FINALLY…I got Don to hang some art on my walls. My dear husband is a perfectionist…and very OCD about some things. Hanging pictures is one of them. 3 pieces of art on the walls…6 hours spent. Not even kidding. He measures and measures and measures….then writes it down and measures again. Then he begins mapping out the placement on the walls and checks it out from every angle. Proceeds to measure again, then and only then do we mark it with a pencil. Deciding which type of hanger to use takes another half hour, as you must weight the benefits of each and decide which will leave the smallest hole in his new, fabulously painted wall. His current fav is the Monkey Hook…and we have a supply of those ready and waiting! According to him, we do not need to put ANYTHING on the walls. It has only taken a month and a half to bring him around to my way of thinking. ANYWAY…
below is a window cover from the same temple in Mongolia that the doors used for my table came from. This is over 300 years old. I love the simple graphic lines of it against the wall. (The wall is a pale green…not grey like it looks).

I balanced precariously on a stool, holding the camera over my head to get this next picture for you. This is at the top.

I got a little bored and went to the computer for a while…big mistake. He hung the clock without my input. Too high! But, he won’t agree to lower it, because of the hole . This may be a project I have to work in while he is away. There IS a way to cover up that hole and make another one…I just know it. And, I’ll find it, too.

This is the one that took 3 hours. But to be fair, he did have to hang the light above it, too.

I hung this quilt from Hawaii in my back foyer. It took less than 10 minutes. It is straight, you cannot see the nails. I’m just saying…

Ian came to help him with my beautiful distressed mirror. They worked on it for over an hour. There is not a way to hang it that they can figure out. It weighs over 100 pounds and they are afraid the wall won’t support it or something like that. I’m gonna have to find someone who knows a little more about it. Bummer! Oh, that is a towel at the top…put there by DH to keep the wall clean.

You can’t see me in my pajamas, in the mirror, can you? Good! ‘Cause THAT is NOT a pretty picture!

This is one book that I am having lots of trouble getting through! I joined a week or so ago. And before I knew it, there were friends coming from everywhere. That part I love. But, then I started getting ‘gifts’, and ‘luck’ and questions about things I still am not sure of. Someone wants me to be their ‘top girl’, and there are quizzes and notes and I am just in a constant state of bewilderment!

I will learn about this. I will learn about the little round cute buttons, and I’ll learn what a ‘poke’ is. I really will. Just please don’t be offended and think I am ignoring you. Some brains take a little longer to get into the groove of new technology than others. I promise I’ll join your group, or send you a ‘poke’ or something equally as clever just as soon as I learn how.

This internet has changed the world as I knew it. People who I will never meet know my stories. And I know theirs. People in all walks of life, whose paths would never cross mine, cross my mind all through the day. Because I have read about them. Because I feel empathy with them. Because I am praying for them. But, we are not friends, not even acquaintances, really…just blog writers sharing innermost thoughts and cares. Just hoping someone reads and understands what is on our hearts and minds.

I have read, as I am sure some of you have, of a little girl named Cora. She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma a few weeks back and has been fighting for her life since. She went to live with Jesus yesterday. I make no presumption to know this family other than reading their story on their blog. I found their story by reading of it from another blog. You know how we go ‘surfing’ when something catches our interest. Anytime I read of a child with cancer, I immediately go back to 1978 when I found out my own child was himself a victim of this same horrible form of childhood cancer. His diagnosis came out of the blue, just as it did for this sweet girl. But, his story had a much happier ending. Adam is now 34, married, and a son to be proud of. His story is on my sidebar, if you are interested.

There is also a sweet girl from my hometown who is fighting another form of cancer in Birmingham. Her parents attend to her and watch and wait and pray. Her name is Hannah Grace.

And the hospitals are full of those I don’t know. When one goes home, another one takes his place. And it goes on and on and on.

I do not know why God allows children to suffer. I do not know why any child has to have cancer. I think He should do away with it all together. I think that would be a fine idea…and I do not know why He doesn’t think that would be a fine idea, too. It is at times like these that it is easy to ‘lose faith’ and wonder if God is really watching? Does He see what is happening to the little ones? Why doesn’t He heal them all?

I can not answer all the questions. I can only attest to what I know. And this I know. He does care. He loves the ‘little ones’ even more than their families. His heart breaks when He sees them hurting. His heart breaks when he sees a Mom caressing a tiny head, gently brushing the hair back. His heart breaks when He sees a Daddy standing watch, wanting to ‘go to battle’ for his child…but not knowing who to fight.

But, we see through our eyes and not His. We feel with our hearts and not His. We understand with our minds, not His. He is good…all the time. His ways are perfect…all the time.
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When I was a little girl, I used to spend lots of time with my daddy. We both had an affinity for books, and he encouraged me, for which I am forever grateful. But, he also liked to play a card game from time to time, and I would find myself watching with much interest. Time after time, he would bring all the cards together in a stack, then slowly lay out the grid. Then he would begin counting 1-2-3, and turn the cards over. He’d count and move them ever so slightly, then turn them over to see what came up. Sometimes, he would take that card and put it on one in the grid. And, sometimes, the dance of the cards would begin…red 8 on black 9…black 5 on red 6…then move a whole section of cards over to the black jack…then move them again when the red queen would show her face. And proudly watching over all were those fancy Aces…sitting there in all their glory just waiting to be covered over with a whole suite.

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LESSONS LEARNED TODAY:

1. BE HEALTH WISE! Know what you are allergic to…however strange it may be!

2. MAKE THE BEST OF A BAD SITUATION! If you find yourself ‘stuck in the mud…DANCE!

3. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED! Little surprises that make us smile are hiding in the most mundane of places. JUST LOOK!