biblebuffjournal99-REMEMBERING MY MOTHER

                                       Walking by Faith - I Keep Climbing

REMEMBERING 

      Now that I was born.   June 9, 1933.  

  I was here.

I can remember being held 

in 

Mother's arms.

A faint 

long ago warmth.

Whispers of love.

Sensing her love for me.

Just cozy. 

Cuddled.

A rim of ribbon on a blanket in my fingers,

soft and silky.

Then, taken into another room.

A big room.

Coldness.

Bright lights.

Hard to sleep.

Where ? was Mother? 

Then they brought me to her again.

I remember nestling on her breast.

They gave her a bottle, and she fed me.

They had brought me in from a 

crib 

in a big cold room  

to her room,

where now I was cozy and warm

beside her.

I wanted to stay with her.

She talked to me like I understood

right from the start.

Mother knew how to hold babies.  She had helped her Mother with four other sisters.  Here she is with Esther Priscilla.   In the other photo, here is Daddy with Mother.  I was probably 7 days old.   They are home at  Zylonite in Adams MA where Grandmother and Grandfather lived. 

N

ON GOING HOME  1933  

I  remember Mother holding me while Grampa was driving the car.

I remember Mother bringing me into the house at Adams and setting me 

in bed.   

She talked to me each night.  I slept with her on her right side.

Then Daddy came home.

She fixed a dresser drawer for me 

It was now my bed. 

While I lay in it, I was insecure until I could S E E  

H E R  F A C E.   

She was on the left side of Daddy.  I was 

on the right with my dresser drawer sitting on 

two chairs facing each other.  I had to strain

to see Mother. 

         THEY HAD TALKED ABOUT IT.     I  HEARD MOTHER'S REASONING,  " BUT, HARRY, SHE IS TO SLEEP WITH ME."   "NO, VIDA, SHE IS NOT TO SLEEP WITH US.   SHE WILL GET USED TO IT.   I DO NOT LIKE THAT."   HE WAS VERY FIRM.

           I felt the pull of her heart toward me.

           I felt the love she had for me.   Father was distant.  He 

simply had not the ability in himself to "receive me"  just yet.  

I SOMEHOW KNEW that he was someone who NEEDED LOVE 

AND THAT HE HAD A HARD TIME KNOWING HOW TO LOVE.

             I wanted to love him.   It will take time, but I will.  

              Mommy would love me.     I had no doubts.  

I FINALLY FELL ASLEEP -  

THINKING ABOUT THE SWEET MOMMY I HAD.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

              This was my Grandmother about the time I was born in 1933.    The house is on Apremont Street -[ later its name was changed ]    The house is still there.    I went back to see it with my husband Henry in 1987.    

                             

                             Mother Was A Lady   Part II   

                       Psalm 90.12  So teach us to number our days 

           that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom  

                        Psalm 70: 6  By Thee have I been holden 

from the womb;  thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall continually be of Thee." 

    New England was briskly entering into the 30's.    The depression was still upon most of the country.   In the New England town of Adams, MA  Vida May's family was doing well.     The girls - five of them now - Mother the oldest - were somewhat unhappy with the demands of "keeping up appearances"  and felt there was more to life than that.   At least, Mother so thought.    

           It was during her 15th year that Harry came into the picture.

He showed up in the school.    He could sing.   He talked.  He was indeed, a talker.    She did not try to do anything to lead him on, she would simply express her opinion.    He liked that.   It was because "she was a LADY"  AND did not throw herself at the boys that the boys would tease her, and make comments about her being such a ridiculous prude to be so uppity.    Exactly what Forrest had seen in his young daughter - he knew what the men were like in the mill, and he wanted better for her.   Now here the boys were seeing her in the high school, and they could not figure out how a girl would want to keep herself pure for any reason.  They could not figure at all about that.  

                 She saw a lot of him that year.    He indeed tried to make her notice him.    There was a DOUBLE STANDARD in those days of the early 1900's.

             What was that ?   Well, you see,  THE BOYS COULD DO NO WRONG.   IT WAS OK FOR THEM TO SLEEP AROUND.

IT WAS ALRIGHT FOR THEM - IT WAS THE "MAN" THING TO DO.    BUT FOR THE GIRLS ?   THAT WAS A DIFFICULT THING - They were expected to be nice to the boys.   They were expected to NOT  be uppity.   They were expected to BE THE NICE AND PRETTY HOSTESS.   They were EXPECTED to be good to the fellows.   

