Auntie Phee

It's Auntie Phee's birthday coming soon. Here are some pictures Elisa took when they visited her.

Happy Birthday Auntie Phee 

We love you

My New Friend

Our spoiled dog Daisy May

I live in a small town of North Carolina. I have a wonderful husband, a quiver full of wonderful family and a spoiled dog. I have a home in the woods that has a pond with a dock. In the morning I awaken in my comfortable bed, come out to the kitchen and have an expected, predictable, dependable cup of coffee and start my day.

I guess you could say I live a charmed life.

As I walk along I notice there is this common theme in my life, a malady that I tend to, take care of, nurture. I find that I see the world - as it concerns me, I see life from how it impacts me.

Often the Lord brings new thoughts and concepts into my life and bumps up against that world view of "I am the center" and I come to realize that somehow in the distance .. real small like, there is more to life then me.

I know, it's a shocker. Whod'a thought?
But outside my mind, outside the walls of my home, outside this little town I live in there is a whole world full of people and issues.

The Lord has done it again. He has opened my world beyond myself.

It's my new friend Nancy. She lives in Nairobi Kenya. She is a single woman, 20 years old - loving 14 poverty stricken children. She has very little income but every day she awaken to another day of struggle to supply for herself as well as those the Lord has brought into her care.

Her faith in the Lord is amazing. All I ever read in her email is praise to the Lord. She has experienced homelessness and abandonment but still she hopes. Hopes for God to help her care for the abandoned little children the Lord brings to her. 

Here is a picture of their sweet, happy faces. 

I studied a little bit about Kenya and it looks like a regular city.

They have housing similar to ours 

I wasn't exactly sure where Kenya was, I knew it was in Africa on the east side, up around the middle so I looked up some map info. 

They have a different type of wildlife then we do, a lot of the pictures were about rhinos. I wonder if rhinos there are the same as elk or antelope here. 

There is a different side to Kenya .. 

This is the bus station. 

and here is where the homeless abandoned children live 

There is a stark difference between the two sides of Kenya. 

It's hard to imagine because here in the United States our poor are housed in air conditioned homes, they get free food and medical care. 

It's hard to understand the reality of these pictures. It's so easy to live in our world and be comfortable. 

I have been praying for Nancy, she and her 14 children. 

I wrote this hoping that maybe you will pray for Nancy too. 

She has asked me to come over to Kenya to visit. That is a huge thought for me. 

We'll see what the Lord provides. 

Yesterday she took one of the little children to the dr. and he got needed medicine but a lot of his condition was a  result of malnutrition. 

What we take for granted - they live without - as a common way of life.

Where do I go from here? I will continue to encourage Nancy. I have asked the Lord what He would have me do. My first inclination is to try to solve all the problems. I still want to do that. 

But I have to wait for instruction from the Lord. 

Nancy wrote a poem and it shows her heart . This is written in English, her second language. 

FOR HOW LONG

1. When we face various trails,

When we suffer afflictions in life,

When the heavens are silence,

During our times of darkness,

We offer ask ourselves;

For how long will the night last,

We should never be discouraged,

It’s just for a little.

2. When enemies persecute you,

When friends betrays you,

When relatives rejects you,

When all stand against you,

Emmanuel still God with you,

We ask ourselves,

For how long will the night last?

Wait patiently on the lord,

It’s just for a little while.

3. When your business is going under,

When you lose your job,

When your bank account is empty,

During times of lack, Jehovah jireh cares for you. We ask ourselves.

For how long will the night last?

Be anxious for nothing.

It’s just for a little while.

4. When your darkness seems to worsen,

Know that your dawn is approaching.

After suffering for a little while, Know that you will come out as pure gold, when the lord light your darkness,

We ask ourselves, for how long wills the night last.

Watch and be constant in prayer,

It’s just for a little while.

Isn't that amazing? Isn't her faith wonderful? 

She continually looks to the Lord even though the night is dark. 

Nancy has great hopes that the Lord will care for her and the children. I am remembering Mother Theresa. The Lord brought things to her from unexpected places. 

Yesterday a lady came up to Nancy and gave her a bag of clothes for the children. Nancy was SO happy. It was an answer to her prayers. The Lord provided clothes for the children. 

How exciting to be watching the Lord move in the life of this brave, faithful young woman. 

If you have any words of encouragement for her I would be glad to send them along to her. 

Psalm 143:1 

O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness

come to my relief

Blessed Be Your Name

I will meditate on YOUR precepts and contemplate YOUR ways.

