Peace Requires Action on this Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve, my Blogger Friends!  This awesome verse was in Jesus Calling this morning. Colossians 3:15, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful."  This reinforces yesterday's thoughts on peace.  My "yesterday" needed this, too!  The "Let" is an action word which means that we need to do something.  It meant to me yesterday that peace wasn't going to just automatically rule my heart when my gas tank light came on as I was on a strict time schedule to get to a doctor's appointment in Rochester.  I needed to invite God into that situation and "LET" His peace rule my heart and mind.  He did because He is faithful!  The next thing in that verse is that we are commanded, as a member of the body of Christ, to bring peace and be peaceful.  This is not an option but we need to be reminded of this so often.  The last part is not an afterthought but one of the most important parts of peace and again, action is required.  Be thankful...thankful for the very gift that God sent to us that we can even be able to allow the peace of Christ rule our hearts. That we can be a member of the body of Christ and that we can even bring our hearts full of thanksgiving to an almighty and loving God.  Wow!  So much in this verse for us to hold onto today and forever!  Blessings as you seek His amazing peace this Christmas!

So much to do.....

Happy day-before-Christmas Eve day!  
One way to keep Christ in Christmas is to invite Him into your crazy schedule for today and then watch Him bless you with peace and the beautiful gift of His presence!  After doing this, my motto for today is to "Let be what God wills it to be, and what won't be, wasn't needed anyways!"  Enjoy every moment of this rainy, gray Monday.  It's what is inside the windows of our lives that really matters.  Not what we see when we look out them!  :)  Hmmm...a good thought to ponder!  So many more thoughts rolling around my head these days but it's not the time yet to put them to words. For now, I will go forward and let them all just process. Blessings for this day!

Wake up!! Morning "Groggies" Antics

Ok, so….  I have to share some of the absent-mindedness that may have led me to write my last blog.  I have taken to getting up pretty early to spend "coffee hour" with my hubby before he has to get ready to head out to work.  When I say early, it's usually about 5 am.  Well yesterday, I went out for my cup of coffee,  took a red mug out of the cupboard and filled it with coffee.  My hubby came out with his favorite green mug and refilled it.  I reached for my Peppermint Mocha creamer and preceded to pour it into the green mug.  My hubby stands there with this strange look on his face and I looked at him thinking, "What is his problem?"  He finally said…"Umm, that is my cup!"  He does NOT use my fancy creamers but has his honey and half and half!  I couldn't stop chuckling at myself but he didn't think it was all that entertaining!    Well, the morning groggies were not any better this morning.  This time he mentioned that his coffee didn't taste that good and he must have done something wrong making it.  I felt bad for him because there is nothing worse than your first sip of coffee to taste bad!  I, being the loving wife that I try to be, went out and dumped it, put a new filter in, poured the water into the maker and stood there and waited the 3 minute for the Bunn to brew a fresh pot of wonderful , tasting coffee.  When I looked to see if it was done yet, the water was clear!!  "What is wrong with our coffee maker?"  I said.  When I investigated…..um...I forgot to put coffee into the filter!   Oh my!  I once again, couldn't stop chuckling at my early morning groggies but he, once again, didn't seem so amused.  Perhaps my hubby's "coffee hour" may be a bit better if I was still sleeping!  Nah!

One week to go......!!???

By this time next week, for some of us, the presents will have been opened.   Wrapping paper and boxes strewn around the room, having the hidden treasures revealed to the squeals of delight or the ungrateful exclamations we all have witnessed in Christmas past.   All the preparation, planning, shopping and scheming will be over.  As I was looking at my calendar this morning, my brain started going in a hundred different directions with all that I have yet to do in order to get ready in just 6 days!!  I envisioned many years of Christmas mornings as the gifts were passed and the paper ripped off that I had spend hours shopping, wrapping and taping.   Although some precious memories stick out in my mind, the one that I would rather not relive is the one of this harried wife, mom and Grammie, thinking that I had to get everything ready and perfect for this moment to happen.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy doing special things for my family.  The thing that makes me weary and I would choose not to repeat is the craziness.  The stress of finding time to get decorations up, trying to figure out the scheduling of events to make sure everyone is here and there.  The spending of money that you really don't have to buy things other people really don't need, just because you "have" to and hearing others stress over trying to do the same.   This is what truly makes me weary of this season.  I love to give my family and friends things that they will enjoy and appreciate.  I just have a problem with this "harried" feeling that started to take over my brain this morning.   I just read an email about the greatest gift, the gift of Jesus, sent by God, to be the Savior of this world.  This is the true reason for Christmas.  He gave me the best gift of all.  This beautiful  truth caused me to take a deep breath, thank God for this reminder that slowed my racing brain down to a peaceful crawl.  You know, I am not commanded to travel the roads to the malls beyond seeking that perfect gift.  I'm not commanded to bake 1000 cookies to share and I'm not commanded to have the perfect amount of colorful decorations outside my house or the perfectly decorated tree.   I am commanded by my Heavenly Father to be holy as He is holy.  To love as I am loved by Him.  I am commanded to let His light shine through me for all to see.  I don't think His light can shine when I have the Christmas shopping rush glaze over my eyes or when I am frantically watching the calendar and the clock as the days and hours quickly bring me closer to the big moment…..when the presents have all been opened and the wrapping and boxes strewn around the room.   Lord, help me today to keep You in my Christmas planning.  My interactions with those I come in contact with today.  To be able to do those things that will bring joy to the hearts of those I love.  May they see the Light in my life, through my words and actions.  Today, I will not be "harried"!  Today I will go with the amazing thought of God's amazing gift to me.  

