Happy Thanksgiving and an Update

I want to wish each of you a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving week.I will be offline completely after tomorrow for awhile.Hopefully just a few days.We are switching back to dial up internet(briefly we hope)to help out with finances here.Living on one income(my husband's disability check)is a challenge and sometimes we have to make changes like this to make it each month.That being said I am still so very thankful for so many things.I have friends and family who love me.A roof over my head(granted it's a very small 1 bedroom apartment but it's warm and dry).I am loved by God and by our cat Shadow.We have a vehicle to drive(It's a 1994 Ford Aerostar but it is warm,dry and running well at present).We have food to eat(thank You Lord for food banks).Clothes to wear(thank You Lord for thrift and consignment shops).A bed to sleep in(it's a few years old but oh so comfy as we slumber).We can all find things to be thankful for this season.May God fill each of your hearts with His joy and His gratitude as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the USA this week.

Blessings Abundant~Sharon

Simple Love

Forever Autumn
by
Diane Romanello

It's been a busy time here lately.Sometimes when you are a caregiver in any capacity your own free time gets swallowed up meeting the needs of others.Alas I have not posted in awhile.Between errands and caring for Steve and occasionally watching Hope I have been somewhat MIA on here.It's all been good though as I do enjoy time with my family.Especially granddaughter Hope.She's a very loving,funny and tactile child(she's always hugging me and such).She never ceases to amaze me with her insights and the way she so capably expresses herself and her feelings.She's only 8.The other day she blessed me by bringing me a handwritten list of why she loves me.One thing I love about kids is how simple they can be.How honest.Uncomplicated.The ordinary things can make them happy.The common things make them feel secure.Lord,may I as an adult become like a little child.Blessed by simplicity.Amazed by the ordinary.Conscious of You in the common things of life.Thank You Lord.Amen.And now I will share with you the list that I have been given as a gift of love from Hope.I think it will make you smile.

Dear Grandma,
I love you for a lot of reasons.
1.)You care about everyone.

2.)You care about God.

3.)You are loving.

4.)When I am sick you let me rest.

5.)When I am sick you care for me.

6.)You bake us cookies.

7.)You care about our Father.

8.)You love me and Bapa.

9.)You are really nice.

10.)You color with me.

11.)You care about me and my friends.

12.)You let me go over to Kris,Jessica or Sandie's house.

Dear Lord,let me always live up to the things Hope sees in me.In this way I honor you and I bless her as well as those around me.Thank You Lord.
Love~Sharon

To Encourage You

Reasons to fear abound today.The economy appears to be on a slippery slope with no end in sight.Prices on things keep going up.Crime is increasing.People are wondering how they're going to make it each month.They wonder if there will be anything left when they reach retirement age.As children of God we need not fear.For we have a God who loves us.A good God who delights in providing for all His children need.Notice I said "need"and not want.While there may be some adjustments on our parts in these financially scary times we have God's promises in His word to provide for all we need.It may not be what we always want and that's where we may have to adjust.But He will provide our needs.I trust these verses that follow will encourage you to place your faith in Him and His promise to provide:

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
I Peter 5:7

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Do not be anxious about anything,but in everything,by prayer and petition,with thanksgiving,present your requests to God.And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

Blessings~Sharon

What I've Been Pondering

Vermilion Meadow
by
Robert Striffolino

"Do not judge and you will not be judged.Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.Forgive and you will be forgiven.Give and will be given to you.A good measure,pressed down,shaken together and running over,will be poured into your lap.For with the measure you use,it will be measured to you."
Luke 6:37&38 NIV
(cf.Matthew 7:1-5)

God has had me meditating on these verses for a couple of days now.I am sure,without a doubt,that there is a lesson in it for me to learn and live by.Jesus speaks very clearly here...If we want forgiveness we must forgive others.Do not judge others or we too shall be judged.Do not condemn others or we too shall be condemned.I have,at times,and more often than I care to admit,come across to others as judgmental and condemning.Sometimes the person involved told me that.Other times I was disciplined by God Himself on it.Having a strong sense of what's right and wrong can make a person come across that way.But I am learning that often times God wants me to be silent.To pray instead of preach.For me I must listen closely for that still small voice of His Holy Spirit.I must forgive when He says to forgive.I must not judge another.That is God's job.I must not condemn another for as long as there is life in that person there is hope that they can change and become the person God created them to be.To live in this way I must daily ask Him for mercy,compassion and forgiveness.It is then that I can offer it to another.