I will delight myself in YOUR statutes.

I will not forget YOUR word.

The Worn path

 At church today our preacher talked about the well worn path that went between his house and his mom's.
It was worn because it was used to often by the grandchildren as they daily went to visit their grandma.
I had two responses to that, the first one .. "awww, I love that".
The second was "Wow that can mean a lot if we liken it to our minds". The well worn paths in our minds.
I torture my kids cause I always wonder about stuff like that.

I looked at my own pattern of thinking and considered where the worn paths are. I am recognizing I have quite a few worn paths. Happily I can tell you one of the worn paths to is to my Father in Heaven that I adore with my whole being. Then I have the others from there. I have the paths that lead to my family. I love those paths, outside of God, they are my favorite, they take me to a place of joy and unbridled love.

 I have paths of consideration, on those paths I reflect so many different subjects, people for instance are something I think about a lot, why? I have no idea, it's just a well worn path. I also think about what I am doing or supposed to be doing or regrettable, should have been doing.
Music is another path, it just comes in my head, I don't purposely go on it.
My mind loves to see beauty so I usually spend time on that path. Beauty catches my attention.

Then there are those paths I don't like, the ones that lead me to heartache those are the ones of worry and anxiety. There are the paths of rebellion and stubbornness .. where I assert my rights. Those paths are very convincing but less used then before thankfully.
Of course, there are the paths of habits. Thoughts can be habits, our brain is designed to simplify our thinking - just goes to show how great God is.
Our brains actually have paths,

The way I understand it is you have all these nodes in your head associated with...things or ideas, or concepts. So every time you see say a a cup and then fill it with water and you watch the level of the water go up, a quick electrical signal makes a path between all these nodes or concepts in you head. The more often you see something, the stronger that path becomes and eventually when you hear the word 'fill', the concept of 'up' isn't very far away in your head because those two ideas have been presented to you together so often that there is a strong path between them. (answers.yahoo) 

The Brain Likes to Race Ahead

Once your mind gets moving in a direction, be it a left-brain direction (logical, mathematical, judgmental, analytical activities) or a a right-brain one (creative, visual, spatial concepts), it tends to keep going. To illustrate this, try this easy test suggested by Timothy Foster⁶:

What do you call a funny story? – joke

What are you when you have no money? – broke

What's another word for Coca Cola? – Coke

What's the white of an egg? --------------------

It isn't yolk, it's albumen. Were you tricked? Most people are. The brain likes to race ahead, because it already knows the answer.

There is also the situation where my thoughts run along a path I do not want to run along, yet my mind keeps going back to it. I resist it but it seems to have a hold of me. I don't like it and it requires God's intervention to get past that. Usually, if I replace it with a different thought or direction then I have better success. It's no easy task, it's like trying to direct a stubborn animal to change direction. The thought  is  unyielding and uncooperative. Those thoughts come to the forefront and demand attention. And then go  again, running along a path I don't like.

I guess I create a lot of my life circumstances by the thoughts I have, by the paths I choose to frequent.
I know God has things to say about our thoughts .. God amazes me more and more every day.
How about this verse in 2 Corinthians 10:

By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! ²I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

and if I apply that to my own path choices I will have the discipline to have healthier path results. It takes self discipline. Firm decision and persistence. Sometimes it's a long process but in my life, I have always, in the end, over come. It's the power of God. He sees the bigger picture. I get caught up in things of this world. He sees the greater good.

So, all that from the story from our pastor at church today, telling how his children wore a path going to and from his home next door to his mom's, their grandma.

I would love to hear about the paths your mind goes on. I often wonder how similar we all are.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11

Have You Seen a Blood Orange?

I have heard about blood oranges. Sounded mysterious, so when I found them at Trader Joe's I decided to go ahead a learn something new. I think this is a southern food. Everyone around seems to know about them. I took pictures so if you don't know about them .. you can now see what it is.

Here is a blood orange. It looks like an orange. 

Here are three in a bowl so you can see that they are usually not just a familiar orange.

I was surprised when I first opened it. It was not the color I have seen all my life. 

Beautiful color .. but so dark. Could the orange .. not be orange? 

Wow! It was really dark. Very cool. 

It was good! It tastes mostly like a regular orange but with a slight difference. 

I give it a thumbs up for flavor and something new. 

more info .. 

Blood Oranges

Blood oranges are juicy, sweet and have a dark red interior and are slightly less acidic than regular table oranges.
Originally from Sicily the blood orange has gained in popularity in the US and can be found fresh or in juice form in many grocery stores.