Christmas Blues...Good or Bad?

December begins...ready or not!  I'm never "ready".  It starts after the Thanksgiving Dinner is over and the clean-up is done and I get to sit down and think about what is next.  It actually starts before that, as the stores rush from Halloween to Christmas decorations.  The sign of the "Christmas blues" starts to creep deep within me.  I can ignore them for those weeks of looking forward to seeing family and preparing all of the favorite foods that go along with our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  I don't want to skip over one of my favorite holidays that brings the nation to the place of thanksgiving for the goodness of God to all of us.  We do have so much to be thankful for.   But even for this time of thanksgiving, the sense of loss is great.  My sis is the one frying up the onions for the stuffing and we are the ones to get up early and get the birds in the oven.  It used to be my mom.  All my kids always made it to our family Thanksgiving dinner but they can't make it anymore.   It's ok...it has to be ok….because this is the way it is.  So, it does start before December comes but as these cold, winter day came this year, the blues seems to gotten bluer.  Hmmm...I've always wondered why blue has been my favorite color since I've been old enough to choose one.  It is such a beautiful, serene  color, like the sky.  Perhaps that is why I don't mind feeling blue.  It is not a bad thing because how can such a beautiful, peaceful color be bad?  After all, God created blue, in the sky and in the sea.  Two of my favorite things to watch as they change moment by moment.  So, I guess that when I made up the title to this post, it wasn't a negative thing.  For this place I find myself in for another year, is the place where I am closest to the comfort of my God.  The creator of blue, the sky and the sea, of life and death.   As I walk in the closeness of God, it doesn't mean that my heart isn't sad.  It doesn't mean I don't grieve the great loss I've endured of my two sons, my mom, my dear friend's husband, a cherished co-worker, my brother, my grandparents  and so many more.  What it does mean is that He is walking with me through it all.  Day by day, step by step, holding my tears in a bottle, giving me the strength to take that deep breath and keep on, keeping on.  Sitting in my chair, even now, looking around my house, there are no decorations up, yet.  No desire to get those totes out, yet.  No gift list written on paper, yet.  No Christmas cookie baking day, yet.   No definite plans for Christmas eve or Christmas day dinner, yet.  They will be made.  They will all happen.  But I guess today, I realized that those "blues" that were creeping deep inside of me have crept closer to the surface.  It's really ok because it is the way it is.  Life does change.  Moment by moment, just like my beloved sky and sea.  Seldom does the calm, serene appearance last long.  The storms they bring can be good for us, to nourish us and make us grow or they can destroy us.  The one thing I know I can hold onto is the God that created them, the creator of the beautiful blue  skies that I have loved to watch for over a half century, is the creator of me, too.  Even in my time of these Christmas blues, I am serene and quiet, with my precious loved ones on my heart.  The ones that I have lost and the ones that I am blessed to still have with me.   Although I can keep  trying to put off the merriment of the upcoming holidays, they will come.  I will be blessed and enjoy the festivities that come along with it.  I will rejoice and sing the Christmas carols that tell of our Savior's birth.  I will enjoy the precious smiles of my kids and grandkids and our time spent together.  I know that I will cherish all the new memories that will be made.  I think we will get our tree up this weekend and I think that the lights on it will be blue again this year.   It's always the anticipation that is the hardest.  For today, I will just keep walking with my hand in God's and keep on, keeping on and holding onto the good of feeling blue.  Blessings to you!

