Snow Sculptures

The snow has been beautiful. I love the glow our lamp casts in the predawn light.

A few blocks away someone braved the cold to sculpt this horse from a mound snow. 

Farther down the street we were once again thrilled with this design.  It is completely sculpted from snow and finished off with beautiful paint.

 

Bbbrrr! Baby it's cold outside!

Rachel

Happy New Year!

As the crystal ball dropped on Time Square in NYC, the clock in our downtown chimed midnight, and 2013 came to Central Indiana. 

 

Across the snow covered rooftops, the clock face on the tower of the courthouse, could be seen illuminating the darkness.  With steady certainty it ticked away the seconds.

 

As people all around the world celebrated the New Year, our young daughter cried.

 I wanted to cry too.

She said, "There is no way I will EVER live to see 12-12-12 again, and 2012 seemed like it only lasted a week."

In the darkness we talked together about not letting fear and sadness and regret steal our joy for the moment. 

This moment is what we have and we need to feel its' joy and embrace its' essence.

  Still she cried. 

She shares a grief that I attempt to carry in silence.

Time is priceless.

  Time is urgent.

  Time once gone cannot be replaced. 

 Every minute counts. 

The thought is always in the forefront of my mind that the way I spend my time matters.  For me, it is difficult to see time pass and feel confident that I have done my best with each moment I have been given.

I don't want to squander the precious commodity of time.

I am a goal setter.

I am a list maker.

However, I rarely make New Year's Resolutions.

Each day is a fresh chance to improve and do better.

 

This one thing I know...

 

...forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on.

Philippians 3:14

 

Happy New Year!  Happy 2013!  Happy Day!  

 

I am embracing it, to do my best with what I have!

Rachel

What'sa Girl To Do? It's A Long Story!

And so there are the "blingy" fashion blogs and the shelter blogs.  The blogs who are full of DIY or spiritual insight.  I've read blogs that describe themselves as mommy blogs or garden blogs. There are the blogs who air their laundry, dirty or not.  Some write political blogs and photography blogs...cooking blogs...decor blogs...advertising blogs and on and on it goes...business blogs, word blogs, coupon blogs, sales blogs and craft blogs, blogs blogs blogs.  Name one.  It's there. 

 

It's such a beautiful thing, this thing called blogging.

 

Then there are the "Blog Rules".  Rules? Yes, rules.  Everyone knows you are supposed to follow the rules.  If only you follow the 10 steps to successful blogging you will soon have a plethora of follower's comments and  rising rock star status.  I'm not denying the importance of any of this. You've read it too:  always remember why you have a blog, oh yeah, and um have plenty of high quality photos (sorry) and keep your words to a minimum (sorry again...at least with this posting)  set an appointment with your blog because your audience depends on it, stay true to your original intent for having a blog, develop a network and community, build friendships ( with random strangers around the world) globally, make sure your blog is eye catching, advertise...or is it no don't advertise (just kidding...the blogging community is all over the map on this one) know your audience, say what THEY want to hear not what YOU want to say (oops again), make sure it's pretty, interesting, entertaining, informative and the list continues.

 

So what are you supposed to do as a blogger (like in...me, myself and I) when you are random and busy and just simply like to blog, because you...simply like to blog?  And you don't necessarily have anything interesting to say or a fabulous life experience to relate or anything necessarily insightful, spiritual, pretty or yummy to show and tell? 

 

OK here goes. 

 

Are you ready for this? 

 

I have a blog because my niece who has blogged since blog time began (or for like 10ish years literally) told me I "needed" a blog and set it up, and then emailed me and said here it is, now blog!  So I waited 3 months and figured out how to write a post and have NEVER published my first blog entry.  Nope, probably never will either.

 

Then I waited 3 more months and thought,  "Hey, a blog would be a great place to sell stuff."  So I started writing blog posts and attempting to build an online boutique with items similar to the ones I sell locally in our Historical Downtown.  And I did sell some "stuff".  In the meantime other work opportunities came along that were more practical than selling "stuff".  One opportunity led to the next and since I started posting on my blog back in January 2008 I've gotten busier than I could have ever imagined.  I haven't been selling "stuff"  through my blog so my original reason for starting to blog literally fell by the wayside. 

 

Across these five years, I have realized that I miss blogging when life is too busy to keep up with personal, family and business demands and certainly doesn't allow time for blogging.  

