True Riches

I just love this picture. It was taken on Father's Day when Aurora Lilly (our granddaughter) and her mama came over to visit. Tim was worn out, as usual, (poor guy) and just taking it easy. I like to call her my little "Gerber Baby" I think she looks just like the perfect little baby that's on Gerber baby food products.

She has blue eyes and red hair. Just like her gramma!! Well, to be fair, her other gramma also has red hair and her daddies beard is red. So genetically, the odds were good, that it would turn out red. She's just so beautiful. And I'm not prejudice a bit am I?!

Having grandchildren is just wonderful and I have loved every minute of it. I don't know how I ever got along with out them. Never for a moment have I felt that it somehow meant that I was old! However, my birthday is coming up and that would be an aging factor. Tim and I both would have loved it if we had had more children. That didn't work out but, these granchildren are just a Gift. One that we both have loved everything about. Proverbs 17:6

This is me with our oldest, Estella Cheri. She and her brother got to come hang out with us for a couple of weeks this spring. What good times we did have! But let me tell you, I had to learn all over again how to keep up with two very active kids. Can't you just see the mischievousness twinkle in her eyes here? Personality, that's what it is. Life would be so boring if we didn't have little ones to keep us young. The way they think is still so innocent and moldable.  Sigh....just wish that somehow we could find a way to keep that and not let life hurt them and change them.

I know it's not possible and life does change us. No one's life is perfect. We all bear our own burdens and have our secret pain. I guess it's what you do with it that can, either make you a better person or make you a "not so better" person.

With my birthday nearing....I'll be 45....I've been reflecting on my life and what has been good and what I wish I could change. Of course, we can't change what has already been done, but you can change what 'will be' to a very great degree. I made my choice years ago, after the birth of my youngest. I decided I definitely did not like the way my life was going. I was living a completely self centered life that revolved around the things that I wanted. Nothing would get in the way of my desires. If I wanted something I went after it and didn't care who got hurt in the process.

I was 23.  (yep, I had all three of my kids before that age.) It's sort of a magic age for me. That was when my life changed... It wasn't over night, in fact it was a pretty long and hard process to change and repair all the damage I had done. I couldn't even see all of it for a long time. Even being able to see how my actions affected others, took some time. Time for me to grow and learn. But, I had decided that I wanted something better for my kids. I didn't want them to grow up in this -'sometimes messed up World'- without a Divine Guidance in our lives. Yes, that's when I decided to live my life the way Jesus taught us to. As I said, life was not somehow magically made into the Garden of Eden again. No, but at least we had a better direction to walk in. He left some really good instructions to follow.

This is Tim throwing rocks in the creek with our grandson Everitt Sean. He is just something else! We just plain have fun with him.
A few weeks ago he was at our house and his folks were out with their friends. It was getting late and I said  to him and his sister "we better get ready to go 'nite nite'." He looked at me with a big happy smile and very politely said "no tanks" (no thanks) and went about playing with his toys as if that had settled it. What a funny little guy! (yeah, I let them stay up later, who could resist that?!)

Our family gives us so much joy!


~ One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. ~ Jesus  Luke 12:15

Smelling the Honeysuckle

Did you ever find one of these when you were young?

I found this nest and the egg separately the other day and it brought back all these memories of feeling young, summer and pure joy at having found such a treasure.

I wonder if it was just me or if there are other people who have found their peace in the things of nature?

When I was a girl, I found pure joy in these things, a nest and a bird's egg. Sunny flowers would make me smile, the summer sun and a water hose were the perfect combination. Who could ask for more?
Somewhere along the line, life got in the way of these simple things. I forgot to smell the flowers, to watch the birds, to feel the rain on my face.
After all, it was just life and it was hard and wasn't going the way I had planned.

I would cry out to God to change things and make it better. 
I would wonder why He didn't hear me. I would dwell even more on all my problems and seek Him harder. Thinking that I was doing something wrong for God to not hear me. I tried many ways to please Him. It all seemed to no avail.
Then one day, someone mentioned the following verses from the New Testament to me and felt they should be taken literally as an anecdote for depression and anxiety.
Let me share them with you.








~ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin,  yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ~ 


These words were spoken by Jesus when he walked on this Earth. 

I remember reading a book written about life in Appalachia. I don't recall the name of the book or the author, but I do remember that they mentioned smelling the honeysuckle in the air. At the time I thought, "that's funny, I've never smelled it before. I wonder why?" I even went and intentionally smelled honeysuckle....but no, I just didn't remember ever smelling it before.

