A Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Prayer and Praise

Beloved Redeemer

by Susan Talbot

Beloved Redeemer I’m asking You to

reshape me and mold me to be more like You.

My heart needs repairing, it’s ripped and it’s pained.

My mind needs renewing; this world is insane.

Too often I fail You, forgive me again.

My sin overtakes me around every bend.

Your kindness and gentleness draw me back in.

I’m loved by Christ Jesus - He died for my sin.

My Father’s provision supplies every need

to overcome sinning like lust and like greed.

I fall down on my knees in this physical state.

Until life is over I’ll patiently wait,

for heaven to graciously welcome me in.

That day I’ll rejoice, no more struggles with sin.

His grace is magnificent, eraser of hate,

in mansions above we will all celebrate. 

This weekend we lost one of our Mission Royale friends to a car accident. I dedicate this poem to Dave's memory, to his widow who remains in critical condition, and to the other couple with them

who are also recovering from injuries and the pain of loss. We are so saddened by this news.

Who is Flavia?

 Flavia said:

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."

Today I saw this on a poster, also by Flavia.

"It's difficult to hold on sometimes, 

but someday beyond our 

tears and all the world's wrongs, 

beyond the clouds

and all we can see and touch, 

there will be love,

compassion, and justice and we will all 

understand."  

Anyone reading this know anything about "Flavia?"  I looked the name up online and found several references to a Flavia coffee brand, but not much about a writer...Please let me know if you do. Thanks!

Grandbaby Number Six, but who's counting!

Meet our newest grandbaby and second grandaughter!
AP was born Sept. 10 in Alabama 

(one day before we could get there), but we saw her when she was only one day old until she 

was 10 days old, so that was okee dokie. 

Mom, Dad, little brother, and baby are doing super. AP was 6 lbs 3 oz and has surpassed that already at the ripe old age of 13 days today. Notice those cute forehead wrinkles and bright eyes!

 Brother J is very pleased with his new sister. So far so good. He hasn't picked her up by her feet yet, but he has loved on those cute little feet. He's been very interested in AP and so far calls her "beabee". It sounds kind of like "baby" with a southern drawl (to me).

We were all very excited and some of us were just plain worn out after a day or so.
Being a big brother is exhausting!

Sleeping most of the day and playing at night is kind of fun though. Grampy are you sleeping too?

I guess you earned a little shut eye.

What a wonderful ten days we had grandparenting in Alabama. We love you dear little family, and thank God over and over for each of you. Thanks also to all of our wonderful extended family for their generous hospitality and kindnesses to us while we were visiting. We are truly blessed!

What is your Favorite?

When people ask me "What's your favorite ______, (i.e. color, food, place, etc)?" I try to come up with the one and only answer that will truly reflect a discerning mind, offer an accurate picture of the fabulous person I am, and of course be a wise and creative choice. Because of all of the above expectations, a barrage of answers flood my poor anxious brain at once, I choke, and just throw out one of my many many favorites. It happens I like a lot of colors best, chocolate and coffee run a pretty close race for food/drink, and so on.

Today I realized a truly legitimate "favorite" of mine that's stood the test of time in my life as a believer. I'm sharing it with you today not to sound wise, convince you I have a discerning mind, or even show off what a fabulous person I am, but instead to encourage you in the JOY that comes from being QUIET before the Lord in prayer and meditation, which is not natural for me (okay that's enough snickering under your breath thank you), but the effort is well worth it. To just step off the perpetual treadmill now and then.
This morning I found a portion of scripture in Lamentations that I believe shows us it may be one of God's "favorites" too.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear 
The yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him."
        Lamentations 3:25-28

Wow, doesn't that go down like a nice morsel of dark chocolate?  Jeremiah uses the word
GOOD three times in this short passage. He uses WAIT twice.
"Wait for Him...seek Him...hope and wait quietly...sit alone and keep silent."
Please take out time today to wait, to listen, to be quiet before Him.. It is SO good!!!

How to Leave a Comment on Blog Posts

So many of you tell me you read my blog, but you don't know how to leave a comment. It continues to puzzle me so I copied the format that pops up at the bottom of comments after you hit the bar below the post that says: comment.

The first thing you'll see is a weird spelled word to copy in the box below it. I understand that some internet sites put us through that to protect the site from spam. If you can't decipher it and get it wrong the first time, no worries, they give you other chances.

