shaved, and then to go out shopping!  Maggie said the hairdressers were great with her granddaughter (who had long dark tresses), and showed her several ways to fix her hair when it starts to grow in again. Tears were shed by all in attendance; I'm glad I wasn't there, I would have been just as bad as the rest of them!  Maybe worse!


As my contribution, I have been making hats and scarves for the two!  They chose berets. Maggie chose a verigated wool with teal (ovarian cancer), and her granddaughter wanted plain teal. Just in time for the cold weather, when their respective heads will feel more 'breezy'. Maggie has said that she will keep her head shaved until her granddaughter's hair grows back after the treatments. Maggie is shown in the picture with the scarves.


Each one of us has our own personal way to show love, and support for people we love who are going through an overwhelming struggle. Along with all our prayers and loving thoughts, it is good when we find a personal way to show our love and support. Maggie and her granddaughter and the whole family have a long hard road ahead, I like to think whenever they use the hats and scarves, they will remember they are loved and are always in my prayers.

This also makes me think of how we handle each crisis we face.  Do we face it head-on, or do we give up the fight? I know I have given up sometimes, but I think in the biggest fights, I have fought to finally overcome the battle. Fight on Maggie and your lovely granddaughter, and overcome!

Have a great day, and remember to 'fight the good fight'!

Phoebe

Life Is A Journey Completed

This past Sunday, I attended the dedication of a memorial bench in honour of a well-respected minister who was the pastor of  an historic church in the Olde Sandwich Towne district of Windsor. Sandwich First Baptist Church was organized in the early 1840's, by escaped slaves from the Southern States. Rev. Burey, who was an avid student of history worked tirelessly to preserve not only the building, but educate the community concerning its importance. The church has now been designated a "National Historic Site".

Rev. Burey was a Jamaican Canadian who was involved in the larger community as well as the spiritual health of the church community. He was also a husband and father.  I will not go on to list all the credentials of this very vital and active man who passed away in 2003, but the inscription on the bench interested me.

Life Is A Journey Completed.  It gave me pause to think of my own journey.  Am I making use of all the opportunities God has given me to affect my community and the people I love? I think I have been doing my best with my children, my work, friends and relatives.  Is my own journey a fulfilling one, for me as well as pleasing to God? There are so many facets of my life I don't get a chance to work on.  I am really looking forward to retirement, when I think I will have time to do all the things I have been putting off! I'd better be well enough to do all those things!

This is something I must think about more fully, and perhaps report back to you!

Reason For Living

Why are we here? Why do we keep on "keeping on"? What gets us up in the morning, and why do we continue to go through our daily routine, even though some days we just do not "feel like" doing what we are supposed to on this particular day?

When we are younger, we just obey, and try to make our parents and family proud. Later, we find peers, personal goals, and maybe a dream of being a doctor, artist, parent, minister or missionary.  A book I am reading now says God has had everything planned for our life from the beginning. Maybe the key is to find God's plan for our life, and work from there.

But what about the day when everything is just too much?  God never promised us a 'stress-free, bed of roses' for a life! There will always be road blocks to fulfilling our dreams. What can we do to shelter us from the people and situations that attack our peaceful progress? What do you look forward to when you get home?  I enjoy my time of bible study in the morning, reading regular books (who done it's), painting, playing the piano, and just listening to music, most kinds; later in the evening, before bed I like to watch TV. 

I am a very fortunate person.  I have two wonderful sons, a daughter-in-love, granddaughter, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins (my parents have both passed now) and of course, many friends. If you don't have that, what helps you to keep going? I like listening to music, when I'm upset I prefer quiet music, but, everyone is different. As I said in my last blog, we just got a dog, I had forgotten how dependent they are! But wait! What a joy to enter my house now!  Just walking through the door, he is so excited to see me!  Be it three minutes to get the mail, or after a morning of work!  Taking him for a walk is pure adventure! He sees and smells so many interesting things, I just doubt if I will ever know the significance of each.

One thing I pray for each morning, is that God will allow me to be a blessing to someone every day,  when you are looking for blessings around each corner, it is hard not to see God's work in progress. In my case, the key to each day is to study God's word, pray hard and often, (known as a constant state of prayer) and trust God to be just in time.  In the meantime, find joy in everything you see, hear, and experience, and rest in Him.

Have a great, and joy-filled day!

Phoebe

End Of Summer!

These last few months, have been somewhat of a struggle.  As I mentioned in the last few posts, our cat, Scary, was very upset, about what, I don't know.  I thought we had her calmed down, but it was just a respite for bigger things to come. The result was, since she started swiping and attacking people (along with the terror-ripping scream), I had to hire a trapper to take her out of the house! The trapper said, and I have heard, that a cat will 'go wild', but I had never seen it before, and will be glad never to see it again.

I felt as though I had failed as a pet owner! Paul and I had to take the next day, which was Monday, off work because that last day, a Sunday, was so upsetting, I was physically ill, and vomiting, it was weeks before I could walk into the house, or even move from one room to another without checking for the cat.  Paul and I were very lonely with no pet to love, especially when the last several months, Scary was not accepting any of the much love we had to give.