 

A gentleman in his 80's whom our family admires recently told me, "Rachel, I hope you are writing, writing your story, somewhere besides your blog."  His comment took me back.  Sometimes in the silence there are thoughts and emotions that cannot be expressed adequately until those feelings give birth to words.  The birthing of words, if there really is such a thing, can be painful and labor intensive.  For I believe once a word is spoken or written it becomes an action, it takes wing and flits thither and yon, sometimes never landing and certainly never to be retrieved.  Once it leaves you, it is gone.  In a frightening sort of way your thoughts have been exposed, no longer in the shield of your internal embrace.  Yet there is freedom in expression when the thought brings words of light and encouragement. 

 

In reality I don't fit the "rules" I suppose.  But what's new?  I was taught to think deep thoughts and feel deeply.  I was taught to do the "right" thing whether it fit the "rules" or not.  I guess I'm just saying I don't fit into the polished plan of 10 steps to successful blogging and all that.  And that is OK.

 

I've lived long enough to learn that every life has dark chapters. Sometimes there is no way to fix it or make it pretty, and I like talking to you, so when I can come out onto the porch long enough to chat and have a little visit, that's exactly what I like to do.  I like visiting with you and hearing what you have to say.  What you say matters to me.

 

On a side note, recently I was contacted by someone who wanted their wedding to be based on the theme "A Romantic Porch" as in THIS blog.  Really?  Yeah, really!  If this blog inspired them to have "A Romantic Porch"  themed wedding and hopefully a romantic life, well then, I'm all over that!  

 

I better go.  It's getting late.  It's a little chilly on the porch tonight and family duties are calling.

 

It's been great to chat.  Have a wonderful weekend. 

 

TTFN,

Rachel

My Mother's Birthday and Voting

On January 7, 1917, a tiny bundle of  female joy named
 Ernesteen Frances Shumaker
  was born to an United States in which women had no right to vote.  This baby was my mother.

 

It was not until the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 1920 that women were given the right to vote in a Federal election in the USA.  If you choose to research these facts you will find that there were many years of hard fought battles for women to gain this privilege.

 

It takes my breath away when I say, "If my mother were living today, she would be 95 years old."  Ninety five? Are you kiddin' me? Women didn't have the right to vote until she was 3 years of age.

 

Women have had this privilege to exercise the freedom of opinion and cast a vote for a candidate whom they feel best represents their values, for 92 years.  THAT'S ALL. Just 92 years.  As I ponder these facts it reinforces in my mind how quickly time passes and how the causes that we feel passionately about can take deep roots and effect generations right on down the line so to speak. 

 

I cast my ballot on October 31, 2012 because early voting is available in our state.  As I went through the line I asked the people manning the poll stations, what controls they had in place for voter fraud and how the ballots were secured and counted.  When I finally took my place in the voting booth I was overcome with a weighty sense of responsibility and awesome freedom that is mine.  I can do this, this very thing called voting.  If the people who had gone before me and my mother had not been passionate about THEIR rights then THIS right might never have been mine.

 

And so I VOTED.  Prayerfully I VOTED. 

 

May I always be faithful to the freedoms that I believe are the right of EVERY American...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

 

Embrace the day.  Embrace the future.

Rachel

Solace

 

Such concern and worry is written on the expressions and laced into conversations of people almost everywhere.

 

I am not immune to this tho I try to keep my mind focused on the task at hand and attempt to still my anxious heart before the Creator of all mankind.

 

After inner turmoil and fretfulness about all the future holds, today's reading of Psalm 27 was a clear antidote for my quaking soul.

 

I hope you will take time to read this timely scripture and find solace there also.

Life: A Gift

As I ponder my birthday and celebrate another year that has swiftly come and gone, I am grateful for life.  I am happy to have another birthday.  I am elated beyond expression. 

Easily with different choices, my life might never have come to be. 

I've said that I am blessed to be the youngest of the ten children born to my parents. 

I remember mother telling me how cute she thought her first baby was when he came into the world on Christmas Day all those years ago.  It seems I still hear the tone of her " mother love" coming through her words.  She had a plethora of cute stories telling the capers of her first born.  She would laugh as she told it as though it had simply happened earlier that morning.

After about three years the cute big brother had a darling baby sister and early one morning after her birth the phone rang.  When Daddy answered, I was told that Papa (my daddy's dad) said to daddy, "Now Gordon, you have a boy and a girl. That's enough.  Stop there!"  They chose not too.

