Happy Independence Day!

Cherishing our Freedoms today and Remembering the Sacred Sacrifices that make these moments Blessed...

With a Heart of Gratitude...

 

This is Gratitude!

 Joy for this day...

Sitting in the company of these amazing Pancreatic Cancer Survivors!

Each survivor shares their story and grants Hope for the Journey!

This is a thanksgiving overflowing with gratitude.

I love the resounding hope and encouragement they offer.

And while so many pancreatic cancer patients hear a devastating prognosis, and are thrown into a nightmare measured in just weeks or months,
don't miss this...

There are people walking away from Pancreatic Cancer.

These men and women are living, breathing, grateful survivors of this brutal cancer.  Treatments and therapies are making a difference!

Never giving up hope.

And Always giving thanks...

My Love today,
           Jane

A Day for Gratitude

To All our Brave Men and Women who have served so Faithfully... 

To the veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our very freedoms, gratitude pours freely, this and every day.

A Country Wedding...

The gloomy days of February just got a little brighter...

This weekend past, family and friends were welcomed to celebrate 

Love's vows, sweet and true.

Our beautiful niece found her Prince Charming!

The wedding was a time for smiles and joy... 

and a selfie with a sweet grandgirl!

And perhaps, best of all, Poppy was able to make it!

Dad's health has been precarious these last few months,

but, oh, so precious to have him here for this celebration of Love...

we don't take one minute for granted!

Family came from Wisconsin...

grateful to escape the "Deep Freeze" for a day or two!

And there was cake!

Does it get any better??

We love you Amanda and Joey!

May God send Blessings in Abundance on you both as you

begin your journey together...

Hope and Grace abound in New Beginnings!

Rejoicing with Love today,

Always,

   Jane

My Wish...

It's already a week into a brand New Year!!  And where has the time gone?  We've celebrated anniversaries with friends and birthdays with grands...

... all the while cleaning up from Christmas festivities and deciding to enjoy the lovely winter finery just a little bit longer!

And the days have rolled into happy!  Like the tractor ride with Pepaw and Christian... smiles splitting the heart!

And Log Home happenings that make me grin!

I am not one to pick a word of the year... not usually... but Gratitude is bubbling over right now and brings me to My Wish for you this year.  It's not just a word, but more a desire for the days ahead...

I Wish You Enough

 ~ copyright belongs to Bob Perks

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys

in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

And I wish you enough "Hellos"

to get you through the final "Goodbye."

May this year be filled with Gratitude drawn deep from life's joys and the Grace that carries us through each and every heartache.

Happy New Year!

My Love, Always,

                         Jane

A Moment of Gratitude...

Thanks and Giving,

the perfect bookends for a day filled with Joy!

Happy Thanksgiving,

from our home to yours.

Our Love, Always,

Jane

Another Camping Trip in the Bag!

So if you've been around the blog for the last few years, you know how much we look forward to our camping trips... and you've probably heard about some of our famously YUCky camping trips... heart be still... they are so very much fun and relaxing and uplifting and absolutely NECESSARY for my sanity!

And the past week was no exception!

Time spent with a group of cherished friends who love us like family

There was a kayak trip or two...

And maybe some crazy hot games of volleyball...

And of course there was food... delicious, get-in-my-belly, camping food!

And bonfires...

And hikes... (on camp roads this year... cuz, well, strollers ya'll)

And smiles... beautiful, sweet smiles and crazy fun moments to fill hearts...

And such beauty for my soul...

It has been a God-gift to celebrate treasured friends this week past.

Is camping work?  Oh my yes...

And messy?  Ummmm, yes!!

Would it be easier to stay home in our comfortable, air-conditioned,

digitally-connected world?

  YES!

But oh what we would be missing!

These friends have held us up when our world was crashing around us...

and have spent time sharing their hearts in beautiful ways.

We.  Are.  Blessed.

Knees bend in gratitude for such a gift.

No matter the heartaches that attend this life, it is worth every messy, hard minute to pack up for this camping trip and re-connect...

Praying you are graced this night with a love and a "family" that is worth every messy, hard minute it takes to share your heart.

Graced, and Blessed and looking for a hot shower!

Always,

               Jane

Dead people and flowers...

Ok... so there's this quote by Anne Frank...

"Dead people receive more flowers than living ones

because regret is stronger than gratitude."

                                                  ~ Anne Frank

And it's true, perhaps.  But it rankles.  Because I read it on the day we took mom her Christmas Poinsettias...

at the beautiful Columbarium that she and dad picked out...

And we remembered her, like it was just today that we'd said good-bye...

... and how she loved Christmas and had decorated the house weeks and weeks early, like she knew she might not make it to see the celebration...

And we wept.

The heart cracking open to grieve fresh.  Because the missing was like a living thing... and we longed for her hug and to hear her voice and... we didn't want to be here, in this beautiful place, reaching out to touch the glass wall, remembering the day we took the picture of her smiling for the camera ... sitting quietly amidst the memories, while inside, our spirits wailed with hurt and grief.  And missing.

And yes, Anne Frank, we brought flowers.  Her favorite Christmas flowers.  Soft red poinsettias.  Not out of regret.

I realize that now... not regret, Anne Frank, but for the honoring of her.  Because they were her favorite flower for the Christmas season...

and it connects us somehow.  As she decorated her home during the yuletide with beauty while living, so we "decorate" her memory in death.  With gratitude.  So much gratitude... for how she lived life full of grace and joyful in love.   And how we reaped the blessings of her life...

Those blessings became her legacy for those of us living still.  Yes, the grieving will continue until the day we gather together again on heaven's shores... but for today, for this day, we choose to bring flowers and gather at the place where we can honor her memory...

...with gratitude.  And love.

I know for many there are regrets that weigh heavy.  Words not spoken in time.  Harsh words spoken in haste.

Visits not made, and relationships begging restoration.

We are not immune.  Regrets can haunt.  Especially during this hallowed time of year.  Yet there can be a choosing, an intentional turn towards gratitude.

An opening of our hearts, cracked with grief, to the possibility of Hope beyond the grave...

It is the beauty of this season, marked with Joy, written in Love...

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace."

         ~ Isaiah 9:6

No matter the regrets, or hurts or pain we are journeying through...the Christ-Child Redeemer will be our Mighty God who is strong enough for all our weakness, our Wonderful Counselor in times of fear, the Everlasting Father who holds us when we fall, and the Prince of Peace for our hearts grieved sore.

So, yes...bring flowers!  With Gratitude.  And in so doing, pay honor to the memories of Love and the Blessings received...

Carried by the Grace of Thanksgiving and Remembering this night, Always,

                                                                 Jane

Pit Stop Sunday... Gratitude

 

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

 

 

 

It turns denial into acceptance,

chaos to order,

confusion to clarity.

 

 

 

It can turn a meal into a feast,

a house into a home,

a Stranger into a Friend.

 

 

 

Gratitude makes sense of our Past,

brings Peace for Today,

 

 

 

and creates a Vision for Tomorrow.

 

                                               ~ Melody Beattie