A Knight's Journey

There has been no greater joy than being a wife, mom, and grandmother to my bunch. I have also felt no greater sorrow than watching them grow up and make their own mistakes that I tried hard to warn them about. But I had to make my own, just as they do. Gosh, that's probably the hardest thing-- knowing   they NEED to learn  to rely on God for themselves...  Today is Mother's Day.  Mother, Aimee, and I talked several days ago about things we did to celebrate this weekend years ago.  I had tickets to garden tours in Dothan and took my mother on Saturday, and Jeff's mom on Sunday.  We had a wonderful time, walking around the Dothan Botanical Gardens and touring home gardens, getting ideas to do in our own yards.  Lowe's and every single plant nursery made BIG bucks that weekend.  I had had a thought to take Mother and Aimee to the Botanical Gardens and then have lunch.  I wanted a replay of the past.   I wanted to walk leisurely and smell t...

A few years ago, I had a dream where I was given a gift. Big box--probably 2' L x 3' W x 10" H (purely a guestimation). There was no occasion I knew of--but the gift came from someone I loved. The gift came from my sister, Wanda, who had already left for her Heavenly Home a few years prior. The gift had been handed to me and the giver said, "this is from your sister, Wanda". That was all that was said. As I pulled the ribbon to loosen it from its binding bow, I remember feeling a thrill of excitement, wondering what in the world Wanda could be giving me! I opened the box to reveal white tissue paper--a crinkling sound, and pushing back the layers revealed a beautiful creamy white satin and lace dress. It was stunning. It was like something you would wear to a wedding....if you were the bride. T he knowledge that I was supposed to put this on and wear it was unspoken, but I knew I was expected to wear it for an upcoming event. It was also supposed to be w...

  I read a post on Instagram about the time of the evening when this particular family (Chris Loves Julia) turned on all the lamps.     Not overhead lights—just lamps. They called it “lamp-o’clock” .  I’ve been doing that for years and never knew it was a “thing”.  (P.S. they don't know me and I don't know them personally, but I've followed along their moving to North Carolina journey-it was a doozy! FYI--Amazing decorating tips!)   I love lamps (just ask the family members who helped us move).  In every room of our house there is at least one lamp.  Even the kitchen and laundry room.  I prefer lamps over the glaringly bright lights of the overhead fixtures.  Lamps set the tone in the room for a “hushed” or quiet feeling.  I normally only turn on one lamp —unless whatever is going on calls for more light.  The room I'm sitting in right now has five (5) lamps.  Yes,  you heard me righ...

In the recent transition of moving our folks closer to us (my sister, Aimee and I), I heard my oldest daughter say some things that sounded just like me when my grandparents moved from the  “home place”  that I had kno wn as a little girl.     Initially, she wasn’t thrilled about them leaving what she thought would be their forever home.  But then she came to understand what we all have known for a while—it’s for the best.  They need to be closer to us, and we need to be closer to them.    Every day we learn more and more that life is full of transitions.   Sometimes it feels like you just get used to one and then another one shows up on the horizon. Often faster than we would wish for—even knowing that changes are coming doesn’t make them easier to swallow.  But, you brace yourself, hunker down, lift your hands in surrender to God, and go with the flow.   Can all that be done at one time?  Yes. ...

I titled this with  house  rather than  home  because a house is just a house.    We can’t say goodbye to a home because a home is who we are.    As a couple, as a family- as long as we’re together we are home.   Jeff and I learned this first hand.  Over and over…and over again.   After 15 moves in our married life, we know -  “home” is us.    It’s who we are.     We decorate it—we fill it with furniture, family and friends and some sweet memories.  We fill it with cooking smells—that are divine (pound cake and cookies)—and sometimes— smells that are not so divine (burnt popcorn).   This month we say goodbye to our childhood home. It’s the only one I have the  most  memories from my growing up years, and it’s the only one my youngest two siblings remember.    Although some people may see this as a sad event, I tend to look at it with eyes of adventu...