              BUT MOTHER DID NOT WANT THAT.  SHE DID NOT WANT TO GIVE IN TO A BOY , AND SHE KNEW HER MOTHER AND FATHER LOVED EACH OTHER , AND SHE WANTED THE SAME THING FOR HERSELF.   SO SHE STOOD HER GROUND.

IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS, SHE WAS NOT GOING TO SLEEP WITH ANYONE, NOR GIVE IN TO THEM, SHE WAS NOT GOING TO RUN AROUND LIKE THAT.   SHE WAS A LADY.

              Her 16th Birthday came and went.   In the late summer of 1932, Forrest and Lillias sent her to the Girl Scout Camp.   It was a big event.    And the boys decided to take action.    THE BOYS invaded the camp and they would come to the tents where the girls were, and try to persuade the girls to go in the fields with them, or into the woods with them.   Mother refused.   She refused more than once.    Harry was among them.   She refused him too.   

             Harry had begun to be enamored with her, insistent, he finally caught her one afternoon by surprise, when she was not aware of him being there.    He took her, and laid with her against her express will.      

               What ? was she to do ?    Will anyone believe me?  

               She could not tell anyone.   

                WHAT A HORRIBLE WEEK THAT WAS FOR MY MOTHER.   SHE SAID THAT AT THE CAMP, THEY HAD A SWIMMING LESSON IN WHICH THE GIRLS HAD TO GO IN THE WATER  FULLY DRESSED IN THEIR BLOOMER CLOTHES   -  THEY WERE TO SWIM  WITH THOSE CLOTHES ON -   she was so s c a r e d  THAT SHE NEVER EVER WENT swimming after that.   AND ALL THE TIME THAT SHE FINISHED THAT WEEK AT CAMP - SHE DID NOT TELL ANYONE WAS THAT HARRY HAD ACCOSTED HER, AND NOW SHE WAS DETERMINED "IF I HAVE A BABY, I AM GOING TO KEEP IT." 

                 They talk a lot about Mothers and Babies and what do little babies know ? in the womb?  

                 I  believe  FULLY that I knew when Mother was coping with that horrible week at camp -   I believe I  FULLY UNDERSTOOD her determination to  KEEP THIS BABY.   

                    I FELT HER LOVE FOR ME.  

    She went home from the Girl Scout Camp.

Time went on.    And then she had to tell her mother who then told her Father.   Both Harry and her Father wanted her to have an abortion.    She was  TOO YOUNG  to have a baby.    IT WOULD BE A DISGRACE.  

                "YOU CAN'T HAVE THIS BABY.  I AM A PERSON OF WORTH, AND THIS BABY IS A PERSON, AND I WANT IT TO BE BORN, MOTHER DECLARED"   

Mother never told me what Lillias said,  she only told me what Harry and Grandfather said.    As a baby in the womb I was coming.  I WAS ON THE WAY.   1933 AND I WAS BEING BORN IN THE SAME YEAR HITLER CAME TO POWER IN GERMANY.     MY MOTHER KNEW THAT SHE WANTED THIS BABY TO LIVE.   AND MIRACLE OF MIRACLES I DID.      I KEPT COMING.     I WAS ON THE WAY.    I REMEMBER MOTHER'S VOICE - IT HAD A COMFORTING WELCOMING AIR TO IT, AND I KNEW SHE LOVED ME.    I WAS GOING TO COME.   I WOULD BE BORN.

           ONE NIGHT I REMEMBER MOTHER WAS AT HER MOTHER'S HOUSE, LISTENING TO THE RADIO ...HITLER'S VOICE CAME SPOUTING OUT ...AND I COULD HEAR THE VOICE AND I FELT THE HORROR AND FEAR OF MY MOTHER AT HIS WORDS.   AND MY OWN RESPONSE TO HIS VOICE.    IT WAS FEARSOME.

        

   I am not sure of when Grandfather and the family left Shelburne Falls, MA but here is the Bridge of Flowers as it looked back in those days by the Mill.      

                WALKING OVER THE BRIDGE WITH HARRY, MY FATHER, MOTHER WAS SPEAKING TO HIM.   YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS, THAT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE HERE FOR BABY'S BIRTH?   HARRY SAID "AUNT SALLY WANTS ME TO GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, SO I HAVE TO BE GONE FOR THAT."    A SILENCE .... THEN ... "WHEN WILL WE GET MARRIED?   RIGHT AFTER I GRADUATE, VIDA.   

             SO MOTHER SETTLED AND WAITED.  

