Category Archives: Everythingelse

My Graham Cracker Assistant

With 3 children born in 3 1/2 years, my life was busy in the 1980s.  I had no nearby family to help with childcare, so I learned to improvise.

Rachel, 5 years old, was a good natured child. Once in a while, I let her be a biggirl.  She could stay up and watch a video or we could have together-time, but only if she was quiet while the others napped.  Rachel loved to be up with Mommy.

One day, I dared myself to paint the bathroom while the kids napped.  I found a can of pretty miss-mixed paint for only a couple of dollars.  Desperate for a change, I couldn’t pass up it up.

It took me longer than I thought to paint the small bathroom walls. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would have it, Jonathan, then 1 ½, woke up much earlier than usual. I heard him fussing in his crib and decided this would be a great time to let Rachel, who’d been watching a movie, be an even bigger girl. I needed our only bathroom to be usable before Hannah woke up. Continue reading

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Filed under Awed by His Love and Grace, Everydayliving, Everythingelse, Gottalaugh, In a Kids World, Just for Fun, Life with Chronic Pain

An Award Bouquet

A bouquet of awards!  What an honor!  What a treat!  I am genuinely speechless!  What a great way to celebrate the world of blogging!

I offer a humble and very grateful thanks to Savannah for the lovely thought. Savannah is very passionate about God and helping children. She has a heart that drips with sweetness and the love of God.  She covers many areas of life on her blog, and even offers prayer and/or advice for her visitors. http://savannahhardcastle.wordpress.com/

seed-of-light-award1one-lovely-blog1versatile

abcwonderful-team-membership-awardsuper-sweet-blogging-award21w6451 Continue reading

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Filed under Awards, Everythingelse

A Tribute To The Only Father I Have Ever Known

Father’s day has always been a very painful day for me. I felt the emptiness of never having met my father while growing up. I felt an even greater loss, because he didn’t care about me at all. He walked out on my mother when she wouldn’t abort me. This year, I chose to do something different. I chose to honor the father who has always been faithfully with me, with this poem.

My bio-father wanted me aborted,

A heartbreaking fact I have had to bear.

His wishes, however, were thwarted,

By another father who surely did care.

A father with much richer, future plans,

For this embryo, so fragile and forlorn.

He guarded me with his very own hands,

Instead of allowing my flesh to be torn.

Continue reading

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Filed under A Broken Childhood, Awed by His Love and Grace, Child Abuse and Neglect, Everydayliving, Everythingelse, Following Christ Has Changed My Life, Inner Sruggles and Heartache, Poetry

We. Are. Fa.mi.ly. My Brothers, Sisters, and Me.

In 1979, the uplifting song, “We are Family,” became very popular. This song was performed by the four Sledge sisters’ group they called, Sister Sledge. They wanted the world to know they were proud of their family bond as they flew through life “like birds of a feather.” As I write this, the song makes rounds in my head.

I wasn’t a blogger at all when I began blogging, so naturally, I was quite nervous.  I am supposed to put my private thoughts and experiences out there.  What if I get ridiculed or criticized for putting my heart out there and bearing my soul?  This thought resonated through me long after I pressed my first “publish” button.

Well, I am happy to say, I have not had that experience at all.  If anything, I have found it to be a great joy.  Through blogging at WordPress, I have found a family of friends.  I have gotten to know them by reading their posts, and by the warm and loving comments they have left on mine. Some have even called me friend.  And in many ways, we are family, we fly through the blogosphere like birds of a feather.  I am especially touched because I have very little real family, and often feel cheated and left out of the community and togetherness of a family’s inner circle. Continue reading

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Filed under Awards, Everythingelse, Seeds of Inspirations

The Good, The Bad, And The Forever

Last Friday evening, my bank account went overdrawn by a couple of dollars. Since I hadn’t used my debit card in a few days, and had no outstanding checks; this was a definite red flag alert. I found an unsolicited $93 charge from Oxyfresh Cleansers. I called the phone number associated with the charge on my bank statement, but my call immediately went to this recording. “You have reached customer service. Someone will be with you in 34 minutes.”

You’ve. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Not only had I not ordered anything from Oxyfresh, but I was supposed to wait 34 minutes before, maybe, I would be able to speak to someone, who may or may not, be able or willing to help me. I wasn’t going to go there! I had been scammed.

Continue reading

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Filed under Everydayliving, Everythingelse, Following Christ Has Changed My Life, Life Lessons

Smart Dog

Ponder This

What will you notice today?

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Take some time to notice the beautiful world around you today. Let go of the past. Let go of the future. Still your mind in the present and bask in the glory of all that is in this moment. You are here. The practice of mindfulness is one we could all benefit from. Why not start today.

I have reblogged this from Ambition In The City.  I love its heavily impacting simplicity.

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Filed under Everydayliving, Everythingelse, Seeds of Inspirations

Applauding Versatility In The World Of Blogs And Posts

There is one thing about life that never changes,

And that is that things are constantly changing.

Change is everywhere in our natural world.  Each second of each minute of each hour of each day, nothing stays the same.  Over the centuries, the ocean waves have never remained still. They repeat their rhythm with crashing roars on the coastline, evaporating to create rain clouds,  providing varying degrees of tides, and sometimes a very dangerous temper. Even the stillest lake, has life moving within its serene waters. Continue reading

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Filed under Awards, Everythingelse

Ransomed Soul, Redeemed Heart

Magnet Keepsake

Magnet Keepsake

It’s not something I talk about often, but when I do tell people I was born in Havana, Cuba; the first thing they ask is,  “Was your dad in the military?”  When I tell them that he wasn’t, their next comment almost always is, “Why were you born there? You don’t look Cuban!”  With that in mind, I suppose my cousins “look even less Cuban” than I do.  As babies, each of my cousins qualified for any Gerber Baby look-alike contest, with their blond curls and big blue eyes.

My paternal grandparents were directly from Spain. My maternal ancestry is also from Spain with a few drops of French in there somewhere. What most people don’t know is that in 1492, Columbus claimed the island for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained under Spain’s ruling until 1898. Most of the original Native Americans living in Cuba died because they were subjected to harsh slavery, or died from Eurasian diseases. A thousand or so survived, many escaped into the mountains. Thousands were then cruelly ripped from their homes and families in Africa to replace the lost native slaves.  Cuba’s ethnicity is somewhat different from the typical Latin America people imagine. Continue reading

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Filed under Everythingelse, Life with Chronic Pain, Seeds of Inspirations

Senior Creativity

This is what OLDER people do during the day with their spare time!

imageRepurpose Old Barrels Into a Drum Set Continue reading

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Filed under Everydayliving, Everythingelse

A Surprise Inside The Sparrow

Inspired by scriptures about the sparrow and the lyrics to the song, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, I chose my blog’s name, His Eye Is On This Sparrow.  I then wanted an image to represent this name and theme.

After much thought, I came up with an eye to represent God’s eye, then drew a sparrow

His Eye Is On This Sparrow

His Eye Is On This Sparrow

reflected in the eye.  I used coloring pencils to fill in the colors.  I have looked at this image at least 50 times, and only saw the lowly, common sparrow.  Yesterday, a blogger friend surprised me with a comment.  George made a comment on the post God’s Hand Is Mightier Than A Falling Tree, about a tree that fell on my car years ago. Then, she pointed out something I never noticed about the image I drew and chose as my avatar. You can see the conversation below. Continue reading

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Filed under Everythingelse, Seeds of Inspirations