omitted detail -- aunt pat lived with grandmother and granddaddy from the day she was born until they died

something to call her own

my thoughts today caught me by surprise -- aunt pat will be staying in the nursing home and jenny and i went by her apartment to inventory what needs to be moved

listing the ornately carved occasional table with its rich brown marble top, the large desk granddaddy made, the stately secretary, the grandfather clock whose chimes, now silent, still reverberate through me, the cast iron bed, the jewelry box with its cameo and garnet earrings...i was struck by the realization that all of these items embody my memories of grandmother and granddaddy allinder

though they lived at nine different addresses during my lifetime, the atmosphere was always the same because of their belongs -- some of which have already found new homes among family members ... viewing the remaining pieces today without aunt pat being there was an oddly melancholy experience because i realized that even though grandmother and granddaddy have been dead for 20+ years i have subconsciously taken solace in the fact that a semblance of them remained, safe, in aunt pat's care

but at what cost to her?
for i realize that the same objects that gave me comfort may well have seemed like a type of prison to her -- rather like living in a museum -- having people coming to visit, oohing and aahing over the objects 'd allinder but unable to claim ownership of a single piece

aunt pat now lies in her hospital bed staring at the ceiling, neither bothered nor excited by her state, a fixture like the desk or the clock requiring periodic upkeep, and that, with the exception of the reading to her of her louis l'moure books, being of an impersonal nature

who knows if she is/was happy
who knows if she feels/felt like one of their belongings, part of the furnishings
who knows if she feels/felt the desire for something to call her own

still haven't learned

a little consistently wins over a lot sporadically
do i know this -- yes
do i practice this --no not yet anyway
two slap-in-the-face reminders today

1. write a series of articles then compile these into a book

• God is in the details -- Israelites' clothes not wearing out nor their feet swelling during the forty years (Nehemiah), when Israelites went to Jerusalem to worship, they didn't have to worry about things being safe back at home, the year before they were supposed to let the land rest the crop yield was double
  
• God is in the big picture -- Israelites in Egyptian bondage

2. book of favorite Bible stories -- if i were limited to twelve stories, which would i tell?

• why we can believe in God -- creation, nature
  
• why we can believe in Christ -- only Christ died for the sins of the world, was raised from the dead, and is still reigning in heaven
• where do we come into the picture

i guess really these are the main topics, now what would the specific stories be?
here goes brainstormed list:
creation
Sampson
judges
kings
birth of Christ
destruction of Jerusalem
Abraham
Moses - beginning, middle, end
captivity
Daniel
return from captivity
examples of people who were pleasing to God
Hebrews 11
book of James
children in wilderness - laws, number of people, provisions
providence of God
what we can learn from the past
what we can do today
how to be like Christ
Christ did not proclaim His own glory
compare Christ to other world and religious leaders
write stories for audience of first time hearers

narrow down and refine this list

breakthrough

my doctor told me the other day to exercise three times a week thirty minutes at a time and that it is not even necessary to break a sweat -- this whole time i thought my exercise was doing me no good unless i was pushing myself to the max and really burning the calories...strikes me as the model phenomena i.e. if we are not as thin and pretty as models then we are fat and ugly -- same here, if we don't qualify for the front cover of FIT magazine then we are couch potatoes

Remember to follow up on...

heard the other day about blog tours and blog buses
want to have jenny develop a blog site of her creative stuff
find other creative people and have one of these tours
also found out it is possible to publish books through Amazon

venturing forth

I've tried writing many times. I often have thoughts and ideas that I want to share and receive feedback on, but this particular and practical way of corresponding never occurred to me. I look forward to this being an open learning experience for all of us who wish to participate.