The Gazelle Antic

Somehow, this antic has turned into somewhat of a legend within our women's ministry at Penn Yan Bible Church.  You just never know what crazy thoughts may come racing across your mind that requires action!  The story begins a week or so before the "action".  I had decided it was time to find a regular job, instead of my self-employed, part-time interior painting jobs.  I started searching the help-wanted ads of the local papers and sent my resume into a position with a jewelry store in a nearby town.  I received a call for an interview and then the owner required that I take a characteristic test to determine if I was compatible for this type of business.  After answering random questions like, "What is your favorite color, day of the week", blah, blah, blah, there was the questions asking,  "If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?  What would your animal be doing?"  By this time, I'm thinking that this is such a waste of my time!  Who cares?  I skipped it and went on but eventually had to go back and answer these ridiculous questions.  I had no idea what to pick  but a nature video popped into my mind that my husband and his daughter were watching recently that had a gazelle in it and then I thought of a verse in the Bible that talks about a gazelle, too, so I chose that.  I, as a gazelle,  I would be gracefully running across a field.  I remembered smiling to myself about the graceful part because I am anything BUT graceful!  In fact, way back when I was a teenager, my friend's mom used to call me "Grace"  and not because I exhibited the beauty of that word!  That's another story!  So now, you have the background to this legend, keeping in mind that I shared my testing experience with no one but perhaps my husband. 

Our women's ministry holds an annual overnight retreat and it was held in a beautiful, finished basement of one of our church ladies.  About 11:00 pm, several of the ladies got their sleeping bags and air mattresses ready to settle down for a good night's sleep.  The rest of us were sitting around a circle, chatting and laughing and munching on goodies;  all the things girls at sleepovers do.   I happened to look over at all those going-to-sleep beauties and said, "What are they doing?  They can't go to sleep yet, this is a pajama party!"  With that, I jumped up and starting at the first one in line, bouncing across the end of the beds lined up along the wall.  One after another, the ladies popped up wondering what had just happened.  With the pounce on one air mattress, the cap popped off the air rushed out!  Oh my!  The screaming and laughter with tears that followed!   The next morning, one of the rudely awakened sleeping beauties was telling the story to a lady who had not spent the night and she said, "She was like a gazelle prancing over those beds!"  When I heard her say that, I yelled out, "You did not just say gazelle!"  Why in the world did that specific animal come to her mind, not even knowing that is what I struggled to come up on that silly test just that week before? " That is just what you looked like.", she said.  Hmmm….that certainly wasn't the picture I had in my mind of gracefully running across a field.  It was more like clumsily pouncing on unsuspecting victims of a soon to become legend.  Like I said in an earlier  post, crazy "happenings" just seem to happen to some people. Crazy thoughts just pop in and require action. 

                             (The only visual you will ever see!)  :) 

Thankful for a Monday? YES!

Monday's are a day of mixed emotions.  The most common emotion would be "Blue's or Blah's"!  Or it could bring the emotion of anticipation!  What will this new week bring?  For me, today, Monday, is a fresh start.  A re-commitment to my healthy-eating and exercise journey.  What a blessed and thankful Thanksgiving I enjoyed with my family.  Although our gathering was "small" this year with a mere 22 for dinner, the food and the fun was plentiful.   My motto of "A little dab will do you" proved to be useful….except for the "little dabs" were grazed on for several hours from rising early to put the turkey's in the oven until falling asleep in my recliner that evening with a turkey cutout cookie on my side table;  half eaten!!   So, I look forward to this new week, starting with today, Monday!   Today, I will seek first the kingdom of my Lord to receive His grace and mercy on my shortcomings of overeating.  I give to Him my desire to the discipline of waiting until I am hungry to eat instead of just putting stuff into my mouth without even noticing.  Asking for His help to work past those sugar and carb cravings that are being pushed to the surface from the intake of too many sweets.  With God's strength and power that He has given to me to overcome where I cannot do it on my own, I welcome His presence into my Monday.  Yes, I am thankful for a Monday!  The day of fresh starts or re-starts!  God is good!  Even on a Monday!  Blessings for today!