He then goes on to say give and it shall be given.Now I don't think He is saying we are to give so we can get.I think what He is saying that if we give we will get.Now it may not be in this life on earth.Or it may not be in the way we thought.But we will receive back in one form or another.I know for me often the gift I receive from giving is simply knowing I have listened to God and helped meet a need that was expressed in some form.We live in a world that is the opposite.Greed abounds.If giving is done it is done with mixed or impure motives.But God sees and knows our very hearts and why we do something.And I don't think He delights in impurity of motives anymore than impure behavior.He digs deep,this God we serve and love.He goes on to say that when the giving comes back to us it will be abundant.Pressed together.Good measure.Not paltry.Pressed down.This reminds me of when I bake cookies for our granddaughter Hope.The recipe always calls for firmly packed brown sugar.I add some to the measuring cup and tamp it down.I add more and press down more.It has to be firmly packed and has to be the right amount.So I keep adding and tamping until I have the right amount.This is what I see this verse as saying.That God will give to us a good measure,firmly packed.Running over.What a giving God we serve.What a mighty God we love.It takes faith.It takes hope and it takes commitment to Him.But we can do all things,ALL THINGS through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Blessings~Sharon

Oops!

Woodland Garden in Autumn,
October,Westonbirt Arboretum

Vanity will get me in trouble every time.Big grin here.In my attempt to beautify my blog the other day I somehow deleted my post titled"Adrift."It is gone.Completely gone.Vanished like an Autumn mist taking flight in the face of a warming sun.All I had attempted to do was add a signature from My Live Signature to the post.It placed itself at the beginning of the post and not where I had wanted it or placed it even.My attempt at fixing this error is what caused the error of the now gone post.Ah well,such things happen sometimes.It's been awhile since my last post.I have been busy here with various errands and watching Hope and living this life God has granted.Yesterday we helped my sister in law stack firewood.I used to think I wanted a wood stove or fireplace if we ever were able to buy a home.Not anymore.Stacking wood changed my opinion greatly.Reality will do that to a person.Even bigger grin.We all used muscles I'm sure our middle aged bodies did not know it had.Give me electric heat or a gas fireplace any day.:-)That's all I have for this evening.I hope your evening is blessed dear readers.
Love~Sharon

A Rare Gift

God gives quietness at last.
~John Greenleaf Whittier~

I am enjoying some much needed quiet and solitude right now.
My husband is off helping his sister.My granddaughter has not
yet arrived for us to babysit and even our cat is sound asleep.
I do not get these moments often enough so I really relish them
for the rare gift that they are.I am one who has always needed
time to myself.Time to be quiet.To think.To read.To pray.
To just be.

Thank you Lord Jesus for this rare and precious gift.
I appreciate it immensely Lord.

Blessings all~Sharon

Round Two

Our granddaughter Hope had a follow up appointment with her doctor today.She was seen recently and diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.Today's appointment revealed it has gotten worse.She seemed to be doing better and then BAM!It was revealed that the apparent lull was only the calm before the storm.At least now our daughter is getting a referral for her to a urologist!And speaking of our daughter...April could use your prayers as well.She is an underemployed single parent and needs more work.Steady work with regular hours and weekends off.Things just keep getting tougher.And I keep praying more and more.And honestly,at times it seems as if God has fled the scene.Which is why we are to look to Him and not at the circumstances themselves.I will confess that His ways are hard to understand at times.Which often leaves me frustrated.But I must continue to trust,continue to ask.And thank Him for the answers.So,please keep us all in your prayers at this challenging time.It's hard for me to watch them struggle and suffer.Thank you all dear readers.