Well, I decided to adopt a dog from our local Humane Society! I went with my girlfriend, and fell in love with a one year old brother and sister who were up for adoption.  I could only afford one, but I chose the sister.  God was in charge though, and through a series of events, we wound up with the brother, and his name HAD to be Thomas, as in Doubting! The reason I chose the sister in the first place, is that she was more outgoing.  But I had a few days to think about the adoption and the only one I could think of or even name was Thomas!  As it turned out the Society gave the sister to another family, and Thomas was left!  I snapped him up right away! May 20th was the BIG DAY.

Tom has his own challenges, but his assets include lots of love for everyone who has come in my home so far! He is a cross between a pug and a beagle, known as puggle (I still have to get used to the hound chasing and baying at the neighbourhood feral cats, all of a sudden they don't seem to like my backyard as much now!  I wonder why?

At first I was concerned about how he would be with my granddaughter, Izzie, but he is very gentle, and she is very curious! Every time I talk to her on the phone, she asks where he is and what he has been doing.  She is also concerned that he get enough 'doggie cookies'.

Paul is very happy, and has someone to follow him around, and Thomas has also taken to sleeping with Paul.I am so happy that my home is back to being a home, in my mind that includes, safe, happy, and not always calm or quiet, but fun. Paul is still not much of a disciplinarian, and when he should be correcting Tom, he just laughs, sometimes uncontrollably!

Now I have a new gardening chore!  Beagles like to dig holes!

Hope all had a good summer, and have a GREAT DAY!!!

Phoebe

Island Night In March!

I belong to a 'Prayer Connection'. We e-mail or phone in prayer requests to our coordinator, then she compiles the requests and e-mails the list to our members. The members with no Internet receive phone calls each morning by designated volunteers. There is a wonderful comfort knowing that so many people are all praying in concert with one another every day.

One of my favorite things about the prayer connection is, we are not all from just one church. We are Pentecostal, Baptist, and represent many other denominations and churches throughout Essex county. As a matter of fact, it is only the love for Our Lord and knowledge that our faithfulness in prayers, and further knowledge that those prayers are heard, and matter which keeps us on our knees.

Many of my friends who are not on 'the connection' will give me prayer requests, or I will take it upon myself to add names. It is that way with all the other members also, as a result, sometimes our lists get very long, especially lately with so much unemployment and financial hardship. As a dedicated prayer warrior, I know the time I put into this activity, is important, and I never shrink at spending more time with my Lord!

On this past Saturday evening we met for coffee/tea and dessert (which no one really needed). We don't meet in person often but is good to see the people we pray with every day. For this meeting, the organizers decided we needed a gathering with an Hawaiian Island theme. I think the plan had something to do with our snowy winter, but it was good to see the clear warm (for March) weather on our big night.

We were given flowers for around our neck (leas?), and a new name! Mine was Eawan, meaning Fair Radiance, well it's good someone thinks so! Of course the point of the evening was the visit; and uplifting, informative and positive-thinking speakers. There is nothing like visiting with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. There is always laughter, tears, and extra prayers.

My girlfriend and I decided it was a good thing we ate a decent supper before we went, otherwise, our diets would have been blown worse than they were! Just how many kinds of cheesecake are there? I think they had them all!

This gathering happened at a good time for me, I had a particularly 'sad news' week, and was feeling down. You know, God is so good. On the worse night, I opened my e-mail and it just kept downloading and downloading. When the mail came through there were two files full of pictures! One from my son Bob, who sent about ten pictures of Izzie (my granddaughter), and the other, was from the son of a good friend who passed suddenly last year. He sent several first year birthday pictures of his son! My friend missed seeing her only grandson by about six months, and the little guy looks so much like her! I could see her smile all over his little face!

My God is so good, and faithful, he gives me encouragement in the middle of my sorrows.

Have a blessed day!

Phoebe

I Like Skype!!!!

Today I was going to go into a long complaint about the financial problems of our times, but I got Skyped! At the urging of two of my friends I put the program on my computer, and the calls started coming tonight! One right after the other! See what my friends saved you from!!!!


The first was from Michigan, near Detroit, not a big deal here in Windsor, but it was fun to see my friend as we talked. Paul was sooooo impressed! The big smile never left his face! My friend, who is a Pastor, and his wife had to leave for Bible Study, so our conversation only lasted about twenty minutes.


After that, a dear friend Alan, (the picture was taken in Korea), who is now teaching in China called; a MUCH bigger deal, we have been conversing via e-mail for several years, I call him "The Globe Trotter". Paul's big smile was constant for the whole hour we talked! One of the things we discussed was the miracle of our conversation tonight. It was morning there, Alan just woke up, and Paul and I had just finished dinner. We could clearly see each other as we talked, and the delay wasn't all that long. Alan remembered when we met, in the early seventies and he was attending University and living at my mother-in-law's home. He remembered a time back then when he needed money and had to write home to his dad. It took two weeks for his letter to make it home in the Barbados. Now, here we are, talking with video, across the world in real time!


Amazing how our moods can improve with a call from an old friend! I even forget the point of my original idea, but I would like to say that my conversations tonight were something I cherish, not just the video calls, but mostly the friendships. God grants us the gift of friendships, to uphold us in times of struggle and sorrow, and to rejoice with us in the times when our blessings overflow!


When it was time to say goodbye, Alan asked for prayer. As a Christian in China, he feels the need for intercessory prayer. So we prayed. Later, I found this scripture:


"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16.

Have a blessed day,

Phoebe