RRC #72

Mildred watched the old man wander around the parking lot. "That damn fool." she thought to herself. "Always so stubborn. If he would just listen to me he would know that we walked to the store today."

Fiction in a Flash

    The rain came down in steady beat making the silence impossible to hear. There was no one around but them. It had been a surprise for Melissa to see Tom at the high school. It was only when they were outside that he told her. Mom had died.

You thought there was only ONE 100 acre woods. Well, you would be wrong. I stumbled upon this one while I was out walking in the woods.


I was on my way to visit Eeyore when this bright light flashed off in the distance. Being a curious little bear I went towards the flash. When I said stumbled I really meant it. I came to a steep ravine that I didn't remember ever being there. Down in it was a pool of light. It seemed to split open and i saw stars. I leaned forward and took a step. My foot caught a Branch and down i went...stumbling tumbling into the pool.

But I landed exactly where I had left. I shook my head and went about my way. Soon I saw Christopher Robin. I called out to him but he didn't seem to hear me. I looked closely at him and saw he was wearing some strange clothes. This was NOT my Christopher Robin. I followed him and soon he came to upon a little robot and a fuzzy.....er..bear? A little while later another little robot came up to him and had his tail added....kinda like I had seen Eeyore have done.

Shortly after that I heard a voice calling and the "other" Christopher Robin grabbed the fuzzy "pooh bear" and walked home. I tried to follow but they were walking so fast I tripped once again and fell into a ravine. I must have bumped my head because I woke up at Eeyore's house.

I am happy to say that Eeyore looked like Eeyore and I looked like me. I have hunted all over these woods and I still have not found that ravine or the pool of light since.

Early Morning

 

This is the view from my bedroom window. I have to admit the picture doesn't do the actual sight any justice. When the sun reflects off the colored leaves it is marvelous. Occasionally a little bird or squirrel will be sitting on my roof outside the window eating bugs or whatever they happen to find.


The window is small due to the fact that my bedroom is in the attic. It is small and cozy. Which is funny cause no heat runs up here but I have an electric blanket and a small space heater and it heats the room up nicely. My bed faces the window so I get greeted with this sight every morning.

The leaves started out a golden color but now are taking on a red hue. It is a nice way to wake up.

Prisoner of the Past

Lysa pulled her hooded cape closer to her as a small chill raced up her spine. It had been years since she was a prisoner there but the old fears seemed to have remained. The scars along her back seemed to ache anew.


When she had heard that the Prince's castle had fallen and he himself a prisoner she could hardly believe it. Maybe that is why she had come back...to see for herself.

She slowly knelt down and dangled her fingers in the cool stream that ran past her. She studied the water for a moment reflecting on the past. There was a time when this water would occassionaly run red. It was said that was the time the Prince was making room in the cells. It seemed to her that she could still hear the agonizing cries cut short by death.

She once again stared at the castle, doubting she could continue on. But she had to. It was more for herself than anything. It was time to face her tormentors' ghost, her fears, her nightmares. She stopped short just at the foot of the hill. It was painful to remember. The fear overwhelmed her and tears started to fall. She felt foolish as she quickly brushed them away all the while looking around making sure she was alone.

The shadows of the past lingered there still as she reached the castle. The wind wiped through making a mocking laughter sound at her. But one step at a time drove her in. The place was left as is....a shambles. Tables knocked everywhere, blood splattered here and there. Some bodies still lay where they fell. Lysa became more fascinated than fearful with each step.

She continued down to her old cell. The torture devices long rusted and covered in old blood, rust and cobwebs. The door was locked so she could not go in, so standing on tiptoe she peeked through the heavy wooden door. There sat the Prince in all his finery, completely mummified.

Fall Fun

went hiking in the woods last sunday. I was able to get some beautiful shots of fall in it's finery.

Why aren't more christians upset?

Pakistan: Bibles Burned by Muslims


On Sept. 19, Islamic extremists broke into the Philadelphia Pentecostal Church in Sharif Town, Karachi City, Pakistan, and set fire to Bibles, hymnals, a musical instrument and a table, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts.

The church, which is led by Pastors George Rakha and Peter Shahzad, was established six years ago. “At 4 a.m., some fanatics broke the lock of the church door and entered the church,” VOM contacts reported. “They burned three crosses, nine Bibles, five books of worship songs, a table and a musical instrument Tabla [local drum].”