Blessings~Sharon

The Harvest Season

September Song
by
Diane Romanello

"Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these
Of mid September; through the still warm noon
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune
Than ever in the summer; from the trees
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas."
- Edward Dowden, In September

Harvest at Arles

c 1888

Vincent Van Gogh

"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ..."
- Autumn Equinox Ritual

The Harvest,1883

by

Camille Pissarro

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:38

Blessings~Sharon

Legacy of the Heart

Change of Seasons
by
David Marty

She's eager and poised for flight,our Hope Ann.
Cornflower blue eyes quickly scanned the
living room this morning for her backpack.
She cannot wait for her Bapa Steve to transport
her to the bus stop.There she will join
her many friends also eager to get to school.
A day of new things to be learned stretches out
before her.Her body is responding well to the
antibiotics removing the UTI from within her.
After a brief scan of the room she spies her backpack and
runs,on summer tanned legs,to retrieve
this carrier of childhood treasures untold.
I observe this frantic pace,this rush of activity
from my perch in the small kitchen that is
adjoining the living room.She does not
want to be late and that is good.But first,
we must stop,and we must pray.And we
must ask the Father of us all to bless and protect
her as she heads off into a world full of unknowns.
We join in a close,hugging circle,the three of us.
Bound by love for each other and by the love
of the Father,we form a prayer hug.Steve and I
draw her close,her almost 8 year old head nearly
reaches our chests.We are short and she is tall.
In this circle of love we join together as Grandparents
and Granddaughter.We thank the Father for His blessings.
My hand moves from Hope's shoulder to Hope's head,like
a blessing of old.We finish praying and I go off to brush my teeth.
A moment later,I am hugged from my left side by our Hope.
"I love you Grandma",she says sweetly as we hug.I tell her I
love her too.I then remind her of Jesus' love for her and that He is
always with her.She grins broadly,this Hope of ours,and says
"yes,He's right here" and points to her heart.We smile and
I wish her a good day.They take off.And I am left alone briefly.
Left to ponder the blessing that just happened.For it was a gift to me.I,
who never knew any of my grandparents.
I,who have no memories of a mother who prayed for and with me.
I was handed a gift to pass on,a legacy of sorts.Hope will have memories
of a praying Grandma.Memories of one who joined her in beseeching the Father
and Lord of all.She will know she is loved and prayed for.And she will have memories.
Good ones.And I thrill at that for children remember such things,I think.
And I want to leave that kind of legacy to this Hope girl of ours.This girl who
does not carry any of my DNA physically,is a granddaughter of my heart and spirit,
if not of my body.

Blessings~Sharon

One

A Garden in September
by
Bill Reid

Lord of all,
May the words that I speak
and the life that I live
be one.
Thank You.

Blessings all~Sharon

Prayer Needed Part 2

Please continue to hold us up in prayer here.Husband continues to cough from time to time.I awoke with a scratchy throat this morning.AND Granddaughter is here today,home from school, as she threw up less than an hour after arriving at school.She also continues to cough.And I am fed up.My spirit and my flesh are not happy with this.I know,I know,I can hear all moms out there thinking"boy,she ought to live in my home."But,please,please,remember,I never had children.I am used to good health when it comes to those ugly things kids bring home from school.But now that we babysit regularly,granddaughter constantly brings unwelcome guests home from school.I know this sounds like I am complaining.Guess I am.I also know I hate down time due to illness.My nature and personality is somewhat(I said somewhat)Type A.I don't like illness on any level to set me or my husband back.AND I absolutely despise sick kids. LOL Not the kids themselves but the fact that they seem to be little germ magnets and I cannot seem to keep ahead of the little"monsters."If you read my post from Sunday you will see the other factors involved in my intense dislike of down time from illness.So,we do covet your prayers here.Our granddaughter missed much school last year due to illness and this year is not starting off well.She has not even been back a full week yet and is already home due to illness.Thank you for your prayers dear readers.

Blessings~Sharon

His Presence

Autumn Morning near Dryman-Stirling,Scotland

Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

Sometimes life can be like walking about in a dense fog.Nothing is clear to us.We grope about blindly for answers.Sometimes we look in the wrong places for those answers to our questions.Very often that is when we feel the most alone.Often we feel abandoned by God.We wonder if He has left us.Or out of fear of condemnation we try to run and hide from Him.This is particularly common,I think,if you did not grow up in a loving and grace filled environment.But,we have His word,which tells us that no matter we are,He is there.When we run He is right there with us.When we hide,He seeks.His love,His presence,will not let us go,child of God.If we fly to the farthest reaches of the universe,He is there.If we swim to the deepest abyss in the deepest ocean,He is there.His presence,always present.Longing to gather us and hold us and love us as His children.He saw us when we were formed within that dark place of our mothers womb.He created every detail that makes us unique.Even in the darkest nights in our lives;when we are filled with sorrow,He is there.His presence,His Holy Spirit,never leaves us.He is as close as the very air that we breathe.Loving,guiding,and correcting when necessary.That amazes me.Causes me to stop.And think.And rejoice that though we may be forsaken by others,He never leaves us.Even when life is confusing.And it seems as if He is hidden by a thick,foreboding fog of circumstances,His presence,His spirit is there watching over us.What joy!What comfort!What a gift!