         

here is my Mother on the right 

Esther on the left,

and me in the middle.

I must have been 7 months old,

for I am sitting pretty good,

It would have been Spring of 1934.

MOTHER WAS A LADY.

SHE LOVED ME. 

SHE TAUGHT ME 

WHAT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE WAS ALL ABOUT.   

         

                 watch for part III of  MOTHER WAS A LADY

           

                                               

   HERE IS THE ZYLONITE HOUSE -   MOTHER IS ON THE PORCH WITH A COUPLE OF OTHERS.      I WOULD STAY WITH GRANDMOTHER A LOT IN THIS HOUSE THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF MY LIFE.   GRANDFATHER BUILT IT HIMSELF, AND IT EXHUDED INTO MY LIFE MUCH OF THE STRENGTH AND CHARACTER FORREST AND LILLIAS INSTILLED IN THEIR DAUGHTER, MY MOTHER.     I TREASURE MY MOTHER.  

                                                          

biblebuffjournal99 -THE CARPENTERS MOTHER KNEW

                                             

THE CARPENTERS MOTHER KNEW

                                                            by June Estelle Cash   

Mother did not know that the reputation of the mill was such that her father resolved not to see his daughter "have to work" in the mill.  

Mother did know that her parents laid such store in her that they took great pains to make sure she knew how to be "good."  

Teaching her how to read and write, her mother spent much time instructing her.   When she was growing up, the family often went to visit the Carpenters in Cheshire, MA  and also to York Beach, Maine for clamming on the beach.  Her mother's parents had the York beach place as a "getaway" for everyone.  I am not sure if it was the only place they had, but I do know that when they first started out it was in Eastham, on Cape Cod itself.   York Beach Maine is on the coast, and is close to Massachusetts.

Bampy [Bahm-py] and Mamie [Mam - mie]

loved to play croquet, and "loved" each other

as best friends.    

York Beach Maine   

The cove that their home was on was in a row 

with about ten other relatives and friends who

all knew each other.    These homes today are still in York Beach, and known as the Rundlett cottages.   

Rundlett cottages one link to York Beach

           Here is my mother with her then two sisters 

Althea in back, and Esther by her side.  Notice the porch as a distinctive point to remember.  I visited this home in 1987 and sat on the porch overlooking the harbor there, and my feelings were so overwhelming.  God has been a part of my life ever since I asked Jesus to wash my sins away and make me clean.  Christ has led me in my life  from a lost sinner who needed a Savior, to a woman who knew and understood the Lord Jesus Christ to be her very source of strength in her life.  When my mother was little, people went to Church but it was not something Mother's family did much of.   Bampy and Mamie however did attend church.   She knew their faith was strong.  She longed for that faith.  

        When the little sisters came on the scene, Mother was expected to help care for the little ones.    The oldest, was expected to do that.   People had a funny attitude to a redhead, though.   They automatically assumed that a redhead would be a "problem" . . . 

She took it in her stride, and just decided, that if Bampy was a redhead, and her Mother was a redhead, then she too could be as good as they were.    She decided that she would be her "self" as best as she could be, not anyone else, just her own self.  She would make her impact on this world of hers.

          As I reflect on my mother, I saw in her the strength of a woman who knew her mind, and would follow through on things if she believed them strongly enough about them.    Forrest and Lillias were the very same way.    They were strong minded people and knew what they wanted.    They knew how they wanted it, and how to do it.    They taught Vida May to do the same.   The individuality of their lives spun an intricate web of hopes and dreams into Vida May's life.    She wanted to live and learn and to be and to do.   Her mother Lillias May (Brewer) before she married Forrest had been a teacher in a Primary School, having gone to college.   Forrest - although well self-educated - had only gone to 5th grade in school due to the fact that his father - Vida's grandfather - was a farmer.   As the only son that was left at home, he had to help on the farm.  He taught himself much with that 5th grade education ,  about electricity, about all the inventions that were being created, and he read extensively.   He was an electrician with the Mill, and taught Mother how to keep the books.  When she got to be 11, he told her that most people have the oldest son to do the books.  He had no sons, so he told her "I want to have you do my books"  So she learned the extra-ordinary task of doing book-keeping, accounts payable, received, and spent, as well as recording his stamp collection.       

