Sisters...NG...Poetry

This year I didn't blog about NG.  You probably didn't notice but I did. I mean, it's the highlight of my year for goodness sake!  It's not that it wasn't everything it always is.  It's just that it was different this year.  For the first time in ten years, one of the sisters didn't get to come. 

Many of you know that my sister Nora had a life-changing year and spent many months recuperating and recovering from multiple surgeries.  Life as she had always known it changed so drastically and has yet to return to full normalcy.  Due to all of this, she did not get to join us in Norman at Rhonda's beautiful home.  NG went on; we laughed; we shopped; we laughed; we cried....all the usual things.  It was just without our anchor...Nora.

In spite of that, we tried to continue our "traditions" and one of those is giving each other gifts.  My gift to them this year was an original poem by Shaun Perkins, our own Locust Grove poet extraordinaire.  I think it is my favorite thing I have ever given them.  Looking through my posts tonight I noticed that I never shared them with all of you.  So, I am now.

I got the whole idea from my first trip to Dust Bowl Debris...only my favorite place to shop in Locust Grove and most other places.  There was a time card rack hanging on a post with the cutest cards in the slots.  They were hand decorated and buying the card entitled you to one original poem by Shaun.  I snatched up three of them and filed them away to use for my NG sister gifts.  

Finally, one day this past spring, I got around to emailing Shaun and telling her I was ready for her to start writing.  She said I should send her a little information about each of them and she would take it from there.  I sent her a paragraph about each sister.  




I emailed these to her and in a couple of weeks I received the most wonderfully spot on pieces for each of them:


Now you can see why I thought they were the best thing I ever gave them for NG.

I Hope...

Today was a rough day.  Actually, the past few days have been rough days.  It doesn’t matter what  made the days so rough; that’s not what this post is about.  Just trust me – rough. 

I tried all day to come up with a reason to stay home from our Moms in Prayer group tonight.  I was in a bad mood, I was tired, and I was frustrated.  Surely those were good enough excuses.  But, tonight was our last meeting before school starts again in the fall.  I went.

When I first arrived, I still didn’t want to be there.  (Just being honest)  But, things changed when we started reading our scriptures.  I was the one who selected them and typed them on our prayer sheets so they shouldn’t have come as any surprise to me.  But Psalm 25:5 just jumped right off the page at me- “and my hope is in you all day long.”  My long, rough day had been anything but hope-filled!  I looked at those words over and over.  Why had my day seemed so hopeless?

I decided to read the entire chapter and try to figure that out.  I read it once.  And,  again.  The answer to why I could hope in him all day had to be there.  What was I missing?  I started back through the chapter and only got through verse 1:  “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.”  How had I missed that the other times?  And, was that the key?

I finished the chapter one more time.  A couple of other passages stopped me cold.  Verses 16-17:  “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.  Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.”  Verse 21 “May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.” 

The answer was one that I had known all along.  I had just let my self-pity and resentment cloud my mind to the point that I had forgotten it.  I wasn’t putting my trust in God.  I was trusting in my version of justice and fairness.  I was trusting in my perspective on my rights.  I was trusting in other people to do the right thing.  (The right thing according to me, of course.) What I wasn’t doing was “putting my trust in the Lord my God.”  No wonder I didn’t have hope.  No wonder I didn’t feel any relief from the troubles of my heart.  No wonder I felt anguished, lonely, persecuted. 

I purpose to put my trust in the Lord before my day even begins tomorrow.  Then I can go through the day in integrity and uprightness.  I hope.  Really, I hope! 

I Know My Redeemer Lives

I am in awe that the Lord who paid the debt of sin is MY Redeemer.  He loves me and He cares about my life and my struggles.  

Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning? 
And who told the ocean you can only come this far? 
And who showed the moon where to hide till evening? 
Whose words alone can catch a falling star? 

Well I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
All of creation testifies
This life within me cries
I know my Redeemer lives

The very same God
That spins things in orbit
Runs to the weary, the worn and the weak
And the same gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken
They conquered death to bring me victory

Now I know, my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry
I know 
My Redeemer

He lives
To take away my shame
And He lives
Forever I'll proclaim
That the payment for my sins
Was the precious life He gave
And now He's alive and
There's an empty
Grave! 

And I know
My Redeemer lives
He lives
I know
My Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry
I know my Redeemer

Still in Progress...

It's been about seven weeks since I wrote about remodeling our master bedroom.  I promised to keep you updated.  Don't tell me you haven't even had a second thought about it since then; I know you are checking every day to see if I have posted something.  Well, today is your lucky day.

"We have a long way to go" is an understatement.  Until Blair's room is empty we can't move the treadmill or paint or get new floors.  But, that hasn't stopped us from scouting out things for the room.  I thought I would give you a glimpse of those things.

Love the glass door knobs on this shelf from Dust Bowl Debris in Locust Grove:

 The only item in the picture below that we bought is the mantel.  We pick it up tomorrow but I took a picture of it in the store.  We got in at Vintage Treasures in Pryor.

 A fantastic buy from a Facebook-notice the post flood concrete floors:

I don't know what I will do with these hankies but I have several ideas:

Another great find from Dust Bowl Debris:

Pieces to the puzzle....are you getting a picture in your head yet?  If you are, please clue me in!!!  No, I know what I want.  It is just going to be a matter of getting it all together.  I can't wait!