Solitude

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Quote of the Day

"I like to smile at people who don't like me . . . because I'm an asshole."

- Bill Murray

Beware of Criticizing Others

by Oswald Chambers

Judge not, that you be not judged —Matthew 7:1

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

http://utmost.org/beware-of-criticizing-others/

Quote of the Day

Friendship is even, if you like, angelic. But man needs to be triply protected by humility if he is to eat the bread of angels without risk.

- CS Lewis

Matt's Story

A friend did a nice post about me and I want to reciprocate by linking to it.

This is a great and healthful blog that I really enjoy following and have even added some of the recipes to my "give it a try" file.

The blog is called "Two Sisters Share What We Love and Learn"

"Matt's Story" Is here.

Enjoy!

Summer Dinners in the Yard

Quote of the Day

A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue. 

-Russian Proverb

Quote of the Day

“Oh, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

- George Eliot

Thank You!

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to make Holly's birthday a special one.

Holly keeps saying "It was perfect!".

And a BIG THANK YOU to the Kesslers for opening their home! You all rock!

Quote of the Day

"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends."

- Albus Dumbledore

September Visitors

by David Budbill

I'm glad to see our friends come:
talk, laughter, food, wine.
I'm glad to see our friends go:
solitude, emptiness, gardens,
autumn wind.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Okay, I know this is late but I still like the pic. Taken this past Monday evening after ringing out the end of "summer" with good friends. We ate, we drank, we laughed until the tears rolled down our faces and the sun finally set.

Dinner in the Yard with Friends

Me and My Wendy on Valentine's Day

Quote of the Day

Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.

- George Eliot

Mom

This past weekend I was honored to attend the funeral for Lois Hawkins. Nothing can be said that will do justice to such a great woman. But this comes close:

I was the favorite

Jesus Won't Be Happy . . .

So we recently visited our good friends the Monticelli's as part of our West-cost road trip. We had a great time putting the meal together and when the time came, six adults and four children sat down to eat.

As is common, one of the kids was asked if they wanted to say grace and four-year-old Santino agreed. Before I knew it, everyone around the table made the sign of the cross and said the pre-meal prayer in unison. Everyone, that is, except for my wife and I - the two protestants at the table. We, of course, would have been happy to join in but we didn't know the words so we sat quietly with our heads bowed and joined in with the "Amen" at the end. Our silence did not go unnoticed by our four-year-old friend.

Just as everyone was reaching for the platters, little Santino spoke up: "Um . . . you have to pray before meals because Jesus likes us to and if you don't pray, Jesus won't be happy . . ."

Everyone around the table stifled a laugh and I replied, "Well, Holly and I don't know the prayer you just said but if you like, I would be happy to do another prayer that I know."

Santino considered this and said that would be fine. So we all (including myself this time) made the sign of the cross and I gave a short prayer of thanksgiving. We all said "Amen", laughed and raised our wine glasses in a triumphant toast that holy war had been averted and that we ALL now had the assurance that Jesus was, once again, happy.

God bless little Santino for keeping his protestant friends in God's good graces.

Quote of the Day

It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not.

- Mignon McLaughlin

Hey! You're not supposed to (be able to) do that!

One of the neat things about our Annabelle Odyssey has been all the support, encouragement and advice we have received from strangers whose lives have also been touched by SB. From just about the moment we shared the news of Annabelle during our pregnancy, a mother in Central California got in touch with us.

She had given birth to twins about 5 years earlier and one of them had SB. Over the past two years she has been such a source of encouragement, knowledge and support. So when we discovered that we would be driving through their town, we scheduled a play date.

The family lives up in the hills above their town and they have enough room to accommodate their own personal zip-line for the boys.

I normally would not post photos / videos of other people's families for privacy reasons but Luke's mom said he would be excited to see himself on the ole' blog so here goes. This is Luke zipping past all his doctors predictions.



Yeah, they said he would never be able to do that . . .

Go Luke!

I've Always Enjoyed Her Sense of Humor

by Gerald Locklin

She's an old friend
And I don't see her very often,
But she has a way of turning up
When I'm talking to a girl I've just met,

And she will invariably storm up to us
And confront me with, "where is the child support check?!"

Then turn on her heel and storm from the room,
Leaving me to make inadequate explanations.