A Different Time

I have accepted that it is different now. I know I can't go backward, nor do I want to. I know I am in the hearts of everyone I love so that is enough. I still miss you each so much!

I too am trying to "do" for others what I can't do for my own, because they are out of my reach. My prayer is that someone near each of you will be in my place-love you/ miss you

Holiday Wishes for a Blessed Christmas!

Remarkable as it may seem, another Christmas is here! So much more I wanted to do... to give... to absorb the burdens of another.

Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, Sam and I accompanied a handful of people from our Catholic church to a community effort called "Homeless Caravan" in downtown Little Rock. The homeless living in building doorways and nearly invisible crevaces gather on Christmas Eve under the Broadway Bridge. The community then brings donated items in trucks and vans to give away.

Sam was with wrapped gifts for children (age and gender were marked on the labels)... I was with adult coats, sweaters and blankets.

Assembling the various vehicles at about 9:00 am more than 500 homeless people gathered. By 10:00 all of the donated items were in the possession of those living in unimaginable surroundings. Food, clothing, toiletries, toilet paper ... nothing golden or extraordinary.

If you look closely at the picture, you can see Sam's Santa hat, grey jacket and blue backpack. We were there.

Thankful For My Sisters

It is true but impossible to put into words the blessing it is to have sisters. Many of my friends are without siblings and it is a special burden to carry.

We don't know the future and we can't change the past but Joanne use to try and explain her thoughts about living in the present being The Present. I think sometimes I get what she was saying and so I will try and focus on this minute and say how blessed God has made me to have so very much-love to you! Ma (Re)

Not Many Posts in Twenty-Eleven

Aren't we all astonished at the happenings in our world? Atonished at how our Heavenly Father guards our hearts from the unimaginable... yet softly and gently holds us close.

Astonished that soon another birthday for Joanne will be here. Astonished that time passes too quickly and sometimes much too slowly.

Astonished that I have been remiss in not sharing my affection for each of my sisters more directly and more frequently.

Astonished that I still ache for my mother, my sister and my brother.

Astonished at how hard we hold on and how often we let go so we can grasp to hold again.

Everyday I am grateful for my parents, and my sisters, and my brother, and my husband and my children.

Thanksgiving is for our blessings and our patience and our endurance and our continued Thanksgiving.

Be Strong and Take Courage!

Spring in the air but not my heart

Troubles are all around us, if you look around you may see them too crowding around waiting to weight us down or cling to our heels, instead I am trying to look up and see the clouds and really feel God's hand on my shoulders.

The tears have not gone away. At times they stream down my face (It is difficult to explain)

I have leaned heavily on you and my dear grief counselor and a few special friends for some time now - thank you, and please keep praying!