Now if the Google account circle is checked, uncheck it by clicking on it. Next you'll see boxes for signing up for a google account.  If you don't have a g account, or even if you do, you don't have to fill in those boxes--just skip that option, and skip the username/password blocks. Continue to scroll down, and read the final options. If you want your name to show up with your comment, push the button that says: Name/URL. That will bring up two boxes--one to put your name into and the other box says: (optional) which means you don't have to put anything in it, so you don't need a URL or a google account to comment.

Now if you don't want your name floating around cyberspace, make up an alias or mark Anonymous and then, your clever, encouraging comment will be recorded with the others, but your name won't appear.

I hope this explains how to make a comment on a Blogspot Blog.  I'd love to read your reactions to my postings. Try it and see what happens. Thanks for listening...xo hugs to all my buddies out there. (See the format just below the blue words "Choose an identity".

Choose an identity

Google Account

Username
Password
No Google Account? Sign up here. You can also use your Blogger account.

OpenID

OpenID LiveJournal WordPress TypePad AIM

Name/URL

Name
URL

Anonymous

Now, if you missed the blog just before this about The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, you can scroll down and see it too!  This is a two-for-one today.  Good luck.

The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls

My daughter-in-law loaned us Jeanette Wall's memoir in audio to listen to in the car on our trip home from California. It's the unabridged edition (10 CDs) so it took several hours to get through, but sure made 300+ miles go by quickly. Last night we listened to the last chapter. What a delightful HONEST book. It made us and laugh and cry.

Her unique message of survival demonstrates how resiliant the human spirit really is. I'm so inspired by this memoir. I love reading about people who make lemonade lives out of lemon childhoods. She was basically raised by parents who didn't mind being homeless...in abject poverty, but chose to believe she was loved and determined to make a better life for herself and her siblings.

My enthusiasm drove me to google Jeanette Walls and I ran across the following video clip. If you've already read the book, you'll really get it. If you haven't, it may inspire you to pick it up.

Clutter Putter

by Susie Talbot

So much I want to do
but then, I ask Him is it true
is it so much hay and stubble
is it really worth my trouble
something You want me to do?
Am I like a circus clown
bouncing all around
from one thing to another
making others laugh or shudder?
How aimless this all seems sometimes
even when I write these rhymes
but then I tell myself it's true
it all makes sense when serving You.

Been tripping around...

Left Casa Grande early Sunday morning on August 1 and made it to Tonopah, AZ.

We took these photos of each other at a quaint little restaurant called Tonopah Station.

Left Tonopah the next day heading for Susanville and then onto Eagle Lake.

 

Wednesday we made reservations to rent a boat to go fishing. Scott checked us out on the boat and taught us how to THREAD a WORM...never heard of such a thing, but he guaranteed it gave fishermen the edge on catching an Eagle Lake trout. GROSS, GROSS, GROSS...!

Thanks Scott!   (name and photo used with permission)

Heading out to fish at 6 a.m. Thursday morning...beautiful sight...The chill in the air felt wonderful.

Six of us fished, three per boat. Jay, Dean (brother-in-law) and I on one, K family on the other boat. Three and a half hours later, one trout to show for our trip...ah well. As it should be the youngest of the pack snagged the big one! Here's little J. K. with his gorgeous Eagle Lake trout.

PS...he didn't thread his worm!!!!!

Is that a cute picture or what?  Look at that fish will ya?  Barbecued, it was a tasty morsel.

So, that's what we've been doing. The rest of the time, eating and sleeping, enjoying sunrises over the water and evening skies smeared with milky ways and stars. 

Alas, on Saturday it was time to say goodbye to our "rellies and the lake and motor on down to Chico to see our dear friends. This is T and J (buddies since childhood) standing in front of the house they rented together over 45 years ago. It was painted a morbid yellow back then, but otherwise looks pretty much the same. The guys haven't changed that much either! We're doing a little reminiscing. 

Enjoying our trip...Next stop Davis, CA and then on to Coarsegold to see our son and family. 

I don't cry easily, but

I'm sitting here crying at my computer after watching this clip...PURE INSPIRATION!

Another poem dripped from my pen...

Writing poetry is one of my greatest joys. I'm teaching a Bible Study on Colossians and was inspired to write this little poem from Colossians 3:14.