So, I began to implement "the Jesus cure for depression" into my life. First, Tim made a greenhouse and I began to grow flowers from seed. My daughter and I made flower beds that we planted all of these in. I bought field guides about birds, butterflies, wildflowers and herbs. I made and put up bird feeders in my yard and I started feeding the hummingbirds. I began to go for walks just for the purpose of searching out new plants and identifying them. I started making new friends through the internet that had the same interests. Slowly I discovered I was noticing things I never had before. Nature.... that had always been there, began to take on new appearances...or so it seemed to me.  The grass was simply greener wherever I looked, trees were so fascinating to me, I  was noticing flowers and herbs that I'd just never seen before. When I would look at these, I would thank God in my heart for creating them. I would think of Him "looking at all that He had made and saying It Was Good." Genesis 1

Then one day, it happened, I smelled the honeysuckle.... it was in the very air around me and what  a heavenly scent it was! It was surely there all along....At that moment I realized that I was getting better. I was healing from the hurts and disappointments that had destroyed my joy. The "Jesus Cure" was working. 

Have you smelled the honeysuckle today? 

Summer Days and Summer Nights

Hibiscus. Beautiful summer flower. It always begins to bloom when the heat turns up. I grew some from seed a few years ago and ended up with three different colors. You don't know what color you'll get, when you start from seed. They don't always remain true to the mother plant. Beautiful flower, very tropical looking. It's my daughter-in-laws favorite. But then, she loves the heat of summer too.

This is another color with some Purple Coneflower (echinacea) growing along the edge of it. You can also see part of a tomato cage. That's the way I garden. I like to call it Cottage Gardening. Some might just call it a jungle! I love the tangled, natural look of it.
This type of gardening has it's roots in Colonial times and before that, England. The pioneers of this country would often grow their flowers/ herbs/ medicine and to some extent, vegetables, all together. Usually right outside the kitchen door. This might inspire you to make your own. Myself, I just plant it and watch what happens.

Last night, after the sun went down, we sat in the backyard enjoying the cool night air. For my simple camera this is the best night picture I could come up with. Maybe I'll just try to write a word picture for you....

In this part of the country even on the hottest day, when the sun sets, the air begins to cool. The ever present humidity only adds to the coolness. Dampening your skin and cooling with the air. As the light fades, the temperature cools until you are most comfortable. Neither hot or cold.

The fireflies begin to light up the fields and forest edges. First, just a few, but gradually they increase their flickering. I watch the trees darken into soft shadowy mounds. The moon rises just above them.

Then, slowly the chorus begins....Tree frogs, Cicadas and of course the Mockingbirds and other mysterious sounds that I wonder about. Nature has so much to say here. I sit in my backyard and soak it all in. The sounds of summer. The day fades away and once again I sigh in pure gratitude  for His wonderful Creation.

Yeah, it's me again. I know it's been a while, I'll explain in a bit. This picture is just a lovely view from a customers house we worked at recently. It doesn't really do it justice but I did try.

We do love this part of country. It is abnormally dry and yet this place is greener than anywhere else I've ever lived. The wildflowers keep blooming, the birds keep singing and the beauty of it just flows on.

Now for the explanation......drum roll......not really. We have just been extremely busy and I've been making adjustments to that. I've been making a lot of them at this point in my life. Won't bore you with the details however.

When I started this blog I really just wanted a place to write. I love to write. I love to read. I love the way words can be so expressive. To try and describe a feeling or write a picture with words is just a challenge that I love.
Somewhere, I got the idea I should make this like an outdoor hiking blog. I love to hike and be in nature and so does Tim. So, it seemed only natural. However.....at this juncture in our lives the reality is, that hiking much is not fitting in. I have had to come to the realization of what is most important.
This is the list I've come up with ~ God....Tim.....family....work.....finishing our house. I found out by the time I'm done with those not much hiking fits in.
So.....anyone who would like to stop following me may do so completely free of guilt! (smiling) Really!

I intend to keep writing but it will mostly include things from the above list. Although...part of finishing our house will include landscaping "Beth style". If that interests anyone.
To be fair I must also let you know that yes, I'm a Christian, of the "Born-Again" variety. And that is such a big part of me that I will sometimes write about that. Just to let you know. (smiling once again)

Now, if anyone is left....This is my backyard. Or the woods directly behind the fenced in area we have for the grand kids and of course our very hyper active dog!

Another view. It really is a lovely and full of old growth trees. Not sure how old. It's old enough that just past the new growth coming up in the front, is a Woods that is pretty much free of the brush y under growth that is almost impossible to walk through (think jungle) and so common where forests have been logged.



This is the plan....since we can't get out hiking much. I will continue to read my favorite hiking blogs and enjoy it all vicariously. And since we are really blessed with this great little bit of nature in our back yard, I want to begin turning the backyard into a nice little haven. Where we can go and relax without ever leaving home. Hopefully, I'll post about that process.


One final warning. I will post about my faith and some do find that offensive. For what reason, I'm not really sure, but if you do I'm sorry to see you go. I have other thoughts I could add but, I'll leave it here for now. Maybe another time.
I appreciate any who stay and read. You are most welcome here. To be honest, I'm really just writing because I love it so much. It does something for me, to express things in words. I would write if no one ever read it. I don't do it for recognition. I do it because, I have a need to.