The Hand of the Master Creator

Yesterday I finally made time to walk through my beloved flower gardens.  While fall is in the air and the colors have begun to fade, the sweet fragrance of thousands of buds still filled the air.  The hand of the Master Creator never ceases to amaze me, and as I walked through the rows of beautiful color, a favorite hymn was brought to mind.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds they hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow'r thru out the university displayed;

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,

Then sings my soul, my Savior Got to thee,

How great thou art!

How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art!

How great thou art!

In Loving Memory

I remember it as if it had happened yesterday.  A year ago today, we were at my mother-in-law's house having dinner with her and her friends.  I heard my phone ring but thought it would be rude to answer, so I let it go.  I knew it was my mom calling and figured I could call her back when we were on our way home.  A few minutes later, my phone rang again.  "Really mom?"  I thought, again not rushing to pick up the call.

Dessert was served, brownies topped with whipped cream and berries.  Yum!  As my taste buds enjoyed the sweet fruit, I could once again hear my mom's ring tone start to play in my purse for a third time.  The sinking feeling hit me.  Something wasn't right.  As tactfully as possible, I excused myself from the table, stepped outside and called my mom back.

Feeling like I'd just been hit with a ton of bricks, I somehow knew what she was going to say before she even said it.  Gram was gone.  My friend, my confidant, my cheerleader, my teacher, my Grandma.  Gone in the blink of an eye.

Choking back the sobs and holding in the tears I returned to the table, the sweet berries now tasteless.  Life would never be quite the same again.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of Gram.  I can't tell you how many times on my lunch break I've thought "I'll just give Grandma a quick call" only to realize that she's not there to answer.

No longer will my day be brightened by her smiling face or my heart be lightened by her delightful whistling - Gram was the best whistler.  I will never see her old, wrinkled yet skillful fingers dance across the piano keys as I watch memorized.  The list of no longers could go on forever.

Today marks one year that we've been without our dearly loved Gram.  But she lives on in our hearts.  Each member of her family has a piece of her, a characteristic of her, or a love for something that she loved.  As long as we hold tight to the pieces of her that she left with each of us, she'll never really be completely gone.  She will always be missed but never be forgotten.

Gram on the left with her two sisters

In loving memory of Marcia Jane Powell Eddins

Promote What You Love

Social media is an interesting thing to me.  We're able to hide behind our computer screens and say things to our friends and family that we would never say to them in person.  We criticize, challenge and demand that they agree with our views or they mind as well "unfriend" us.

It's been interesting to watch as people eagerly attach each other over the internet waves.  Some know each other while others are complete strangers.  Everyone else is wrong and you're always right.  Do you comment and defend your views and beliefs?  Or do you just let it go and not start a cyber fight?

As I've watched the walls of my social media outlets explode with negative, rude, critical and downright mean posts and comments, I was thankful for one of my friends who posted the following quote:

"Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate."

Can you imagine how much better things would be if we all spent a little more time respectfully promoting what we love and less time negatively reacting to the things we don't love?  In honor of my new mantra, I'd like to share and promote a few of the things that I love most.

Family

I love family.  Not only do I love my family but I love the whole concept of family.

Piano Music

I love piano music.  It soothes my soul.  While I'm not all that great at playing the piano, I have hopes that one day I will be able to play the pieces that are so enchanting to me.

Thoughtful Places

For me, there's nothing better than being able to sit in one of my thoughtful places and mull things over.  Like piano music, it's good for the soul.

Flowers

I say flowers but really any plant is amazing to me.  It's miraculous what can grow from a tiny seed.  I especially love flowers because of their bright colors and delicate designs.  They are by far one of my favorite things to photograph.

The Great Outdoors

When I am outside, I often find the words to the hymn "How Great Thou Art" rolling through my mind.  I love the great outdoors and for me it leaves no doubt in my mind that there is a creator of all things.

Books

I love books.  When life gets me down, I love escaping into someone else's story for awhile.  Language is such a powerful tool and I love reading the words of those that are more skilled at elegant writing than I am.

Photography

I love photography.  Being able to capture the beauty of all the things I love is amazing.  A picture can be more powerful than words and more beautiful than one can describe.  Photography allows us to capture those priceless, joyful, beautiful moments that often are fleeting and only last a few precious seconds.

Strengths

"Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes.  Take counsel of your strength, not you weaknesses.  Think of the good jobs you have done.  Think of the times when you rose above your average level of performance and carried out an idea or a dream or a desire for which you had deeply longed.  Hang these pictures on the walls of your mind and look at them as you travel the roadway of life."

~James McNeill Whistler~

Tiny Fingers

Little fingers look a little less little when they are compared to tiny fingers.  Today I became the proud aunt of another precious tiny nephew.  Time stood still as the biggest brother carefully and lovingly held the hand of the tiniest new little brother.  Welcome to the world little one!  We love you and I can't wait to read stories, play cars and smother you with auntie hugs and kisses!

Floral Delight

It's snowing outside but my house smells like springtime - it's intoxicating.  I've been watching these flowers grow - a stark contrast to the dead outside world.  I am constantly amazed by the miracle of things that grow.

Remnants of Spring

I really start looking forward to the return of warmer, sunnier weather around this time of year.  Our snow has melted (for now) and the earth around me seems barren and dead.  I count down the days until the miracle of life begins to manifest itself amongst the lifeless remnants of a season long gone.

My How They Both Have Grown

As I was sorting through my thousands of pictures look for some inspiration for my next blog post, I stumbled upon some this precious photo and couldn't help but share it.

It is not posed, it is not perfect.  It's a simple snap shot that captures a tender relationship forming between a small boy and a loving, patient older cousin - a moment that took place years ago and would have been forgotten without this image's still reminder.

It reminds me of the simple things that we overlook in our daily life.  The things that are so wonderful but often quickly forgotten.  How fortunate we are to have the technology to capture these moments and to once again feel the gratitude of a forgotten moment simply by viewing a photo.

Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know

One of the few things I remember from grade school is being assigned to memorize the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening by Robert Frost.  I was in eighth grade and the assignment was daunting.  I did not like poetry and was terrified of having to recite the poem to my entire class.

After much complaining, my patient mother listened to me repeat the poem over and over.  As I begin to envision the scene that was being painted with the words, I grew a love for the poem that lead to a love of may other works by Robert Frost.

I've always wanted to capture the beautiful images this poem paints in my head.  This collection of photos is just the beginning of bringing to life the beauty that the tired traveler saw.  It was something so wonderful that despite the many miles still left in his journey, he took a small moment to stop and remember.

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farm house near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Beautiful Winter

It's sometimes hard to remember on days like today that winter is beautiful despite all the cold.

City Slickers

I ran into a bunch of "City Slickers" just bumming around.  They were kind enough to let me take some photos of them.

Unorganized Chaos: Also Known as Family Photos

A few weeks ago, my whole family was going to be in town.  This rarely happens and our family has changed a lot over the past few years so I thought it would be fun to take full family photos.

I had planned out exactly how it would go in my head.  Everyone would smile nicely, hold still and cooperate and we'd walk away with the most lovely photos.  I scouted out a place beforehand, made sure my camera battery and memory card were ready to go and thought I had everything in order.

You can check out one of my previous posts No Boy at All to get the story of how things really went.  The short version is that the little people didn't want to cooperate, the big people were all being "bossy," and the camera woman just ended up being really grumpy (that would be me!).

Despite the adventure, looking back it will always be a funny memory.  My family may never be able to take the perfect photo due to the variables called little boys.  However, the unorganized chaos that these photos capture are all of my family - the people I love most.

Photo credit goes to my Mom for this one.  Thanks Mom!