   

                        Here is Forrest with his father on the farm. They did everything to make things, and everything they produced was traded in the community.    His father cut wood out of the forests there to deliver to neighbors.  At that time the only requirement was to make a road to get in the woods to do it.  They had cows with the milk they produced, maple syrup from the trees to sell after they processed it, they picked berries from the woods to make preserves and jellies and pies, and yes, they trade everywhere.   The enterprising Carpenters had sufficiency to do this, with a reputation of being well thought of, and having a good business sense.   They had a milk delivery truck which Forrest and his brother Lester took on regular rounds.    Vida May was alert to the fact that her mother and father were used to having lots of people in their life, and they would often gather for a meal, and songs, with popcorn and the men usually drank.      Forrest smoked a pie.   Lillias did once in a while to take a smoke, but he did not like her to, so she did not smoke very often.    

           When relatives gathered, or if someone was left to babysit the girls when they were younger, Mother did not like it if a man relative made passes at her.  She would report them to her parents.  And that made her a target as a "troublemaker."  You are imagining things, dear, they would say.    The opinion of the relatives was that she's "a redhead"  and that seemed to settle it.   Somehow it did not make sense to Vida.   She saw her Mother keep her distance from other men.   She saw how devoted her Mother was to Forrest. 

And she wanted to keep herself for the right person.

            So now here was Forest teaching her the books.   I believe that my mother's father saw that she would do well in keeping the books.   He saw that she needed to have a reason to not work in the Mills as he saw the working conditions of women in that day and age were not good.   She quickly learned, and did it well.   He was hopeful that she might have a better future than just a mill worker   Quite often the women ended up being married to men who had no education and did not do well at all.

               

                 This had been the Carpenter Farm where my mother's father grew up.    This is a photo I took in 1987 when I visited the home and stood outside.       There are no woods left now.   The trees are all gone -   a few left for shade, but the house is there in a wide swath of land.     I have the diaries of my great grandmother and great grandfather   who did all that farming in the Berkshires. 
               My grandfather found a job closer to the area where he grew up, and there he stayed. He did not move out of Adams Massachusetts until he left to go to California many years later

       

                       Here was the home that Forrest and Lillias lived in on Creamery Avenue in Adams MA.     In later years, there was a big Dairy built and so they discontinued delivering milk, just took it to the Creamery.      

                             In Shelburne Falls,  New England was briskly entering into the 30's.    The depression was still upon most of the country, but in the New England town, Vida May's family was doing well.    The girls were quite unhappy with the idea that they "had to keep up appearances"  and felt that there was more to life than that.   

                                   AS I LOOK BACK AT MOTHER'S LIFE, I SEE HOW GOD PREPARED FOR ME TO HAVE A "BEST FRIEND" FOR ME IN MY MOTHER, AND THAT GOD WOULD ALSO GIVE ME THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, MY DEAR HUSBAND WM. HENRY CASH, JR.    BEFORE ALL THAT HAPPENED HOWEVER, GOD HAD TO PREPARE MY CIRCUMSTANCES.

                                 

      

                  This was my grandmother as a young woman.   I believe this is in York Beach, Maine, and may have been even on the day she got married.   1914.     

   

                             

                          THESE CLOUDS SPEAK TO ME 

OF THE DEVOTION OF MY GRANDPARENTS TO EACH OTHER

                                 IT WAS A LOVE GIVEN BY GOD FOR THEM 

                                  I SAW THAT LOVE EXPRESSED EVEN THOUGH

                                 IT WAS NOT "DONE" TO CARESS OR SHOW AFFECTION

                                 IN PUBLIC.   I FELT THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER.

                                FURTHERMORE, I KNEW THAT THEY LOVED MY MOTHER 

                                 AND THAT THEY LOVED ME.   NEVER EVER DID I HEAR 

                                CRITICISM OF HER, OR OF ME, OR OF MY FATHER.   NEVER

                               A WORD OF CHIDING.    NEVER A WORD OF ANTAGONISM.

            

                               

AS A LITTLE FIVE YEAR OLD 

I KNEW MY MOTHER LOVED ME.

I KNEW MY GRAND PARENTS LOVED EACH OTHER.

SOMEHOW, I BELIEVED

GOD WOULD SHOW ME WHO HE WAS, 

AND THAT SOMEDAY, I WOULD FIND A SPECIAL MANWHO WOULD BE MY FRIEND TOO.
MY NEXT BLOG WILL BE ABOUTHOW MY MOTHER AND FATHER MET  

AND HOW I CAME INTO THIS FAMILY.  

                                         

1932  was the year they met.

.....just like the clouds here  we see clouds today and JESUS IS COMING IN THE CLOUDS TO TAKE US HOME TO BE WITH HIM.