A Thousand Thanksgivings

In the wee hours this morning, instead of sleeping I was remembering the many Thanksgivings past. I remember as a child, helping mom cut the bread slices for the stuffing, the smell of onions frying and the continuous aroma floating out of the oven from baking rolls, squash, pies and then, the turkey.  My aunt would get us girls busy making name cards for the tables and setting them at each place with our best dishes. In the years to follow, as many of us got married and began our families, we started the tradition of spending Wednesday night at Mom and Dad's. We would start eating and playing games until the wee hours of the morning. At about 2 am, we would leave the sleeping babies with Mom and a group of us would go out to a restaurant for breakfast. What crazy antics we would do while we waited for our food to be served. Like passing lifesavers on toothpicks in our mouths around the table or shooting contest with our straws, to name a couple. (Aunt Barb let us do it!) We were always thankful that there weren't too many other people there as they may not have thought we were so entertaining! As our families grew and some moved away, we started renting a camp building with a big kitchen and a lot of bunk beds to accommodate us all. We had a agenda that included old family slide shows, skits, group games and crafts. What wonderful, fun years those were. So much has changed and so much more will change in the years to come. I am so thankful for the memories of those cherished times. I am looking forward, with hope, to many more to tuck away into my heart. A hymn came to my mind that we used to sing every Thanksgiving in my dad's church. "A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings, I bring blessed Savior, to Thee." May we all bring to our God, a heart of thanksgiving for the thousands of blessings He so freely gives to us each day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Antics Defined!

As I have been contemplating what is next to share with you all, some of the crazy antics that I have "innocently" been a part of over the years have repeatedly come to mind.  I wondered if I recorded some of them in my 25 years of journals?  I wondered if  I should allow you to laugh along with me as they come to mind now.   It's not that we all don't have those moments that happen occasionally, or daily for some of us.  Those things that bring us to the point of frustration, frantic chaos and then rolling on the floor or tear wiping laughter.   I  have had to learn to take these moments in stride.  Enjoying the craziness of life, the silliness of being "me" and any opportunity to laugh!  I was blessed to be surrounded by a very large, fun-seeking family.  What family of 10 wouldn't find a zillion things to laugh about?  We survived more pranks,  jokes and  sessions of silliness,  hence the definition of "antics"!  Many of those times came from my Dad!  He had this knack of doing things to make us all laugh even though it he usually received a playful slap from my mom, who was trying not to laugh, too!  (You could tell by the strange contortions of her face. )  I have an inkling this is where my ability to find myself  involved in many comical situations.   My aunt, our family historian , has recorded many amusing stories from their childhood and from the next two generations, which includes me and my children.  What fun it is to relive our laughter as we read and share them with our spouses, kids and grandkids.   I wonder if the next generation may enjoy reading my blogs, which I'm sure will be stored in "the cloud" somewhere instead of a binder of paper.  Will they enjoy reliving the laughter we once shared, over the antics of their crazy mom, Aunt Annie, and Grammie?  I sure hope so.  There's a song I once sang that had a stanza in it that said  "If I can bring a smile to your face, then for a moment, you'll forget all about it" (Angel by Your Side, Francesca)  If the stories of my antics bring these words to life,  then they will all have been worth it!  I'm so thankful that God gave us humor to allow us to endure this life with joy and not take ourselves too seriously at times.  After all, He created the hyenas….and gazelles!   That story is for another blog!  

Praising God through Grieving

Praising God through Grieving

One that has a grieving heart  thinks at times that all is well.  Life does go on, day by day, week by week, year by year.   But then, in unexpected moments, it feels like you are right there again.  In those first few hours after your loved one is gone.  The stillness of your heart, the deep trembling of disbelief and pain, that it scarcely beats.   I was there this morning, as the music was ending of a song I had just finished singing.  This powerful song, though I have sung it a couple of times before, defines the very echo of my pain and the life I now live.   "Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns started playing on the radio years ago and I thought it spoke my heart then.  It has one of my favorite scriptures from Psalms 121: 1&2,  "I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Make of heaven and earth."  At this same time, I had  a sweet sister-in-Christ battling breast cancer.   I had sent the words of this song  to her in a card telling her  that I knew she couldn't sing them so I would be singing them for her.  I did sing them for her, at her memorial service a short time later.  As I was waiting for her service to being, I saw her favorite scripture printed in the program.  It was Psalms 121.  What a honor it was to be the one singing her favorite verses that day.   Having thought that I had walked through some pretty difficult storms already in my life, only God knew the ones that were to come in the days ahead.   The loss of my two sons and my mom in the past 3 years brings me to the place where I was this morning.  It's only by the grace and mercy of my God, that I could ever be able to sing such a song.  When I was in the midst of these storms, I could not even utter a note through the pain and the lump in my throat.  I remember hearing this song on the radio during that time and crying out to God, "I can't praise You in this storm. It hurts too much!"  But while my eyes were closed in that pain, my heart was hanging onto every word.  The chorus says,  "I'll  praise you in this storm,  and I will lift my hands, For  you are who you are, no matter where I am.  And every tear I cry, You hold in Your hands, You never left my side, and though my heart is torn, I'll praise you in this storm."   I have come to realize that although I wasn't able to sing for many months when the pain was so close to the surface, I believed with all of my heart that my God was right there with me.   When I couldn't open my mouth to sing in our worship services, I would close my eyes and hang onto the words of those singing around me.  That is how I praised my God through the those days of my storms.  It was a wonderful Sunday morning when I found myself singing along with my church family.  God had given my "song" back!  So today, my husband and I were ministering at a church where they had recently been forced to say "good bye" to one of their own.  I shared this song with them.  I knew how it has given me hope and strength through my times of grieving and was asking God to use it to encourage them, too.  By the time my last note was coming to an end,  their grieving hearts connected with my own.  The stillness, the pain, the trembling…….filled me with praise to the One who gives and takes away.  My God has never left my side.  I will continue to praise Him through my storms.