Love Coat



Joseph had an amazing coat

A gift from his father

We too have an amazing coat

A gift from our Father



I want to wear Your coat of love

For everyone to see

So all will know Your sacrifice

For love You set men free

You tell me I may put it on

I’ll find it on a tree

You paid Your life for this coat

I’ll wear it with humility

To My Friend

To My Friend, With Love , Susie

Dear sister in Christ, my dearest friend

I’ve hurt you in a way I didn’t intend

I thought “I can help, I love her and so…”

But I wounded instead—that I now know

I can talk about virtue, and teach it too

But living it out is harder to do

I read in Colossians about gentleness and grace

Oh boy did I miss it when I got in your face

I’m grieved at the memory—pricked to the core

I beg your forgiveness. I can’t ask for more

Dear sister I love you in Christ it is true

Next time with His grace I’ll do better by you

I pray for our friendship to be even more

Stronger and brighter than ever before

Not ‘cause we’re deserving or perfect or right

But because of God’s Son Who gives us His sight

He’ll guide us through dark times side-by-side

As we live in His love and enjoy the ride

Akiane-Artist/Poet Prodigy

Hi Friends,

We're in Payson AZ this weekend and I've come across a book about AKIANE, a child prodigy artist and poet. She started drawing at the age of 4 and then went on to paint amazing large works of art, some featured in this video. She's 15 now.

I'm absolutely carried away by her work so thought I'd share with you. I found this video about her on YouTube and will copy down one of her poems at the end of my post. Enjoy and I pray you'll be as inspired as I am by watching what God can do through a yielded vessel, a listening heart. Some think she's a hoax, but I choose to believe "all things are possible" through Christ and commend her diligence.



I copied the following poem from Akiane's book called:  akiane  her life, her art, her poetry

Courage

Our hands

still

hold today's future...

I still see the mill

standing way on top of the island in the ocean

and feel the last chill from steadily rolling heavy wave...

Changes fold back the past folding the heart

reminding me where I lived

up high there on the tree with the nature's view...

where faith

immediately could see

and immediately could believe...

Making the slide from the charcoal paper of times

I will tape my self portrait

on a trumpeter swan...

Maybe she will explain my voice

writing for miles

for centuries and for choices...

Crossing the bridge that is not even built

is courage...

I hope Akiane has inspired you as she has me to be all that you can be in the Lord. Nothing is impossible in Him! Do you believe it too? 

Bitty Bits of Nonsense

Tweedle-lee-diddle-lee dum
I once drank a bottle of rum
It washed down the hatch with a burn
Next time I'll give you a turn

Fiddle-lee-diddle-lee mink
I once knew a guy named Hink
He sputtered, he stammered and then he swore
That's all I know--or I'd tell you more

Rinkle-dee-dinkle-lee-do
I have a great story for you
About an old man who never lied
But bragged about it until he died

Frankle-lee-dankle-lee-bee
Can this life be all about me?
I can't believe the answer is "no"
Yet I hear it often wherever I go

Petrified Forest plus Petroglyph Fun in AZ

We've escaped desert temps of 112 degrees this week in Pinetop, Arizona with friends. Yesterday we visited the Petrified Forest National Park, which is right across the highway from the Painted Desert just outside of Holbrook, AZ. What a interesting day. How do you picture a petrified forest? Without previous knowledge or photos, the word "forest" makes us think of a tree covered landscape. This area looks more like a moonscape with its wide open spaces and odd rock and sand formations, but considering this forest's age, we understand why trees are no longer standing, and the fallen ones are petrified--hard as rock and impressive to see. Here's a petrified log that was probably about 6' in diameter.

This is a smaller sample (about 15" x 20") of petrified wood. Stumps, fallen trees, and pieces of petrified wood are scattered throughout the park. Here we are on a trail stop next to the Rainbow Forests Museum, that has several examples of the rock-hard wood. The colors were beautiful.

I especially enjoyed our stops at Newspaper Rock and Puerco Pueblo, where we saw several petroglyphs dating back 600-800 years ago. Our first photos were taken at Newspaper Rock where it is said over 650 petroglyphs have been discovered.  We didn't see that many, but here are a few of my favorites. An obvious couple pictured here with animals...the coils may depict snakes. What do you think?