ARE YOU READY?

HE WANTS US TO KNOW HIM

TO LOVE HIM

TO BE READY FOR HIM

TO BE LOOKING FOR HIM.

JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN.

JESUS SAID "I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP" 

John 10

biblebuffjournal99 - MOTHER WAS A LADY -PART 1

WALKING BY FAITH - I KEEP CLIMBING

MOTHER WAS A LADY

                                                       by June Estelle Cash   

           

My memories of my mother was that she was a lady. 

      She fought for her kids.   She kept her integrity.  She stood on her ground when the question of her "morals" came up.  

       To begin with, Mother's name was Vida May Carpenter, born April 8, 1915.  It was a time of uncertainty, and yet of optimistic hope.   1914 was the year Forrest married Lillias, in the very beginning of a year when our country went to war.    Her first memory is of her grandmother  Vida May (Ingalls) Brewer who cared for her while her mother "recuperated" from having this little girl.     The love that Grandmother gave her was so unconditional that my mother fondly remembered as the R O C K of her family.

Forrest Raymond Carpenter, Mother's father, was working with the Electrical Company of the mill in Shelburne Falls, MA. 

          

This was Lillias May (Brewer) Carpenter

with her daughter Vida May, April  1915.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g41809-Shelburne_Falls_Massachusetts-Vacations.html

SHELBURNE FALLS, MA 

https://www.shelburnefalls.com/

HERE ARE TWO PICTURES, ONE OF PRESENT DAY LOOK AT 

SHELBURNE FALLS OLD BUILDING, ALSO A PHOTO OF 

WINTER AT THE AREA WHERE THE BRIDGE IN SHELBURNE 

WAS.   TODAY IT IS NEWLY FURBISHED, BUT THEN IT WAS 

MERELY IRON GRID, EVEN UP TO 1987 WHEN WE VISITED THERE.

TODAY IT IS A FULLY CEMENTED BRIDGE, WITH MANY FLOWERS.

MOTHER'S SOON REALIZED THEY HAD A CHALLENGE ON THEIR HANDS.

SHE WAS A REDHEAD.  HER MOTHER WAS A REDHEAD.  HER GRANDFATHER WAS A REDHEAD.  AND SHE ASKED QUESTIONS.   INQUISITIVE, SHE WANTED TO KNOW 

"WHY?" 

Here we were.   Both parents were perplexed.

In 1915  Children WERE TO BE SILENT

AND NOT TO SPEAK UP

Why? 

She asked.

In that era of time, EMPLOYERS did not allow 

their children to play with the children of the 

EMPLOYED - the workers -  

it just was not done.

She took in what people said, and thought about them.   She was told, Vida, you cannot play with .....  The children of the 

workers were not to be her playmates.   

         Your father, her mother declared, is part of the Employer's staff- working as the Electrician - and you cannot play with the children of those who are not on the staff.      Why? she thought, was it B A D  to play with the children of the workers?  

         Mother did not know that the reputation of the mill was not good.   The conditions of the mill worker were less than what really was desirable.    Her father did NOT WANT HER to associate with them, for it would be too much a difficult influence for them to deal with.    And it could change her future.    Mother did discover that they put great store by her, and that they took time to instruct her to "be good"....

         Grandmother knew how to do that.   She had gone to the State Teacher's Academy, and she had taught Primary School for 3 years before Forrest found her.     

               Village of Shelburne Falls MA

                            When I was 13, Grandmother showed me this photo of her primary school where she taught.     She was an important piece of the puzzle of my life.   

                     

   Grandmother had taken a photo of this house, with someone sitting on the porch.   I understand it "belongs to the Brown family" so I assume that my Grandfather bought this, then sold it to a  "cousin" -  The Browns were their B E S T  friends.  It seems my grandmother was like "a sister" to her cousin Ann Brown.    

               

                      

Here is Anne Brown -  A dear friend of my Grandmothers as 

well as being a cousin.

The Browns were "cousins" and as they grew up had been in the summers 

right by each other on the famous tourist place at York Beach where 

the rich and famous gather.   At that time, however, there were about 8 

families - close friends - and quite a few relatives 

on that ridge that overlooked the beach in Maine.  

This is where the Nubble Light House is.   It no longer is operating,

but is kept for display there.   Its horn sounds the warning automatically.

This was Lillias May on her wedding day, 

such a lovely Bride.

Here is my Mother Vida with a lady that came to babysit her.

