Small and Wonderful Things

 "The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life.   It's the small things in life which truly mean the most.  Simple abundance . . . it's the best.



Ferocious little green dinosaurs on Halloween.   I think they are just the bees knees, don't you?  Apparently she had talked about being nothing else in the few months prior to Halloween.  I see so much of her mother in Maryn.  Those few hours I got to spend playing with her on the day I flew back to England last spring were so precious to me.  We had such a great time and I hope that she got to know me even a little bit.  I treasure that memory in my heart.



I must give equal time to Blue Monsters!  Cameron is such a sweet little Blue Monster.  He can come and spook my house any time!  He has the most beautiful blue eyes.  I know I am a bit biased, but I think I have adorable grandbabies.



I love my daughter very much.  She is a great wife and mother.  I always knew she would be.   From the time she was a very little girl she excelled at everything she set her mind to being or doing.  I can remember her in Elementary school being very upset and distraught one day because she had gotten a few spelling mistakes.  I told her that it was ok not to be perfect.  As long as she tried her best that was all that had mattered.  She always worked hard at her school work, and in sports.  She never caused her father or I any concern.  She was a good girl.  We could always trust when she went out that she would not get into any trouble.  She graduated highschool with honors and won scholerships and bursaries to University, where she also graduated with honors with a Nursing Degree.  Since then she has worked as an RN at a prestigious children's hospital, for the most part in Oncology and has been taking her Masters over the past few years.  It takes longer when you are raising a family as well as working, but I know she will do it in the end and do it well.  She is married to a lovely man and they are a sweet, sweet family.  I hope that she knows how very proud I am of her and how much I love them all.

 

I know I live far away from them now, but my family is the most important thing in my life.   I hope that I won't always have to live so far away from them.  From the time I was a little girl, all I ever wanted was to be a wife and a mother.  All of my children are counted as the greatest blessings in my life along with Todd.   It was a priviledge for me to be able to bring them up and not a day goes by that I don't think of each of them at least a bazillion times, or pray for each of them at least a bazillion times.  At the end of the day the family is the single most precious gift we have been given here on earth by our loving Heavenly Father and when we leave here to return it is our families we will bring with us.  Families are eternal and I am grateful for that knowledge and truth in my life.



Not on my watch, or if I can help it.  I had a beautiful dream on Saturday evening.  In my dream everyone in my family was in this big beautiful house.   Literally everyone was there . . . mom, dad, sister and brother, nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren, Todd . . . my whole family.  It was such a vivid and a very special dream.  The house was beautiful and had stained glass windows, and we were all together.  I think this was a little glimpse of heaven . . . .



We may not always see eye to eye, and we may disappoint each other from time to time.  We may not even always like each other but there is a thread of love that is woven through a family that nothing can break.  It is the strongest thread ever . . .

 

It is the story of us.  Who we were, who we are, and who we are becoming . . .



It begins with two people who love each other and it grows and it grows and it grows . . .



It is forever and always.  It is happy times and sad times and all things in between . . . 



It is the old and the new . . .



Togetherness, no matter what no matter when . . .



It brings us great joy.  It is a living, breathing thing, which expands and expands and is . . .



Quite literally everything to me.



I am eternally grateful for my family.   They are a blessing to me.



A thought to carry with you through today . . .

Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Just get up and dance.
Great dancers are not great
because of their technique,
they are great because of their passion.
~Martha Graham  

 

Cooking in The English Kitchen today  . . . Brat and Spud Autumn Warmer.   Deliciously simple!

I hope that you have a Monday filled with many small and wonderful things!