As the glow of dusk, fast is fading, I find myself at nature's mercy. It's beauty untouched. I find serenity here.
The clouds wisp above me edging toward night's sweet release. The hills and trees about me provide a sense of security that... until now was undiscovered.
The quiet whisper of wind holds nature's sweetest secrets that are known only to the clouds in the sky and the foliage of the earth.
Once again I see the clouds of the sky, only this time they appear as bars of gold...wrapped in a beautiful blue lace, tied with a ribbon of purple and orange. Only God could create such beauty! I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
Note: Shane and I have been cloud watchers for some time now. He came up with this article on them. I thought it was very good. Shane is my great nephew and he just graduated from highschool this year and is headed toward college in just a few weeks. He received a scholarship with all expenses paid. We are very proud of Shane.
We taught our children to love the great outdoors and to climb hills and mountains...and now the mountains are not found. Revelation 16:20
We taught our children to play little league...and now the little league has grown up and is dispersed in all directions.
We taught our children to swim and to water ski...and now the waters roar and are troubled. Psalm 46:3
We taught our children to bowl... and now the bowling alley is closed down and gone out of business.
We taught our children the love for travel and they visited the exotic islands and far countries...and now the islands are fled away. Revelation 16:20
But mostly...We taught our children to seek the Lord and to trust God as the Rock of their salvation...and God has not forsaken them. Deuteronomy 32:15 and Psalm 9:10.
-Edna L. Ingram, 1980
*****
This was before drugs and our knowledge of what damage they can do.
Someone has said that alcohol will remove grass stains from summer clothes.
It will also remove summer clothes..
Spring clothes and winter clothes...not only from the man or woman who drinks it, but also from his/her children.
It will remove furniture from the home, food from the pantry, smiles from the faces of his/her children and happy times from the home.
As a remover, alcohol has no equal!
*****
Well...we know now that it does have an equal and they both are bad for families.
Three years ago, our son, Daniel left home for the first time to go away to college. It was so difficult to watch him drive away, even though we knew he wasn’t really moving out. We knew he would be back after the semester was over and would be back to live with us through the summer months. His bedroom remained just as he had left it with all his "stuff" still at our home. He had not really moved out–he was just away at college.
For the past three years we have watched him come and go from our home as he went back and forth to college. Though he had a place to stay in Altus and then in Durant as he was away at college, we knew, as did he, that our house was really his home. He had never really moved out.
I suppose the Lord has been gently preparing Kathy and me for this day, for this morning Daniel packed his things and left, and this time he really is moving out. When he returns, this will no longer be his home as it has been for the past 21 years.
His bedroom, which for years has been cluttered with golf clubs, baseball equipment, hunting gear, and school books, now looks very different. His bed and most of his clothes are gone and much of what remains has been tucked away in storage bags.
Kathy is already making plans to redecorate the room for a guest bedroom. As difficult as it was to watch him drive away, this is the way it is supposed to be. We are told in Genesis 2:24, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,...Yes, as much as we have enjoyed the last 24 years that we have had our children living in our home, we have known all along that the day would come that they would move out to make a life of their own.
As parents, it is for this day that we have been training and preparing our children. This page in our lives has now turned and I must admit that I am going to miss having my children in the house.
But I also know that when one page of life closes, another page opens and Kathy and I look forward to this new page of life with great anticipation. The years that we have spent raising our children have been filled with wonderful blessings and beautiful memories. We fully expect the years to come to be filled with even greater blessings as we watch our children build their families. The Lord has truly blessed our lives. To Him be all the glory!
This is our family's quilt block of a quilt that will be auctioned off at our family reunion. We all made our blocks at the family reunion in 2007. We are wondering how much it will bring and who will bid and who will be the successful bidder. I guess we will know August 31st.