 

Hands haven't changed much over the years...feet either. The one below I guess is a lizard. Evidently, the interpretation of these drawings is wide open. Local Native American's have been consulted and are as puzzled as we are at the meanings. My thought  is that they were just like us...communicating, recording, leaving something of themselves behind, just plain having fun with art? Speaking to the gods?

Look at this guy playing his horn with his hand on his hip. Loved it!

Next we were off to see the petroglyphs at Puerco Pueblo, a large archeological site occupied over 600 years ago...wow..

Most of the Park's drawings appeared to be anywhere from 10" up to 30" (?). It was a little hard to tell, as the closest we got to any of them was about twenty feet...these photos were taken with our zoom lense. The clearly crafted deer trio in the left-hand corner in the photo below, for example, stood only about 10" at the most. Do you suppose a hunter was keeping a tally of his kills? 

Here I'm standing in front of some of the rock faces bearing the petroglyphs. What a fun time we're having looking around up here in Northern Arizona. Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of our travels!

No Time for photos this time...

Poolside Party
By Susie Talbot

Mission Royale "ites" convened at the pool
to talk, and to laugh, and to eat barbecue
on a blistering evening, the 18th of June
acting nice and polite, some even sang tunes
Some folks in bathing suits came prepared
to play in the water, to swim if they dared

Each table displayed at least three water guns
orange, pink, and green, they were loaded for fun
As soon as one fired, the others began
Before we knew it, courtesy was banned
Water streams spiraled, no one stayed dry
as a hot sun sizzled in an electric sky

Some shooters were cautious, almost discreet
But others were wild as tangled Mesquite
While folks were still eating, and others at dance
a few played volleyball, but some took a chance
to see how much water could shoot from their guns
If you were there, you’ll remember the ones

Very clean fun, I hope shared by all
I know for one, I had a ball!

(I'm submitting this one to our Mission Royale news magazine...publish? Maybe?)

Texas T-Ball and All

Last weekend, we drove 710 miles in 13.5 hours (very little stopping) to see our daughter's great little family, and specifically to see our grandson Riley play T-Ball. The weekend before that, at our annual Womens Expo in Casa Grande, sponsored by our local Lifestyle's magazine, I put together this little cowgirl for our grandaughter Megan.

I know, the doll is kind of weird looking. I think I liked the clothes. She isn't getting much love, but maybe she'll be cute decorating Megan's room? I love children's honesty. Approximately 2-5 minutes after we gave the doll to Megan, Riley said, "She doesn't like it." Ha! 

Megan loves her frog, Kelso, and he IS cuter than "Sarah?"  "Jane?"  "Amelia?"  "Sally?"  Here she is with her little buddy, Kelso.

Saturday morning, getting ready for the ballgame. Photo shoot of Riley, Megan and Kelso. Cute faces huh? Say CHEESE!

All ready for the game. Yes, Kelso came along. Notice any ATTITUDE in our two-year old there? She makes us smile! Lucky girl, she has legs just like mine. Riley's team, the Redwings played the River Bandits. Love you in that cap Riley!

Here's our grandson "on the mound." I forgot to pack my good camera. The zoom on the iPhone isn't too clear, but this gives you the idea. He is SO CUTE out there. They don't pitch in T-Ball. The ball is placed on a "T" for hitting, but the pitcher does "kill" the ball and throws it back to the catcher to be placed back on the "T" for the next batter. In this game, Riley and the first baseman, Landon, were shooting that ball back and forth pretty well! We were proud.

Here's lil sis really cheering brother on! Yep...just like cheerleaders--backs to the game. Mama is pictured in the foreground keeping score. Megan is with her friend Presley.

Redwings beat the River Bandits 14 to 4. Raise your snowcones to victory!

This T-Ball team ranged in age from 4 to 6, which we noticed is a huge spread. Riley started at age 4 but is now one of the six year olds. We observed outfielders lying in the dirt during play, making "dust angels." Others were busy filling their ball caps with dirt and then putting the full caps on their heads. (Every mother's dream for her son.) We so enjoyed watching the game! Children--so precious!!!

Thanks for a great weekend dear Texas family!

Meet the Dove Family

If you remember from a May post...these "doves in love" built a nest on our friends' lounge chair headrest. Did I mention this was a brand new lounge chair? Last photo on May post, only one egg occupied the nest, but a day later, another showed up.