My Front Porch Reflections

One of my favorite places to be is on my front porch.  From my comfy chair, I watch the world go by without being a part of it.  Observing the beauty of God's creation, changing each day as the seasons come and go.  It is a balmy, fall day.   My panoramic view of the sky displays many shades of blue as it awaits the glorious painting of the sunset as evening  quickly draws near.  As I look out my windows, I see the trees almost bare of their autumn glory.  The field corn is being harvested across the road and the birds are flocking together in the treetops.  This has always been a sad time of year for me as I prefer the new life of spring and the heat and busyness of summer.  Once again, I am forced indoors to the comfort of a soft blanket and a hot cup of tea, slowing the pace I'm so used to keeping.   But for now, I am enjoying the last few rays of warmth from the sun, listening to the tinkling of wind chimes dangling in the breeze, reflecting on the summer days gone by.  Until we meet again, my front porch...

Let the Antics Begin!

Good Morning!  As I was sharing my initial blogging experience with a friend this morning, it occurred to me that these "happenings" in my everyday life are the "Antics" that you, my readers, may need hear to understand why that is part of my blogs name.....and my world!   So, while I am waiting for my hair dye to process into an unknown color for this month, I will share my experience from yesterday.
I have been thinking of starting this blog for months.  I have researched, watched umpteen video tutorials, asked questions and consulted with a techie.  I went to Blogger just to see how it would work, typed in a possible blog name that my daughter had suggested and clicked the button to the right and waited.  I was thinking it would tell me that no one had used that name, these are the steps to install or setup your blog, etc. This is what I saw, "Congratulations, you have a blog.  Start your post now!"  I SCREAMED AND CLOSED MY LAPTOP!  Oh my gosh!  I had to leave right after that for an appointment and wondered all day if I could delete it because I just wasn't ready yet!  After a few hours of stressing, then praying about it, I am thinking that God said it was time and this is the name.  I am learning as I go with all this techie stuff so please have patience with me and I am always open to suggestions and any techie info that may help me out. Oops, there's goes my timer!  Blessings for this day!

Welcome to my world!

I'm excited to embark on this journey in the blogging world.  Having kept a journal for the past 25 years of my life and with the encouragement of those close to me, I come to this place of opening up my writings and God's inspiration in my life to the hearts of many.  There is a reason behind the name I have chosen for my blog.  I have been blessed with the ability to laugh.  Finding humor in life's happenings...although some of those "happenings" seem only to happen to me, and to go beyond what can be seen, bringing life into dull moments.  This somewhat explains the "Antics".  The "Aunt Annie" is a longer story.  I am a wife, a mom to 4 adult children, (2 which are now in heaven) a teenage step-daughter, 2 grandsons, a daughter-in-law, and 7 siblings (one, in heaven).   I am "Aunt Annie" to 50 nieces, nephews and their spouses, 39+ great-nieces and nephews, and a few great-great's!  I am considered the “crazy aunt” of our family and I take that title seriously!  I am "Mom" and "Grammie Annie" to a few more that I love as my own and my dearest friend of 35 years has always been there for me.  God has blessed me with more love in my life than I could ever deserve.  Why, might you ask, do I need to blog?  I have many words inside of me that have been waiting to be written and shared, to bring joy, laughter and hope to those that may have none.  My hope for you, my readers, is that you may have a glimpse of what God’s grace and love has accomplished in my life.  Without Him, my journey thus far would have been one without hope, love or joy. I am so very blessed!  Let this journey begin!