Their fourth baby, a boy, was stillborn after mother suffered a tragic hemorrhage, nearly losing her life as well.  Interestingly enough, baby boy number four, isn't counted as one of the 10.  He makes our sibling total 11. He was quietly and lovingly referred to as the baby that didn't live.  Mother and Daddy always said they had 5 boys and 5 girls.  This may seem strange in today's culture.  I know times have changed and the way loss is acknowledged and expressed  is different.  However, I suppose, this is one of the ways they taught us to be careful and respectful of the private and intimate things of life. As I remember it, mother said the doctor told her not to have any more children, but they wanted more.  

AND so they had more.

Seven more.

Mother said she was amazed how each person in the family loved each new baby and God always provided for their needs as their family grew. They were criticized, but they chose their family.

Mother LOVED her babies.  She bathed us and fed us and hugged us and kissed us and prayed for us and taught us to work hard and be strong and realize that today may be difficult and discouraging but tomorrow will probably be better.  She was gentle and discerning and taught us to be kind.  Daddy LOVED us.  He was strong and faithful and consistent and wise. He was serious and stern.  He provided for us and prayed for us and taught us to work harder than hard and work as a team and OBEY. Mother and Daddy set an example of selfless love and caring for their family and those whom their lives touched.

I love my siblings deeply.   I can't imagine life without ALL of us. Each one of us brings a unique detail to the tapestry of our family with our strengths and weaknesses.  The ebb and flow of life pulls us and stretches us to be more together than we can be separately, forming a woven bond of unity and family.

I never expected birthdays to begin to happen so quickly, but I'm happy to have one every.single.time. it pops up!  It's fun to have a birthday.  No,  I'm not gonna moan and groan about another birthday.  I'm gonna be happy and celebrate it.

 My birthday is my parents gift to ME every single day of my life!!

From the depths of my being I am grateful.

I have struggled with words to share my thoughts from deep inside. This is something I have pondered across several, yes, many years.  They chose life and without their choice of life I would not exist.   I don't want this to sound egotistical or cliche. 

With deepest sincerity, I feel this.  I am blessed beyond measure. 

At times it is almost more than I can comprehend.  I carry the burden of not squandering the days they gave me.  I want to live wisely and carefully.  I want to live with joy and happiness.  I want the days I live to be filled with meaningful moments for myself and others.  Of course, I've had those hot stinging tears of pain, or of misunderstanding and hurt and loss or frustration and discouragement mixed with fear and uncertainty.  However, at the end of the day, there is deep deep peace and joy.  I trust THAT is my identity, not my age. 

And so yep.  I just celebrated a birthday.  I suppose you would say I'm a year older.  More than anything though, I want to be a year wiser and more mature from the lessons I've learned and the challenges I've faced.  I want to be discerning of my role in the world around me and to the needs of others.  I trust I'm more loving and kind from working through relationships.  And hopefully I am more settled in realizing that I am "me" because I am supposed to be "ME".

Celebrate your life today and be happy.  It was no accident.  You are you because you are supposed to be!

Soon to Be A Bride!

She was tall and thin, a precious breath of humanity, with sparkling dark brown eyes fringed with the longest of eyelashes.  Her smile was charming and her voice danced with cheer as she spoke.  She came home from college last week and called to see if I could fit her for a bridesmaid dress. 

When she stepped across the threshold of our front door she laughed as she spoke, "If you can take my size 18 prom dress down to a size 2, I know that this dress is going to be no problem at all."

As I took her measurements and pinned the necessary adjustments, we reminisced.  I told her I was looking forward to the day I would fit her wedding dress.  With a gorgeous expression, she said, "Hopefully that will be coming up soon!"  I felt a spark of joy inside, knowing that she will bring me shimmering fabric with just the right amount of rhinestones and sequins.  Then bittersweet emotions began to fold through the pages of my heart.   I've watched her grow from a young high school student as she left the awkward lines of adolescence behind and waltzed through prom seasons and snowflake balls and now friends who are becoming brides.  One day she will walk out my door carrying her wedding gown sized perfectly for her special day and I will ask myself if I will ever see her beautiful face again?

I am touched by so many lives.

I am blessed.

I pray I am faithful to the many people I encounter each day...

...my family first and then others.