Picket Fences

Clunk. Scratch, scratch, clunk. I glanced up from my reading, to look toward our sliding glass door to see what on earth was making that noise. I caught a glimpse of something, but couldn’t make out what it was, before it dropped down. Thinking to myself, it was either a bird hitting the window or a pine cone falling from one of the evergreen trees I went back to my reading only to be interrupted again by the noise. By the time I looked up I missed what was causing it. Then I saw a bird fly up to the gutter above the door. Oh, the bird must be getting things off the cement of the patio for its nest and hitting the door in the process. The bird flew over and sat on the fence surrounding the patio and started chirping. Then she surprised me and flew directly into our sliding door. She hit her beak at the door and flapped her wings. She worked hard to get through that window. She stopped and flew back to the fence only to try again and again. I imagine she couldn’t possibly know what was ...

One morning while doing some reading and prayer time I came upon something interesting in the book of Haggai. During this time of experiencing unemployment in our home I am constantly throwing up prayers for provision and a blessing of a good income with job security. I am always amazed at the continual answers to those prayers of provision. In the book of Haggai, God said so many interesting things to his people, regarding the work of their hands, in that one particular thing stood out to me today. It was at the end of a sentence…”yet you did not turn to me.” I thought to myself. I pray. I turn to God all the time. So why are we having such a hard time with job security? Then a really interesting question came to my mind. Do I really turn to God? I pray. But then I tend to still worry and fret over things. I sometimes get anxious and fearful, then find myself laying awake stewing over everything. So when I pray, do I really turn to God? Do I trust Him? Do I stand knowing and believing...

Today is a very special day! My dad is 79 years old. My family is getting together at the end of the week to celebrate. Normally, Sarrah and I go over to my parents house and see him on his birthday. I wanted to bring him over a chocolate sundae but, my daughter had a cold and we stayed home. Special moments like that are hard to miss and can hurt the heart, but being able to say "Happy Birthday" and "I love you," to my dad, even over the phone is very wonderful. I am blessed to have such a wonderful man to be my Dad. If you happen to catch this blog, "Happy Birthday Dad and I love you."

One of my favorite past-times is to listen to a good story, read a good book or watch a movie. Normally, I get emotionally involved and love it when I get to laugh and cry over what happens to the character in the story. As an author, myself, when I write a story, I get attached to the characters. It may sound funny, but I cry while I write a scene that affects one of my characters negatively, and I laugh and clap my hands when an exciting or good turn of events is happening. Even though I want all of the people in my stories to have sweet happy endings it really wouldn’t make a realistic story. I write with the belief that every fiction story has a grain of truth in it and I also take true life experiences and work them out through the pages of fictitious people’s lives. My stories may not really happen, but they could happen. I just recently finished one of the most difficult and painful scenes I’ve ever written. The first time I worked on it, it was so emotional for me I just wrote...