Glory Bee Attitudes

We started our annual yard cleanup on Saturday. It was fun and hard work at the same time. The grossest part was dividing the plant in the pond and dealing with pond scum. Ewwww. But the fishies seem very happy and the hon house backyard is shaping up.

We had an Easter full of blessings and enjoyed having some fine friends over for dinner. What a glorious time of the year for us. It is this holiday that causes us to truly celebrate. We love life on the other side of the grave.

See below for a video slide show from the 2009 PM Women's Retreat. Click on the arrow to view the video. When I was young, I spent many happy moments as a camper at Pocono Mountain Bible Conference. My parents would come to get me at the end of my stay, I would cry so hard because I didn't want to leave. My mother would half-jokingly say it embarrassed her because people would think there was something wrong at home. Nothing could have been further from the truth. We had a happy well-adjusted home life. But nothing could compare to that mountaintop experience. Fast forward forty-some years and after the PM Women's Retreat of 2009 I felt the same way. I had tears in my eyes as my sister prodded me into leaving at the end of the final day. Once again I was so enthralled with the mountaintop experience that I wasn't ready to leave. We started out on Friday night watching the movie Fireproof. We sat around the dining hall loft sharing sniffs and giggles, laughter...

This post is dedicated to Barbara, who is at the threshold between this life and the next. It is for all my dear book loving friends who are so sad to hear of the unexplainable tragedy that has taken her from a lively, vibrant woman to someone who has deteriorated quickly into what is now a comatose state. My prayers are for a miracle and knowing that maybe this is her time to go, that her friends and family would be comforted by the memory of her and that they would find peace in her passing. The lyrics to Held by Natalie Grant follow. This song is a beautiful expression that mixes sorrow and hope: Two months is too little They let him go They had no sudden healing To think that providence Would take a child from his mother While she prays, is appalling Who told us we'd be rescued What has changed and Why should we be saved from nightmares We're asking why this happens to us Who have died to live, it's unfair This is what it means to be held How it feels, when the sacre...

Every year my mom would get us chocolate coconut-filled eggs from Williams Chocolates with our names on them. They were beautiful to me. They always had scrolls or flowers too. We always got solid chocolate bunnies too. No hollow things. Real chocolate from Williams and later Gertrude Hawks. Easter dresses (even when mine were occasional hand-me-downs they took my breath away). Easter hats. I wasn't fond of those chin straps but I liked the hats okay. Singing some favorite Easter Hymns "Christ The Lord is Risen Today", "Up From the Grave He Arose", "He Lives" Easter plays at church. I got to be in a few and I loved it. Sunrise services. Getting up when it was dark and shivering outside as we sang those hymns and heard the story of the resurrection. Sunrise Services at Patapsco State Park followed by a breakfast cooked on the grills there. Easter Egg Hunts Jelly beans (esp. the licorice ones) The first taste of gourmet jelly beans White chocolate cro...

I was fascinated the other day by the news story of the child in Massachusetts who fell from a 3rd story window. A man was talking on a cell phone outside a pizza place when he saw a toddler dangling from a window. He ran across the busy street, almost being hit, managed to go to the house where another man was attending a Bible study, and the two of them appeared under the window just as the child fell. One caught her head, and the other her feet. Imagine that. Imagine how happy her father was when he found out she was okay. He had been attending to a newborn at the time. Imagine how relieve the other children were. Imagine how the 2 men were hailed as heroes and how they must have been somewhat stunned. One report even says that as the child was being carried inside she chuckled. It made me think about how God catches us when we fall. Deuteronomy 33:27 says "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms". When we fall into sin, He is ther...