On Sept. 20, the Christian community displayed a banner protesting the burning of their Bibles. Christians believe this incident was a reaction to an American pastor’s widely publicized threat to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11. Christian leaders in the U.S. spoke out against the pastor’s plan to burn the Quran, and he ultimately decided against it. But it seems that no Muslim leaders spoke out against the actual burning of Bibles in Pakistan.


I find this rather ironic. As stated above, many people spoke out against the burning including many well known religious leaders. It makes me wonder if they have any idea that this is going on and if so...just why aren't they upset?

Homeschooling....really?

I remember a long time ago I was asked if I would be homeschooling my children. I would laugh and say "Do you want me to go to prison for murder?" You see, I liked that my kids would go away for long periods of time during the day, leaving me free to clean the house or watch marathon episodes of StarGate SG1 or something else. I was so happy to be able to join mothers all over and do the back-to-school dance.
 I believe...rather, I know that God doesn't ask you to do the impossible. He asks you to do something that you are actually able to do...with his help. So knowing this, I believed he would never ask me to homeschool. Was I wrong. The unthinkable, at least in my mind, happened. God asked me to homeschool.

Last year I started off homeschooling my daughter Tuesday. It went alright. Since she is in high school I found some easy curriculum for her and away we went. I have to admit, it brought us closer and made me appreciate the wonderful funny little girl I had. This year? Well God asked me to take it one step further and start homeschooling my 11 year old Abraham. Really?

First off let me say that they are both in public school just that it is at home via computers. They belong to the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. It's pretty cool actually. Anyway, I have to admit that I am some days quite frustrated at the boy. He has AD/HD and he can get pretty rambunctious. It's those days when I question what God was actually thinking that day.

God is thinking, "You can do this with me. Stop trying to do it in your own power and let me do it." I have a very hard time with that...hence the frustrations and arguments. When I let go and let God as the saying goes, I find the arguments are at a minimum and the work gets done. So one would think that after that I would give everyday to the Lord, right? WRONG! I must have a huge amount of pride(?) becuae the next day I am off trying it all on my own and guess what happens? Yep...it's a horrible day.

Yesterday was a dandy. I have a dented pot to prove it. No, I didn't hit my kid with it. It just fell to the floor rather rapidly. It was after that that God stepped in and reminded me of his promise. I humbly asked forgiveness from God and from Abraham and he did the same and we finished up school on a great note.

I look back on it now and remember my husband asking me if I am going to be able to handle this all year to which I replied quite cheerily oh yes. Was I lying? No. Because I KNOW that God is not asking me to do the impossible and that HE is indeed with me.

A writing challenge I wrote a couple of weeks ago......

When Bill talked about going home, I guess he wasn't kidding. We all figured he meant back to Iowa where he was born, but no. He started mentioning it about a week back at the diner. He told people goodbye and gave some of his stuff away. We were worried at first but then he assured us he wasn't dying, just going home.


Last night was the last time any of us saw him. He was at the bar shooting pool for a bit, had his usual 2 beers and then said so long. I saw he headed up towards the wayside and I thought about following him since it was not in the direction of Iowa but I thought he was having one last drive for old times sake.

I did however see the multicolor light show in the same direction. I still don't fully understand what that was about. But I reckon Bill does.

Growing Up

This is where I grew up. It's my Grandparents house in Iowa. I actually lived a quarter mile down the road on another farm but I would always walk up the road the here.  I loved it there and I try to visit as much as I can. I think that maybe why this house is always in my dreams.                                This house holds so many memories of Christmases of long ago, of farming and raising chickens, of many farm pets and the list and memories go on. The best memory i have is of my Grandfather reading. That is all he ever did. He would carry two or three books around with him everywhere he went. He read at the table and in his chair and in bed. My dad is the same way. I try to do that but as a mother it is a little bit harder for me. My grandmother was a wonderful cook and she would bake all the time. We would mix up a batch of cookies or bars in an afternoon. My grandfather has passed on now nearly two years but my grandmother still lives there. As I said before I get down there when I can in the winter but in the summer I have the privilage of mowing the yard for her. Some people think it's a waste of gas to drive down there every week but I don't. What is the price of gas compared to visiting a person you love. She is turning 90 this month and I am thankful for all the years she has been in my life. She has taught me what love and commitment really are in a marriage. I yearn for the good old days of running through the fields without a care in the world but I still have the memories to look back on and smile.