How They Get Their Color

Blood oranges contain a pigment called anthocyanin which is not typically found in citrus but rather more common in other red fruits and flowers. Not only is the inside of the orange darkly pigmented but depending on the variety the outside may also have dark washes of red.

Varieties

The three main blood orange varieties are Tarocco, the Moro and the Sanguigno. The Moro is being grown in San Diego, California.

Uses

Blood oranges are great for juicing and using as you would common orange juice. The dark red color of the juice makes it a good cocktail ingredient. Use fresh blood orange segments in salads, sauces, sorbets, granitas and compotes. Spanish blood oranges are used in special English marmalades.

Where To Buy

Check your local grocery store or farmer's market for fresh fruits from December through May.   Juice can be purchased year round in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store.
U.S. Seasons
Texas Crop - December to March
California Crop - November to May

Growing Blood Oranges

Blood oranges are still most abundant in Italy and Spain. They have become more popular in the U.S. and they are being grown in California and Texas.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Produce-638/blood-oranges.aspx

I was just there

Salt Lake City is an amazing city. It's 1.2 million people and growing. The land is desert. Most people are in their late 20's, it has the highest literacy rate in the US, the roads are based on a grid system so you can always find your way. They have great cultural opportunities .. plays, concerts, museums - most reasonably priced for families.

It's a different world from here in North Carolina. A few things .. the folks are different. It seems to be much more family oriented. There are many activities for families and kids are everywhere.

The Mormon's have family home evening on Monday nights. I really respect that. The level of commitment to "family home evening" varies by family but how seriously it's taken by the family -it seems- the more respect that family is given by their peers.

 It's one of those things you know you are supposed to do but it takes time and effort and it's easier to skip it. If you go to place like skating rinks you will see "Monday night family special discounts" It's all over the valley.
There seems to be a lot more soccer moms in Salt Lake then here. In NC we seem to have moms and dads both working rather then one of them staying home to run the home.

It's not as diverse as here in North Carolina. In Salt Lake you are probably white and Morman and if not that then you are white and non Morman and after that comes the Mexican population. I think there are a lot more Mexican's in Salt Lake then there are here in NC. Which is an interesting thought cause that means they would be bringing a Catholic influence. The city is about 50% Morman but the outskirts are much higher, maybe 70 or 80% Morman.

Salt Lake City is incredibly crowded. The whole valley is about covered with houses or buildings and some really great kid parks. There are many homes but our Mormon friends do such a good job creating order and planning long term. They tend to look into the future pretty well. They have wonderful stores, malls and restaurants. Whatever you want to buy you can probably find it. Pick about any restaurant - it's there. There are a lot of business offices in Salt Lake. I don't see a lot of production warehouses instead new buildings designed for meetings and planning.

The mountains deserve every bit of praise they get. From the valley floor looking up at them, seeing the snow caps or from the top looking out it's beautiful. I used to LOVE going to the mountains. Several times a year our family would gather at Storm Mountain, about a 20 min.drive - and have a pot luck breakfast. Grandma was there as well as aunts, uncles, cousins. Great memories. We would have pancakes cooked on the grill, bacon or sausage sweet rolls or whatever folks would bring. Coffee, juice. It would always include a mtn hike and a visit to Little Cottonwood Canyon stream.

If I were to compare Salt Lake to Raleigh it would have a lot of the same things. Except that history in Raleigh is not Mormon. You get all kinds of history as well as Christian history, like the Morovians.
I think Salt Lake is a better planned city then Raleigh but I'm telling you, I love the Christian influence in Raleigh.

There are so many green spaces for hiking, biking in Raleigh, lakes and ponds. Lots of wildlife.
 Great malls, any thing you want to buy is available. Plus, I LOVE the farmers market. Wow! Tons of local stuff to buy all year long.
Raleigh has it's own fair share of troubles some we need to really get a hold of, but I guess that is true in each area.

It's interesting to travel, to see so many different people. To see the world is much bigger then my simple little world of Caswell County and Danville VA.
Who knows where my next trip will be .. I have some fun ideas but for now I think I am just going to STAY home for awhile.

My New Blog Look

My new blog look for spring and maybe all the way to July ... That would be nice. I love this place. Can you imagine having tea and scones together? We could enjoy the garden, the humming birds and the butterflies.
We could trade plant cuttings. I would love some new variety.
I think I am going to like this place.