Clouds

Ever since I was a kid I have loved looking at clouds. Do you remember laying on your back in the grass on a warm, lazy summer day looking up at clouds trying to decipher shapes, faces, animals etc? Those were the days! Clouds are amazing things. They can cool down a hot summer day and bring a gentle warm rain. But anyone who has done much cloud watching knows that they can change quite rapidly. Within minutes a cloud can change from a white puffy looking marshmellow to large, dark, boiling, monsterous thunderstorm bringing with it wind, rain and lightning.

I took these pictures of the clouds yesterday from my yard. What started out as a nice, cool, cloudy day ended up with a night of heavy rain, flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder. Even though the dogs ended up under the bed, shaking with fear, we turned off the lights, pulled up the blinds and enjoyed the light show.






they float, drift
sail on the wind
don’t need anchors
know tempest and calm
hide moon and stars
rain on our parade
enhance sunrise and sunset
depress us
inspire us
make us want to see beyond.

LAugHteR! :)

I love to laugh. And in this day and age with all of the sadness out there in the world and with the trials that we face each day - we need to laugh. I also love to make other people laugh. It makes me happy to see others happy.

So I've added a "Laughter"page. I will try to put something there everyday so check it out if your world needs a smile. And then share that smile because happiness is contagious!

Empty nesters

All summer I have watched a couple of birds in the tree in my back yard. In the spring I noticed them working hard to build a nest and taking turns watching guard over their new home. Soon I heard tiny peeps and realized that there were baby birds in the nest. I watched those parents take good care of those babies as they searched and brought worms for them to eat. I'm not sure how it happened but one day I went out to find the baby birds on the ground with the mom and pop surrounding them. Their protective squaks told the babies to run for cover in the weeds. Their efforts to teach them to fly must've paid off because now the birds are gone and the empty nest sits quietly in the tree, waiting for them to someday return. I don't know where they went but I'm sure that they have spread their wings and are off exploring the world.


Our babies have all grown and have spread their wings and are off exploring their own little corners of the world. It's not easy to let them go but it is what we spent years training them to do. It's good even though our nest is very quiet. Now it's time for us to move into the next season of our lives. But we will take care of the nest and hope that our babies will fly in for a visit once in awhile and tell us about their adventures. . . because this will always be home.

Make a difference

Once in awhile we meet people who make a difference in our lives. They make an impression on us and leave us better people than we were before we met them. The influence and impact they have on our lives usually has a lasting affect on us and they become someone that you never forget.

I remember a few people who have touched my life over the years. Their influence made a major impact on me. They made a difference in my life. I will be forever grateful to them for their example, friendship, love, strength and testimony. I will be eternally grateful to the Lord for letting my path cross with these remarkable people and for allowing them to be a part of my life.

I think it is important for each of us to realize that we can make a difference in the lives of others. We never know whose life we may touch. If we are in tune to the Lord's promptings and are willing to be an instrument in His hands he will lead us to those who need our help. True happiness comes when we look beyond the "mirrors" in our life and reach out to help others. When we lose ourselves in the service of others we are serving God. What better way can we repay Him for His love than to reach out and help His children here on earth. He needs us to help and love others and we need Him to help us. We can be the hands of heaven on earth. Sometimes the Lord will answer the prayers of other people through us. When we feel a prompting to call someone or send a card or just smile and say hello we may be an answer to someone's prayer. If we are willing to reach out to those in need the Lord will make sure to send us people that will make a difference in our lives when we need them. On that we can depend. . .

Time . . . it's a funny thing!

This year I reached a big milestone. I turned "a half-century"! Yeah, thats right. . .I'm 50! The big 5 0 !! I wasn't sure what to expect as my birthday approached. I wasn't sure if I should feel like I accomplished something great in my life or if it was the beginning of the end. Well to set the record straight I am loving where I am right now in my life. Aside from a few aches and pains and being a little slower than I was at 20, I feel fabulous at fifty! And I'm looking forward to the next 50 yrs.

However I've realized that time is a funny thing. Sometimes it seems like it is going so slow. Like when you are waiting for something great to happen-like Christmas when you were a kid. Remember how it took FOREVER for Christmas to roll around each year. Christmas Eve was the LONGEST night of the year. I also remember when my kids were little and life was full of diapers, bottles, crying babies, constant "owies," never-ending sibling squabbles, mountains of laundry, beds to be made, stacks of dirty dishes, etc, etc. There were times when I wondered if these little kids would ever grow up so that I could actually have a life of my own again.

On the other hand doesn't it seem as though time has sped up. Have you ever been involved in something that you never wanted to end, like a fun day with your friends, but before you knew it-the fun was over, sooner than you wanted it to be. Well my youngest child graduated from high school this year and is beginning her life as an adult. All of a sudden I realized that I am not raising my kids any more. Those days are done. Where did the time go? The last 30 years of being a "full-time mom" have been the hardest years of my life, yet the most fulfilling and rewarding. Am so glad that I choice to be a mom. But it went by way too fast. I'm still a mom to 5 wonderful, grown, independent great people. They are my friends and they teach me new things every day. But they don't "need" me like they did years ago. My role has changed. And it's ok . . .it's all good!

I don't know what my future holds for me but I do know one thing - I'm going to enjoy every moment of the next 50 yrs! And I hope it doesn't go by too fast!

Enjoy the ride!

"Life is like an old-time rail journey . . . delays, . . . sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
~Pres Gordon B. Hinckley~

My Journey through life

As we journey through life we have many experiences that affect us in many ways. We have happy times, sad times, good and bad times. With each experience there are lessons to be learned. Sometimes we learn the lesson immediately and sometimes it isn't until we look back on something that we see what we learned and how it affected our life. But each moment of our life defines us and molds us into who we are and affects who we will become.

In my life I have learned many things from different people, places and situations. The person I am today is because of these lessons learned. In this blog I will share some of the defining moments in my life and how they have affected me but more importantly what I have learned because of them. I know that you may experience some of the same things I have and so I hope that in some small way my stories will help you learn something of value and will help you through your journey in life.

I believe that no matter what our situation or circumstance is in life, we have someone who is walking right beside us to help us along our way. Sometimes we think that we are all alone as we struggle through our trials and hardships. Heavenly Father lets us experience everything here in life because he knows that we will grow and learn from those experiences. It is usually through the hard times that we reach for Him. We become humble and teachable and that is when the learning begins. I have had moments where I felt God near and felt his comfort. I have felt His loving hand shaping me and molding me into the person He wants me to become. If we dedicate our lives to Him and walk in His footsteps he will, "Lead us, guide us, walk beside us and help us find our way" through this life. And in the end our journey will lead us back home to live with Him again.

I hope that you enjoy reading the things that I put in this blog. And as I share with you the experiences that I have had and the lesson's I have learned I hope that you might learn something too.

Come walk with me as I reminisce about my journey through life!