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.

Yesterday was Fast and Testimony meeting at my church.  On the first Sunday of the month after the sacrament has been passed, people are invited to come up to the front and bear their testimonies.  I love to hear how God has been working in people's lives. Hearing other people's testimonies always helps to uplift and to strengthen my own.  I don't get up and give my own very often, mostly because I am shy.  But I don't know what was up with yesterday, I found myself going up and being the first one to bear their testimony. It was like some kind of power was propelling me up out of my seat.  I felt very good about it afterwards.  It is good to speak to others about your love of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ, and to share about the goodness of God.

 

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I always travel to and from church with Glenna. I enjoy those minutes we spend together in the car catching up with what we have been doing over the previous week. We have a laugh or two, sometimes a cry, but it is always good.  It is funny how things go. Before I went over to live in the U.K. I did not know Glenna at all, and could never have conceived of us being friends.  When I came back from the U.K. and was still in the motel, she came to the motel one day, masked, with a bouquet of flowers and a card for  me to help welcome me back.  Who would have ever thought that we would be living so close to each other in the end and become friends who care about each other, or that we would discover  that we were distant cousins?  Life holds such intriguing twists and turns. 

She showed me this nature park that is not too far from where I live yesterday. It is just down the road, but there is a place to park the car and a dedicated graveled path through it. She says there is a gazebo and a pond with turtles, etc. You start at one end of the parking lot and it takes you round in a loop coming out at the other end, back at the parking lot.  There are no seats however so you would need to bring your own so that you could rest  along the way if need be.  I think Cindy and Dan might find it interesting.

 

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My page is still not up (the food blog.) I am trying to remain hopeful. Every so often a wave of despair will hit, but I try not to pay too much attention to those feelings. My brother is doing his best and I think he is getting closer to solving the problem.  In the meantime I just keep slogging along.

I was greatly uplifted by finally figuring out how to upload a video to YouTube, all on my own. I know some may not see that as anything special, but it was a very big deal to me. I was also greatly encouraged by the support of the many who visited, liked, subscribed, left comments, etc.  I did learn some lessons as well.

One is to wear a different top so that nobody is bothered by my cleavage. (I had no idea, but I guess when filming from above it shows!)  Two, move the cats dishes. And people want to see me. That one I am not sure about. I will have to work hard on that one. I am not entirely comfortable with that, but I need to get more comfortable with the idea I think.

But I did it once, and am hopeful that I can do it again!

 

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I was greatly encouraged by all of the support given and the comments left by people who had taken the time to watch the video. I managed to respond to each one, which did take some time, but I think is worth the time taken.  I have always felt that if someone can take the time to comment, I should take the time to respond.  That can take a lot of time on my part, responding to comments on all of my channels. Here, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now YouTube. I am not complaining!  I appreciate each and every interaction!

Do you blog or whatnot?  Can you remember how you felt the very first time someone commented on what you had posted?  I can!  I was amazed that anyone even wanted to read what I had written. I was thrilled.  I still am thrilled and I hope that feeling is not one that ever goes away.

 

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It has been very hot and humid these past couple of days.  I am so grateful for the heat pump which helps to keep things at a tolerable temperature in here.  We had a tiny bit of thunder yesterday and it did rain quite a bit.  We need a good thunderstorm however.  That will help to break the humidity. The heat warning is still in effect for today. It is expected to once again be very warm and humid.  

That is the one thing about summer that I don't really like.  The humidity. I don't mind it being hot. Hot I can cope with. The humidity however, that just makes you feel very lethargic.  It was worse in the U.K. because nobody had air conditioning so there was no respite from it. Thankfully it never lasted long. Most of the time the temperatures over there were quite tolerable.

 

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Sunday dinner with the family, with Cindy, Dan and dad.  It means so much to me that they include me on Sundays.  I love spending time with my family and take none of it for granted.  My sister always cooks a beautiful meal.  Yesterday it was roast chicken. It was delicious.  She had roasted vegetables with it, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, tender-stem broccoli. It was all delicious.  However good the meal though, the best part is always spending time with the family.  When I was in the U.K. I really missed being able to spend time with my family. I used to long for it and those few times that I was able to get home were always a great blessing for me. 

