Tag: hope for you

Hope For It

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I slid on my first long sleeve shirt of the season for my morning walk. Made a pour over cup of coffee and let it sit to enjoy upon my return. Grabbed the letter laying by the front door and once my feet hit the payment, into the mailbox it went.

Brian made a comment about Hallmark cards, but I rarely use them. Writing a letter or jotting a note is an opportunity to search out artists who make them and support their craft. One artist I’ve been hooked on for a while now is David Arms. Some of his cards lean toward Christianity, but not all of them. David’s intention is to convey hope and discovered his artistic gift late in life.

How he delivers your order.

This gives me hope because I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do. Since my daughter left the nest I ponder meaningful ways in which to spend this one, precious life. I’m sharing this 2 minute video in hopes you find it inspiring, because as long as there’s breath in our bodies, we still have a purpose. It surprises David to this day that he’s an artist and he describes it by saying, he didn’t know to hope for it.

Who Is David Arms?

To see the feature photo in all it’s glory, hover your mouse, or finger over it. It’s from David’s website here. To view notecards by David Arms, click here.

One Can Hope

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Standing at the kitchen sink, staring out the window I see God took care of one more thing in my life today. There’s a Bougainvillea hanging under one corner of the house, in hopes it will grow it’s way up onto the roof. It has a couple of long branches reaching that way, but this morning they had drooped from lack of water. It’s on my morning rounds with the watering hose.

After giving it some water I came in the house and started work. I didn’t give the Bougainvillea another thought until now. It soaked up the water and the long branches are tucked up under the roof again. I think it would be beautiful to have Bougainvillea blossoms all over the roof. I don’t know if that will happen, but that’s what came to mind when I hung it there.

God probably has something better in store, but I’m doing my part by keeping it watered. It’s in the right place for endless possibility, but we’ll have to wait and see what transpires. As I walk away from the window back to my desk I smile and think, one can hope.

We plan, but God decides.

Proverbs 16:9

Warrior

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I received a letter from my friend Dawn over at Aging With Grace. Writing and receiving letters is one of my most favorite things in the world.

She noted the time of year, and thought about the flowers I’ve probably planted, but this year I planted very few. Actually, I bought my first giant bush! It’s a Bottlebrush bush that is well-known for attracting butterflies.

I planted it in front of the kitchen window so we’d have full view of every butterfly show. A few Monarch’s were fast to find it, and it’s a treat to get to watch them up close. My thrive or die philosophy hasn’t worked very well this year, because the few flowers I did plant are definitely not thriving. 😂

A month ago, I noticed some plants popping up near the arbor that I wrote about last year and you can see them here. These were not planted by me, so I don’t know how long they’ve been here, or who planted them, but they’ve multiplied since last year and filling in the empty space.

Maybe that’s the theme for this year, is simply giving the yard some space to fill in at it’s own pace. Looking out the kitchen window at the bottlebrush bush, I noticed a couple of plants from last year breaking through the dirt. I had no idea they would survive the cold and return.

Planting new flowers doesn’t inspire me this year, but the ones that survived the Winter and are making a coming back inspire me to no end!

Those are some kind of Warrior.

Filled with peace

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When I first started this Blog, I wanted to write like Melody Beattie. I’ve read her books more than once and she brings me peace. It was more than her words, maybe it was her vibe while writing, like she was filled with peace and laying it on the page to be shared.

It took years of writing to catch that peaceful vibe, but that’s what draws people in. I want you to feel peace, even if it’s just for the 2 minutes it takes to read this page, but this is more than just a Blog, it’s real life, and I want it to spill over into your life and envelop you.

Write the kind of Blog that you’d like to read.

Cristian Mahai

Every now and then, we order pizza and have it delivered to our door. There’s a small wooden table by the front door, specifically for contactless delivery. The other night, we had a pizza delivered, and I thought I’d given the driver ample time to leave, only to find he hadn’t left. He was standing in the yard underneath the Arbor. He saw me walk out to retrieve the pizza and said…

“I’m not supposed to say this, but you have a great setup here. This is the most peaceful front yard, I’ve ever walked through. It’s only my second time delivering here, but it’s by far my favorite. It’s filled with peace.”

With so many Blog posts to choose from, thank you for choosing mine. My hope is as you hang out on the page, you will be filled with peace.- Be happy and well, Barb.

Try We Must

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It’s no secret this year is different.

We are in December, and there’s still no full size Christmas tree in our home. I bought a small one and it’s perched on the built-in cabinet in the back of the house. The dogs enjoy the soft glow of the lights at night.

This is our third year in this little lake house, and the last couple of years I’ve thought about hanging Christmas lights across the front of the house. I’d always talk myself out of it with a mountain of excuses, but this year there were no more excuses.

I had a tangled up mass of multi-colored icicle lights that have moved with me over the years. I began the task of gently untangling them, plugged them in, and to my surprise they still worked.

I began tacking them along the roofline, and don’t know why I saw it as such a daunting task. My mind told me it would take al lot of time, when in reality it took very little time and went along seamlessly. The task looked more difficult in my mind than it actually was.

I think a lot of things in life are like that. We tend to overthink our ideas, which prevents us from doing what the heart wants, and simply walking through. We are vehicles of the heart, and my hope is that you’ll follow yours. It may look daunting at first, but you’ll never know unless you try, and try we must.

Recharge Your Battery

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I crawled into bed, turned off the lamp and noticed my room pitch black. The nightlight was off. My daughter and I have this thing about, “As soon as you get into bed, you notice the nightlight is off and it’s across the room!”

The nightlight is a battery operated candle, and I love the glow it gives the room at night. It’s very soothing, until the batteries die. I got out of bed, walked across the room, pulled it down from it’s shelf, and jiggled the switch.

Nope. It was dead. (Dramatic music)

I walked into the hallway for batteries.

I remembered from previous experience, the batteries are a tight fit. A screwdriver helped pry them out. It’s not worth breaking a nail over. Once the batteries were replaced, it was ready to shine.

nightlight

My thought was, I wanted my batteries to be changed as easily as this nightlight. Just pop out the tired ones, and replace with new. Ours are a little more complex, but I bet you know some things you can do this weekend to recharge.

Learn to rest and not quit. Take some time to recharge your battery.

tired

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