Her mother was quite weak after Vida's birth, and it was

a while before she began to resume her role as Mother.

My Grand-uncle Albert Carpenter visiting at York Beach Maine

probably on the Wedding Day - or when Forrest his brother visited Lillias before getting married in 1914. 

     This house still is there, I sat on the porch in 1987 when I went with my husband Henry Cash to see it. It seems to me I believe that Mother grew up knowing a strong family, knowing she was loved, and knowing that the family really dared to believe in a future.

I believe this is  York Beach view from the Lighthouse, 

because the bay is like a  U shape and so it would be Eastham.

Eastham was on Cape Cod MA itself, and York Beach is 

a cove on the shore of Mass.   

Vida here on the left, with her sisters Althea and Esther.

Many happy memories in York Beach, Maine.

I believe that my residence in Blaine at Drayton Harbor WA is in conformity with the heritage I have with my Mother, Grandmother, and Great Grandparents.   

My Grandmother Lillias Carpenter was a woman of strong faith.  She had been raised by her folks in the Methodist Church in Eastham.  Her father Luther Wilbur Brewer was a leather tanner who faithfully served the Lord as a deacon in his church.

This is a very old photo from 1914 when Grandmother and Grandfather got married.   I don't know the details, but you

can see in this photo my grandmother in her wedding dress, with what seems to be grandpa, with others over closer to the water.

I understand they had to have three certificates of the marriage because they lived in different counties, and the work also was in another place. 

This was the Waterworks in Shelburne Falls MA where Grandpa worked.

York Beach Maine - chamber of commerce

 \

They moved to Adams MA where Mother and her sisters were very close. Here is Esther on the right, with Me next to Mother -  Vida May Donato.   

I thought this my aunt not me, but my mother was just 17 when she gave birth to me.

So I believe this is me.  It would 1934, because I look about 9 months old, it would be Spring.

God had His hand upon my life

because of my Mother.  

How she loved me.

If you are a mother,

always be your child's best friend.

Let them talk to you.

Be there.

Listen.

Love.

and be firm to teach them God's Way not the world's way. 

John 3.16

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM

SHOULD NOT PERISH

BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

Here is my father and mother
and me   1933   June 11  I am two days old.

biblebuffjournal99 - KEEP ON CLIMBING - CLIMBING HIGHER WITH JUNEBUG

Posted  Dec 24  2014  
Posted and updated  October 15, 2017

https://biblebuffjournal99.blogspot.com/

Mountain Gorge by June E Cash - oil painting 

CLIMBING EVER HIGHER

OVER THE STEEP CLIFFS

I KEEP ON CLIMBING.  

Time out for resting 

between the moves up the mountains,

I know there is a need to take in more air, more oxygen,

 in order to combat the deprivation I get when I begin

 climbing higher.

Surefootedness comes from looking where I step.

Surefootedness comes from being alert.

Psalms  18.36  

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, 

that my feet did not slip away. 

               This is me at three !   I remember being there with Grandmother.   I remember how she loved to work in her garden.   She never lost her temper at me.   Her patience in working things out so that I was given "things to do" paid off.  I do remember her praising me for things I did.  

                Now, is this what I do today?   In a sense.   In a sense I am listening now for God's dear Spirit to speak and to let me have His Peace in those matters He leads me.  

  I am now 81 years of age, and still in need of my Heavenly Father to keep me, to guide me, and to help me be surefooted and persistent in the Path He leads me on.   As I enter this new year of 2015 I thank the dear Lord Jesus Christ for coming from the Father's throne to come and live here among us, and to give His life for us.    How thankful I can be.   

      Here are four cousins of mine.  How time flies by !

With the formative years all past, how can I best use my time and take some joy in family, friends, church and finding ways to use what I do for the Lord.    On Facebook, I am in touch with Aunt Althea, cousin Paul Maynard, and relatives that I have never met.  It is a privilege to be able to share this way. 

       I remember how Auntie Al certainly loved her children, and made much sacrifice for them.   How I need to follow her example by cherishing my children, and continuing to encourage and advise the adult children.    I need to listen to the Only One who is able to keep them - God Himself. 

       When John pointed his followers to Jesus, he declared "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."  Two followed Jesus that day - and Jesus turned to ask them "What seekest thou?"   They said, "Lord, where dwellest thou?"   He said, "Come and See."    Jesus today is asking you to come and see, to come and discover just who He is, and what He asks of you. 

      God bless you.   Come Journey With Me.