Bless you all-Sharon

Prayer Needed

Little Girl with Pray Rock

Please keep us in your prayers.
Husband and Granddaughter have picked up a nasty bug of some kind and are coughing,sneezing and congested.Please pray that April and I continue to stay well and that Steve and Hope will be fully healthy soon.I have come to despise illness in all it's varied forms.Most likely due to the fact that I was raised by a chronically ill mother as well as all the hospital and doctor time Steve and I have had in the last 6 years.Can any of you relate?It just can make me cranky if I let it so I have been praying and cleaning with antibacterial stuff and disinfectant stuff A LOT this last few days!So I would surely appreciate prayers on our behalf.We are to babysit a lot in the days to come and I just hate down time due to illnesses.Thanks so very much dear readers.It is much appreciated.

Blessings~Sharon

On the Threshold

Autumn Threshold
by
Diane Romanello

I just love this picture.It speaks to me of opening a door on a new season,thus leaving the old one behind.We stand upon the threshold of the Autumn season.A time of new things.Perhaps a new school,new clothes and new books.A new teacher,new friends,a new life perhaps."See,I am doing a new thing!""declares the Lord" in Isaiah 43:19.It is the season of harvest.Of ripening corn and apples and pumpkins.The season of growth is past and now we reap an abundant and hearty bounty.We enjoy the fruits of our labors."And let us not get tired of well- doing,for at the right time we will get in the grain,if we do not give way to weariness."(Galatians 6:9,Bible in Basic English)We look ahead to a time of giving thanks to our wonderful creator God who has blessed us with all of His bounty,both heavenly and earthly"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."(Ephesians 1:3)."The eyes of all look expectantly to You,andYou give them their food in due season."(Psalm 145:15, New King James Version).We,as children of God can look forward with faith and hope to this new season for the God who created the seasons themselves will continue to provide all we need both spiritually and physically.His provision may come in a new and unexpected way.But His provision will be there.Always.At just the right time.No matter what the headlines say about our economy,the God who sent His only Son to die for us will be with us in this new season.Are you ready to step over the threshold?I am.

Blessings~Sharon

Relief

Days of sun baked earth
and searing heat.
Gave way to leaden
skies pouring forth
Liquid refreshment.
Refreshing weary
souls full of
sleepless nights
and blazing days.
Now glad hearts
pour forth praise
to the One
who grants sleep
to His children
and sends forth
rain in it's season.
Cooling ocean breezes
pour forth from
same pale gray expanse.
Renewing all who
feel it's blowing breath.
Like the wind of His spirit
renewing our spirits.
And we breathe deeply
and sigh heavily
and thank Him for this
relief.

Poem written by Sharon Goemaere

Blessings all~Sharon(who is glad for rain and wind)

Image courtesy of Morgue File

A Child's Garden

Flowers by Jesse Wilcox Smith

There is a garden in every childhood,

an enchanted place where colors are brighter,
the air softer,and the morning more fragrant
than ever again.
~Elizabeth Lawrence~

I am babysitting and proofreading again today but I just had to share this beautiful picture and quote I found with all of you .
Blessings,Sharon

Conversations While Coloring

Heart-Kids

I was busy trying to proofread a manuscript today while babysitting our granddaughter Hope along with my husband Steve.None of Hope's friends could play so she hung around me and prattled on and on.I knew it was time to break from proofing so I suggested to Hope that we go color.She and I have great conversations while coloring.We talked about colors to use and our individual pictures and such.As often happens our conversations turn to deeper subjects such as matters of faith.I rejoice to know that she is well acquainted with Jesus.In fact she is amazed when others do not believe in Him!For all her social ways she is still a very deep thinker and has very strong opinions on God and His ways and Word.She knows that sometimes He has to say no to our requests if not in our best interest.Amazingly she is appalled by greed in the world. She was very distressed by the merger between Microsoft and another corporation when her mother told her that it was most likely motivated by money and the desire for more of it...Hope boldly proclaimed there were more important things in the world than money!But I digress.As we colored and chatted today Hope suddenly looks at me and declares that"Bad people have small,black hearts."I listened for I knew more was coming.Smile."And"she says..."Good people have big,red hearts!"I smiled and said"Yes,I think you are right Hope."She's 7 and still too young to realize that we live in a world where things are not so easily and simply determined.Sadly, we live in a time when the good guys don't always wear white and have big red hearts.Deception abounds.Political correctness has muddied and turned to gray all but the most discerning of hearts.Bad guys often masquerade as"angels of light."And it seems all good is almost non-existent.But,I think it is all just an appearance.An apparition.For I saw goodness today in the big red heart of a child.And I smiled.
Blessings~Sharon

