Hills and Hills of Daffodils

I love yellow. It’s such a happy color. Most of the interior of my house is painted a warm, buttery, yellow.  But nothing does yellow better or says “spring” louder than a hillside full of daffodils.

If I were a poet I know these flowers would inspire me, but since I’m not, I borrowed one from Robert Frost to share with you.

A Prayer in Spring

Robert Frost
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

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Lightning Bolt Moments

One of my all time favorite movies is Sergeant York. I showed it to my history classes every year. At first they would complain because it was obviously an old film (black and white), but after a few minutes they were hooked. You have to know a little about the movie to understand the rest of this post, so let me clue you in.

Alvin York was a back woods country boy with a God fearing mother who prayed for him daily.  Alvin ignored her lifestyle and stayed drunk as much as possible. One night while walking through the woods (he was plastered again) during a thunderstorm a lightening bolt struck a tree right in front of him, missing him by inches. Alvin had enough fear of the Lord in him to realize he had just stared death in the face and been spared. That moment changed his life. From then on he went to church, studied his Bible and did his best to follow Jesus. If you want to know what else happened you will have to watch the movie or read a history book.

You don’t have to be Alvin York to experience life changing moment. I’ve known other people who have experienced this as well. They may not have seen a bolt of lightning, but something happened that opened their eyes and caused their spiritual life to turn around.

Why am I sharing this? Because you may know someone who is on the path of destruction. You may want to help, but don’t know how. You may be waiting for them to experience a “lightening bolt moment.”  Love them. Keep praying for them and never, ever give up no matter how discouraged you become.

No matter how confused or troubled a person becomes, God can heal them. The next time you see a drunk lying on a park bench or hear of someone being arrested for drugs, think about Alvin and pray those folks have a “lightening bolt moment” before it’s too late.

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Thursday Thoughts on Warmth

It is hard not to talk about the weather this winter. All over the world it has definitely been unusually harsh. Yesterday I went out to put wood in our stove and practically ran back to the house (running for me is unusual) to get inside where it was warm. At least we didn’t get snow this week like our neighbors to the north. I’ll bet even Oprah found it hard to get around in Chicago this week.

I heard that the groundhog didn’t see his shadow and supposedly spring is on the way, but just in case he’s wrong I ordered some more wood from the guy who supplies ours.

February is the month I start yearning for warmer weather, the beach, and the sound of the ocean. Yesterday my aunt posted this picture on her Facebook page. I almost couldn’t bear to look at it.

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She’s in Mexico on vacation. Boy, will she have a rude awakening when she gets back home!

Where ever you are, dear reader, I hope you are safe and warm.  Hugs to you….Teresa

Thursday Thoughts About Liking Someone

I “like” you. Do you “like” me? Circle yes or no.

Believe it or not I can still remember passing notes like this at school. I think I was in second or third grade when I hit this stage. I don’t think kids ” like” people anymore. Now days it’s called “talking to someone,” which doesn’t make sense to me. I talk to people all the time but that doesn’t mean I “like” them. In fact there are lots of folks I talk to that I wish I could use a remote control on them and mute them. Loud, obnoxious parents at ballgames for instance (always parents of the opposing team of course!)

This morning I received an email from someone wanting me to “like” their Facebook page. Obviously the word “like” has changed meaning over the years. I went to the Facebook page that the person had requested me to “like” and decided that I did like it.  (Are you sick of the word “like” yet?…if not keep reading).

Facebook is an amazing way to connect with people, organizations, etc. and most of the time I “like” it, but sometimes I don’t (is there a dislike button somewhere?)

I don’t play games and so when people send me requests for roosters for their farm in Farmville, I don’t respond.

I don’t like foul language or hurtful messages and so if anyone chooses to say those things, I “hide” them or remove them all together.

After reading this post if you still have the energy and inclination to “like” me, please go to the NanaHood and TheNanaBlogs Facebook page and “like” me.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/NanaHood-and-theNanaBlogs/179831745558

You’ll be glad you did, and by the way, I will be happy to “like” you back!

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Thursday Thoughts on Pinto Beans for Breakfast

This morning I woke up at 10 minutes after 7.  To get to work by 8 I have to leave here by 7:40. That didn’t leave me much time to do anything but the absolute basics. On the way out the door I went looking for a pop tart but there were none to be found. I arrived at work on time, but hungry.

I grabbed a cup of coffee, got to work and soon forgot about my stomach. Then a co-worker brought in a pot of pinto beans that she intended to share with us at lunch. I couldn’t wait, so I had pinto beans for breakfast.

In my grandmother’s younger days when everyone went out to work on the farm, they often had huge breakfasts: fried chicken, sliced tomatoes, biscuits, gravy, the works.

I don’t normally eat much in the morning and I consider certain foods breakfast foods and others I wouldn’t dream of eating early in the morning. Fried chicken just doesn’t sound appealing to me for breakfast, but then again I never imagined I’d ever eat pinto beans for breakfast either!

What’s the most unusual breakfast food you have ever eaten?

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Thursday Thoughts About Waiting

How patient are you?

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in your car behind another car at a red light. The light turns green but the car in front of you doesn’t move. What do you do?

Plan A. Lay on your horn and say things you shouldn’t.

Plan B. Tap your horn and wait to see what happens. If nothing happens you revert to Plan A.

Plan C. Wait patiently for the person in front of you to go no matter how long it takes.

I would like to tell you that I would always choose Plan C, but that wouldn’t be the truth. There are times when I have the patience of a flea (do fleas have patience?)

Part of the problem is we have become a culture accustomed to instant gratification. If we order something at a fast food restaurant we had better get it NOW. If we look up something on our computer and it takes more than three seconds to appear we huff and puff and wonder why it’s taking so long. The problem with living like this is that when we don’t get what we want when we want it….we get frustrated or angry.

One of the hardest things to wait for (in my opinion) are results from medical tests. Martha, my cousin with breast cancer, was supposed to find out if her chemo is working yesterday, but she didn’t. The hospital called and her scans weren’t sent when they were supposed to be so the doctors hadn’t had time to go over them. They postponed her appointment until tomorrow; two more days of waiting.

Mistakes happen. People who work in hospitals are human beings just like the rest of us, but that doesn’t make it any easier to wait.

Keep praying friends, Martha and I appreciate it.

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Don’t forget….

Today is the last day to sign up to win a copy of Shoe-la-la!

There are two ways to win a copy of this book.

1. You can go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/NanaHood-and-theNanaBlogs/179831745558 and then click on the LIKE button near the top of the page….If you haven’t already LIKED NanaHood, now is the time to do it! Then just post on that page letting me know you LIKED me!

I’ll choose one winner this way and the second from comments…see number 2.

2. If you aren’t on Facebook (there are still a few hold outs!) then just leave me a comment here and tell me why you’d like to win a copy of Shoe-la-la!

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