I think I'm alright

I wrote yesterday about me...which is completely self-absorbed but I did get to think about where I was a few years as compared to where I am at today.

First let me start off by saying I am weird and at any given time weird stuff will come out in normal conversation just for the fun of it or to lighten the mood or cause I am bored. Several years ago, that was frowned upon by many good Baptists women. If you want to follow God then you need to be pious, serious, and normal. Look at all the examples in the Bible, do you see laughter there? Do you see humor? Unfortunatly, I tried to live up to their expectations, not God's. That really made me depressed and think that God must hate me. I felt I was never good enough and would continually slip and fall.

Now......let me follow up by saying that I am in no way a good Baptist wife. In fact, I am not even a good Baptist. But that's ok. I am standing on the solid rock so I know who I am and that it is alright to be me, to have this weirdness about me. I have also learned that God indeed has a sense of humor and a darn good one. I myself love the irony in the book of Esther involving Mordechai and Haman. I also recently read the 4 Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and I found myself laughing at some of the things Jesus to them or others.

It's hard to get to know Christ through the written word but when you experience the relationship with him...it gets pretty easy to make him a bit more human. I am quite sure he laughed more than once. I am also quite sure I make him laugh more than once. Which is good. I love to make people laugh and if I can succeed at doing that then I figure it is gonna be alright. I'm learning to use my powers for good.

One thing I have noticed is that my kids are just as weird...bless their little souls. They make me laugh and I want laughter to fill the house. It does the soul good, wouldn't you say?

Me

I have been doing a bit of psychoanalysis on myself lately, which is a good thing but also a bad thing. It's good cause I can always diagnose myself normal but it's bad if I turn out to indeed be crazy then I can't prescribe medication.

I have another website that I can blog at and post videos and such but I am finding out that I do not really post most about me. I write stories and do little literary challenges which is cool and I tend to surprise myself with what comes out but if I don't have  astory to write then I just post a poem or some other thing that really isn't by me or about me. Why is that?

What the heck am I so afraid of? really...........I apparently talk a big game about not caring what people think but that's all it is...a big game. I do want people to like me but I just seem to think I am not that interesting or funny or anything like that. I read other people's blogs and they are interesting people...me not so much.

But why should I care? Honestly? No, really, I am asking.......

Time still continues to pass

Wow, it has been since September of '09 since I wrote last. Things have been moving forward as things tend to do. I must admit my feelings and so forth either move backwards or stay the same. That is not good.

Brian is in jail and will remain there until who knows when. I have an interview with a parole officer regarding his sentencing. I honestly don't know what to say. I don't know what will be asked first off but I am betting "what do you think Brian should get?" will be a question.

I think Brian should get smacked in the head with a tire iron a couple of times is my first reaction. Obviously, I can't say that. I have come away with being a realist through this whole ordeal.

Reality check: God is in control. God is working in many people's lives through this situation. Some to bring to repentance, some to test their strength and character, and some that are just innocent bystanders. I would like to believe I am in catagory number 2. I must admit I am falling short. But it also gives me many opportunities to think about number 1..GOD IS IN CONTROL.

I don't know if Brian has had time to actually think about what he has done and if he feels the least bit sorry for what he has done aside from feeling sorry he was caught. But God does. God loves him regardless and God is willing to forgive him if he is sincere in his heart about wanting forgiveness. I am called to love him..with God's love not my own and forgive him...with God's forgiveness, not my own. So with God's help, I am trying.

But then that just opens the door to another twist in this tale........

Soft As A Rose

The day was dreadfully dreary but I was determined to enjoy myself in the park. I flollowed the winding path to this little wooden area which held a small little fountain along with a wire table and chair. I let out a big sigh as I plopped down in the chair. I was tired. I had high hopes of clearing out this cluttered mind of mine but so far it wasn't working.

I had closed my eyes to focus better on the clearing process when I heard a little giggle. I peered around but saw no one. Shrugging, I close my eyes once again. That is when I felt it brush my cheek. A kiss soft as a rose followed by more little giggles.

I let out a small gasp of surprise as my hand reaches the place where I felt the kiss. To further my surprise there was a rose petal there.

I get up and look around for someone, anyone but the area was empty. I turn to look at the fountain and there on top was a statue of a darling angel blowing kisses and in his hands was a rose.