I am grateful for the sister that I have and for the time we get to spend together. I am also very grateful that my father is still with us and for the time I get to spend with him.  And for Dan and his enthusiasm for everything he is involved in. He is not a half in kind of a guy. If he is invested, he is totally invested. We should all be more like Dan.

 

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I am so grateful for time, and for the time I have been given. Unto each of us is appointed an allotment of time.  Each morning when I open my eyes I say a silent thankyou to God for having given me the gift of another day here.  A fresh page to write upon.  What I write upon it is up to me. My choice.  Oh for sure, things will happen in my days that are out of my control, but within my control is still the way I react to them, the way I cope with the happenings in my life.  Rolling with the punches.  We are strengthened in the struggle. It can often be difficult to see that. More often than not it isn't until later on that we can see the good things which have come out of our struggles. It is a gift to be able to do that.  There are some things which happen which won't ever seem like a gift.  Things which we will never be able to understand or begin to comprehend.  I have a special place to store those things.  I try hard not to carry them around with me all the time. The weight of such things is often unbearable. I try to hand those things over to God.  That is the only thing I can do and what works best for me. I just say, "here, you take it, for I cannot carry it today."  That is me, and I am grateful for my ability to be able to do that.

 

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I am always amazed at how quick people are to make judgements about others. I have also been guilty of that at times I admit, however hard I try not to. I guess we are all human.  I have to believe however, that most people are doing the best that they can.  I know it is not a safe thing to have one's financial support in life totally reliant upon the Internet, and I have been aware of the precariousness of  such a situation all along.  Trust me when I say that over these past few years I have been well aware of that.  Unfortunately I do not have the benefit of having much in the way of other alternatives.  

I have not been blessed in life to have rich husbands, or to have worked in any kind of career which has afforded me good retirement benefits.  Admittedly, I have made some very poor choices. Three failed marriages where I was left with nothing from any of my husbands, none of which to be honest had anything to give.  I have always struggled financially, my whole life. I did not have the benefit of being able to have an investment portfolio, or even much as far as savings go. Most of the time I have only made enough to just get by on, and I have been grateful for that.  

I spent most of my adult life raising a family of five children.  I did work outside the home whenever I could, but never at anything which would afford me much in the way of financial security. I cleaned other people's homes, I did child minding. I cleaned offices.  Did typing for people, etc.  I always worked, and worked hard, just never at anything which would afford me any kind of financial support in my old age.  

When I was able to I went back to school and got career training and was able to work at that for a number of years, just not long enough to gain me anything pension-wise. I am penalized by Canada for having left the country and I have been told that I was not in the UK long enough to be entitled to anything.

I say this not because I want anyone to feel sorry for me. I do not.  I just want certain people to be aware that not everyone has had the benefit of making the choices in life that others have, and that I have always done the best that I could do within my own circumstances.  I will say though, that I have never been unkind, and I would never be unkind. How much better to try to lift a brother up when he is down, rather than step on him and to rejoice in their suffering.

I don't know if my food blog will ever be back up again. My brother has worked tirelessly at trying to get it up.  For some reason my cname records are not accessible by Google's nameservers, and he has been unable to enable SSL on the blog.  He is trying to find a solution, but at this point it is not looking good. It is what it is for now. I do believe that God has a plan for me and I am trusting in that whilst looking for alternatives. I would not wish this situation on anyone, or celebrate in anyone else finding themselves in this situation. It is not a very nice place to be, but it is what it is. I cannot, will not, believe that my Heavenly Father has carried me this far just to drop me now. Something will come up. 

Please continue to pray for me. Your prayers are very much appreciated.

And I best leave you now with a thought for the day  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *What you get by achieving your goals

is not as important as what you

become by achieving your goals.

~Henry David Thoreau° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

I hope that you have a beautiful day. If you are in a place which is very hot and humid, do take care.  Hydrate and stay as cool as you can.  Whatever you get up to don't forget!

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And I do too!