When our friends came back from their trip, they agreed it was too late to destroy this family, so they left the nest on the lounge headrest, and kept their blinds closed so as not to scare Mother Dove during two weeks of incubation. Voila hatchlings.   C U T E !!   How did they fit into those tiny eggs?

And then they looked like this after a few days.

Meantime, the new lounge chair is putting up with a little "overflow."  Sorry 'bout that W and D. Messy little critters. Next saga...will this bird c wash off or not?

And now, we present our ten-day-old dove babies. Are they beautiful or what?

 

It was on this day that one of them took his first flight, while lil brother or sister stayed cozy in the nest waiting for Mother Dove to return.

And so, mucho thanks to our dear bird lover friends, who were willing to put up with these intruders for several weeks so we could get this up-close-and-personal view of Mr. and Mrs. Dove and siblings. Now we have two more additions to the dove population explosion in our neighborhood. Ah well.

Calling all dove hunters!

Whimsies

April WAS poetry month. I know it's May, but anyway. A little slack okay? In our town, during poetry month (which does run into May here in the west), local artists come together to exhibit their paintings accompanied by poems in our local library. I belong to the Art Council, so am called upon to participate. I don't "do" visual arts much anymore (too busy blogging?), so I had to dig deep for an original artwork and decided to exhibit these two abstracts I made in 1994 when I was taking an art course in Australia. The girls and I dubbed them my "Whimsies" as abstract art was not my usual. 

First I'll show you a photo of the painting, then the poem that's posted next to it in the library.

HAIKU

by Susie Talbot

Tentative flower

stems spring like coiled wires

vibrantly greet life

And TA DAH!

Celebrate

by Susie Talbot

Rainbow skies explode into

shimmering ribbons of color

harmonize and dance to golden melodies

gilding the broad city's face

her buildings, her streets, her people

expectant, celebrating, welcoming

His spectacular, long-awaited return

copyright, 2010

The Truth is Who You Are...

This young man has something to say. I hope you'll take a minute to play this.



What did you think?

Still and always my HERO...

Yesterday Jay and I were checking on our friends' house, because of a nasty wind storm that came through on Sunday. We found everything to be in pretty tip-top shape at their place, except for a dove nesting proudly on their lounge's head rest. Today I went back and snuck up on the nest and got this photo. It's blurry because I took it with my iPhone and at a distance, then zoomed in so you could see the bird.

When I tried to get closer, she flew out and started whimpering around the yard acting wounded. They do this to distract predators away from their nests and eventual chicks. We have a surplus of dove in our neighborhood and they make their nests in the weirdest locations. This is an AWWWWW shot and I'm praying Wes and Diane won't feel it necessary to disturb this family's home.

Is that amazing or what?  Anyway, back to the real story of the day about "my hero." While J and I were there, we couldn't help but notice the neighbor's Palo Verde tree. Sunday's wind ripped a substantial limb off the beaut mature tree at a winter visitor's house. That means these folks, B and Sue won't be back until November.

While I was feeling bad for the tree, J suggested he get his trusty saw and relieve it of it's broken appendage, so we went on home, picked up the saw, loaded into the pick-up and returned to the site.

This here's my hero. For him, this was a dangerous undertaking as the Palo Verde was buzzing with bees, and he is highly allergic to bee stings. You know, where they sting you and you immediately swell up, can't breathe, etc? We hummed a nice tune and spoke softly to them and thankfully escaped without an angry bee attack. Next he had to chop the limb into smaller pieces to haul and fit the branches into the truck bed. He's so CLEVER. I never would have thought of that! (maybe eventually?)

Almost finished, bear with us here. Loading the truck. I helped...yes I did.

See truck full of tree.

One last shot of what this tree suffered...a great wound. The beautiful thing about desert plants (the Palo Verde is native to this area), is that they are hardy!

Mother Nature pruned this wonderful tree, but it will continue to flourish in spite of its recent catastrophy. What does that make you think of?

Anyway, my point is, this is what our neighborhood is like. We're still in the busines of taking care of each other and helping where we can. It's nice. Last July a huge wind came through. J and I were on an extended trip, and a neighbor found our Palo Verde completely uprooted and restaked it back into place for us. Very nice!We enjoyed our little outing and maybe saved a tree? Does that make us GREEN?

One more photo...I just can't resist! Isn't this beautiful?

 

AWWWWWW...