This Fleeting Season

Late Summer,Tuscany
Hazel Barker

Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year-It brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul.
~Author Unknown~

Then followed that beautiful season...Summer...
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

In less than 3 weeks our granddaughter goes back to school.All I have spoken to have said the same thing..."Where has the summer gone to.?"It is as if it had just begun and now is set to leave in about a month.Such a fleeting season.The landscape and weather here have been aware of it's all too brief presence and have slowly,gently responded to Autumn's beckoning.The sun,that gave us so many extra hours of daylight and cerulean skies is now fading into the soft nights much earlier now.The mornings,though still lovely and bright,at times,are definitely cooler.I welcome this chilly respite.I love watching,in anticipation,how the changing of seasons affects the earth.My eager blue eyes gaze with expectation for that first flame colored leaf to adorn the abundant trees here in our apartment complex.I look with joy upon the golden glowing landscape that is Autumn.I rejoice and give thanks to the One who created such exquisite beauty in Autumn and in each of the seasons.He says in Ecclesiastes 3:10 that"He has made everything beautiful in it's time."Each season on the calendar,each season or time of our life,has it's own unique beauty.It's own special fingerprint from the hand of God.His seal of approval so to speak.It's important that we enjoy each season that we are in at present for what it is.To relish each day as it comes.For life is like the seasons of the year.They are often too quickly gone.And unable to be retrieved once gone.Have a blessed day everyone.

Seeing Myself Clearly

"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
~Philippians 2:4~

The real truth about myself or my character and motives can often be hard to discern and even more difficult to see.As an all too human woman, at times, I see myself through the pink hues lenses of rose colored glasses.I see myself through His eyes which are eyes of love and grace.Today I saw myself through His eyes.But this time it was through the eyes of a Father who longs to see me whole,and like Him.Those Eyes were loving but I,at that moment,realized I needed help with my attitude.I don't do the servant thing very well at times.I would,at times,rather do anything than cook another meal or wash another dish or do one more thing for another here.I saw this very clearly today.This was a glaring truth to me.I saw myself clearly.And it was not pretty.A sharp tone,rolling eyes or heavy sigh,may be missed by those whom I am serving but they are not missed by God.And today I was made aware of it.I had been too absorbed in my own self interests to see this as an opportunity to become more like Him.Jesus,the Son of God,took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross.And yet,there I stood in my kitchen,not wanting to cook one more meal.But I did it anyhow.*Smile*Thankfully I married into a family that is extremely gracious and forgiving.Just like God Himself.They see me clearly and still they love me.That is an immense blessing.

Image from SOJ Graphics

Gift Graciously Bestowed

My dear friend Jo over at The Road Less Traveled
has graciously bestowed the Arte y Pico award upon me!
Apparently it was an award created for bloggers who inspire
you with their creativity and talents!
Thank you dear Jo for bestowing such an honor.
I am humbled and blessed by this.Jo is herself
a recipient of this award and I encourage you to
go and read her blog as well.You will enjoy!
This award is special I am told.
Therefore it comes with some rules:

1.)Pick 5 blogs that you would like to award this honor to.

2.)Each award has to have the name of the author and a blog
link to be visited by everyone.

3.)Each award winner has to show the award and put the name
and link to the blog that gave them the award.

4.)Award winner and the one who was given the prize have to show
the link of Arte y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin
of the award.

I bestow this award upon:
Adrienne

Ann

Brenda

Melissa

TeriLeigh

Blessings all~Sharon
PS~Keep me in prayer as I am getting over an upper respiratory infection.
Thanks so very much.